Spring Break
Science and art meet this year at the Rose Art Museum
by Daniel D. Snyder
Associate Editor
Arts | 8/28/07
Posted online at 1:57 AM EST on 8/28/07
In the past year, the Rose Art Museum has featured an exhibition of folksy, geometric wall art by Clare Rojas; a collection of classic video art; a show of paper and ink drawings from the Brandeis permanent collection; and a large-scale installation of mirror balls and fluorescent lights by the Swiss artist John Armleder.
This fall, the focus will be on a subject familiar to the Brandeis community: scientific research. The two feature exhibitions at the Rose both serve as a locus of what are sometimes competing phenomena-the tension between science and art, and the boundary between the public and the private domains of an artist's life. The exhibitions, which open on Sept. 25th will be the first solo United States museum shows for both of the American born artists. "Steve Miller: Spiraling Inward," and "Tom Sachs: Logjam," in the Rose building and the Foster Wing, respectively, will run through December 16th.
Spiraling Inward" is a collection of paintings and drawings borne out of Miller's collaboration with Brandeis alumnus Rod MacKinnon '78. MacKinnon, who received the Nobel Prize in 2003 for his research on the movement of charged ions across cell membranes, allowed Miller to use his research documents in creating his art. Miller then created paintings and drawings that incorporate both traditional artistic techniques and modern scientific imagery.
Although he began his career in the 1970s in the abstract and conceptual art fields, Miller became interested in the frontiers of scientific research (particularly the genetics and particle physics fields.) "Indisputably, science and technology have transformed every aspect of culture, with the comprehensive impact of this transformation also affecting visual aesthetics. Using the tools of technology as a lens through which to view our world and exploring the language of this new science has been the driving force of my work," Miller says.
This exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity for us to explore this enormously important frontier between art and science. "Few artists have brought their own imaginative skill to scientific processes the way Steve Miller has," said Michael Rush, curator of the exhibition and the Henry and Lois Foster Director of The Rose.
This fall, the focus will be on a subject familiar to the Brandeis community: scientific research. The two feature exhibitions at the Rose both serve as a locus of what are sometimes competing phenomena-the tension between science and art, and the boundary between the public and the private domains of an artist's life. The exhibitions, which open on Sept. 25th will be the first solo United States museum shows for both of the American born artists. "Steve Miller: Spiraling Inward," and "Tom Sachs: Logjam," in the Rose building and the Foster Wing, respectively, will run through December 16th.
Spiraling Inward" is a collection of paintings and drawings borne out of Miller's collaboration with Brandeis alumnus Rod MacKinnon '78. MacKinnon, who received the Nobel Prize in 2003 for his research on the movement of charged ions across cell membranes, allowed Miller to use his research documents in creating his art. Miller then created paintings and drawings that incorporate both traditional artistic techniques and modern scientific imagery.
Although he began his career in the 1970s in the abstract and conceptual art fields, Miller became interested in the frontiers of scientific research (particularly the genetics and particle physics fields.) "Indisputably, science and technology have transformed every aspect of culture, with the comprehensive impact of this transformation also affecting visual aesthetics. Using the tools of technology as a lens through which to view our world and exploring the language of this new science has been the driving force of my work," Miller says.
This exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity for us to explore this enormously important frontier between art and science. "Few artists have brought their own imaginative skill to scientific processes the way Steve Miller has," said Michael Rush, curator of the exhibition and the Henry and Lois Foster Director of The Rose.
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