Art, Science Side by Side at Museum Summer Festival

You may consider art and science antipathetic opposites, but this summer the disciplines intersect at the California Museum of Science and Industry. An Art and Science Summer Festival there explores common ground in varied exhibits and performances, starting today and running through Sept. 4.

“There’s a notion called complementarity in physics, that different models are needed to explain different aspects of things,” says Diane Perlov, curator of special exhibitions at the museum. That principle seems to be a paradigm for the whole project, which Perlov has been contemplating almost since she joined the museum five years ago.

The festival brings together pre-existing exhibitions, from as far away as Paris, and offerings created specifically for the festival. In fact, there is enough work being done now at the crossroads of art and science that Perlov was constrained only by budget, not a dearth of viable ideas.

“There are so many things dealing with art and science, particularly in Los Angeles,” she says, “that I was inundated with possible exhibits. I was just limited by funding.”

Perlov’s budget was $250,000, augmented by in-kind services such as the free design and printing (by GTE) of the festival brochure.

The exhibitions and performances are focused on two main areas, according to Perlov.

“One is the common ground in the process of doing art and science. Both entail creative skills and modeling--the importance of recognizing patterns. Both ask similar questions about how the world works.”

The second area is the “complementary nature of the products of art and science. Together they provide a much richer perspective on nature--another way of knowing.”

The festival begins today with the opening of eight exhibitions. “Physics Art” is a new exhibit, produced by artist Pam Davis in collaboration with various scientists. Models intended to demonstrate artistically certain physics theories were created through the Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara, and luminaries of the physics world recorded discussions of their work to complement the visual display.

“The premise is that physicists are primarily motivated by aesthetics,” Perlov says. “Just finding answers is not enough--they want to find the most elegant models possible.”

Some of the scientists involved, including Nobel Prize laureates, will be on hand to walk through the exhibit Saturday afternoon. That morning, the Geulah Abrahams Danceworks company from New Jersey will give two free performances of choreographies that reflect concepts in the exhibit. The dance concerts will feature the premiere of four works created especially for the exhibit.

Aerospace achievements and art will be well represented. The 20th anniversary of the first lunar landing will be celebrated in “Apollo 11 Revisited,” a display of Apollo equipment that will include re-enactments of the Apollo 11 moon walk (July 20, 22) , as well as rides aboard a replica of the lunar rover (July 17-22).

“Visions of Space” shows 149 original color photographs from the first 25 years of space photography, plus other space art. In August the exhibit will feature live video coverage, on-line from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, of Neptune and its moons beamed back by Voyager II. “IRAS: Our Eye in Space” pairs pictures from an infrared satellite telescope with paintings by Zaqueline Souras.

Other exhibitions opening today are: “What Makes Music?,” an interactive child-oriented exhibit including a large keyboard a la the movie “Big”; “The Nature of Structure,” a display of Kenneth Snelson’s sculptures, ranging from models of subatomic particles to works inspired by Buckminster Fuller; “Soundtracks,” an exploration of environment sounds; “Dance of the Universe,” in which reproductions of artworks are juxtaposed with scientific theories.

“The Art of Science,” opening June 28 and running throughout July, displays the entries in a national competition for which high school students created works expressing their perceptions of art and technology. The currently running IMAX film “To the Limit” (previously reviewed in these pages) is considered a part of the festival, although admission to it is not free as it is to the exhibitions.

Daily events include demonstrations of computer graphics and music synthesizers, and “Science on Stage”--dramatizations relating to exhibit concepts and theories, “which makes everything accessible for children,” Perlov says. There will also be a series of lectures in July relating to space exploration.

Perlov is excited about her festival, but at the same time not surprised by the number and quality of exhibitions or the wide interest in artistic expositions of scientific themes. “People seem to be moving towards a more holistic approach to science,” she says.