SciArt Gallery at Thinktank Science Museum (2009-2013)
On
launching the UK's first purpose-built digital dome (Thinktank
Planetarium) in
December 2005, Mario Di Maggio discovered the new
360° medium appealed not only to educators and scientists,
but also to a wide range of artists. With
support from Arts
Council England - and despite opposition
from Thinktank Museum management - numerous fruitful
collaborations with local artists ensued. Three outstanding
initiatives were the invention of a new art form (Fulldome
Dance), the birth of the Dome
Club experience, and the establishment of a SciArt
Gallery.
What is SciArt?
According to artist and science graduate Emei Ma: 'If science is as an organized body of knowledge about the physical universe and art is any creative process; the two together, science art, or SciArt, might be defined as: "Any creative expression where the intent of the artist is to convey an observable understanding of the physical universe". As a result, the science permeates the art in multiple ways'
Our
first original art installation was Data_Sea
(a real-time digital representation of the
Radiosphere), created by professional
artist extraordinaire, Michael
Takeo Magruder. The artwork consisted of
an interactive exhibit (above) located outside the
planetarium, with the following associated components:
Message in a Sphere - a 20min presenter-led planetarium show about the Radiosphere that included a projection of the artwork on the dome
Detailed interpretative handouts for visitors
The interpretative panel
After I left Thinktank in September 2013, I continued
to collaborate with Michael Magruder and he produced Data_Sea
v2.0 (compatible with updated astronomical data
and adapted for projection in portable domes utilising a
spherical mirror). It premiered in one of my mobile
domes at the Victoria
and Albert Museum (London) on 21 September
2013, and was also exhibited at EVA
London 2014
Michael Magruder
fine-tuning Data_Sea
v2.0 in the mobile dome
This mobile dome SciArt initiative was so unique it appeared as a story (and on the cover) of the magazine of the International Planetarium Society
Despite misgivings from Thinktank Museum management and non-planetarium staff, Data_Sea proved popular with museum visitors and this was borne out by extensive independent evaluation.
This mobile dome SciArt initiative was so unique it appeared as a story (and on the cover) of the magazine of the International Planetarium Society
Despite misgivings from Thinktank Museum management and non-planetarium staff, Data_Sea proved popular with museum visitors and this was borne out by extensive independent evaluation.
I created easy-to-digest
graphics of the evaluation results, and made the reports
available on the Museum intranet for sceptical
colleagues to read. Yet it was all completely ignored by
management colleagues who were against the idea of art
in a science museum. I discovered that despite all the
noise museums make about the importance of visitor
research, evaluation results are only acknowledged and
acted upon when they agree with the thinking of those in
power.
Data_Sea was one of numerous SciArt
initiatives by Thinktank Planetarium and collaborating
artists between 2009-2013
The amusing thing is that the planetarium corridor
that became the SciArt Gallery (never officially called
that by the Museum), had from the beginning been
designed as a gallery space to exhibit 'space art' /
'SciArt' in the form of Hubble Space Telescope images
Before
After
Yet sadly SciArt was never allowed to flourish at
Thinktank Science Museum, even with my many perfectly
sound audience development plans and
with the promise of regular funding from Arts
Council England at a time of diminishing
budgets.
Nevertheless, it was a privilege to have spearheaded a progressive initiative emulating the leading science museums of the world.
Nevertheless, it was a privilege to have spearheaded a progressive initiative emulating the leading science museums of the world.