The Superposition

Development by incremental iteration,
regular failure, being driven to
new thinking by one’s experimental
results… am I describing a scientific
process or an artistic one? Once a
scientist realizes this fundamental
state of affairs it becomes simple for
them to recognize creativity in their
own process but also how beneficial
a collaboration can be for both parties.
The major difference comes in the
initial state. I generalize, (something
scientists do less than artists (another
generalization)), but usually scientists
have a question or idea that they
are attempting to find solutions for.
Their initial state is at least informed
by some sort of structured, informed
problem, that has a potential path to
solution. Artists, on the other hand, are
in the fortunate and unusual position
of not always requiring any initial state,
we are not necessarily governed by
any intellectual conditions, we can
theoretically make, or do, what we
like. Yet the difference is wider than
just this. Artists feel at liberty to ask
questions they don’t know the answers
to, or ask questions they don’t even
understand, or ask questions that
don’t even have “answers”. Artists
are comfortable beginning a research
process without understanding the
question or knowing how to begin
trying to find out the answers. We are
terribly arrogant of our ability to generate
some sort of informed outcome
based on such nebulous initial states!
Yet the field of mathematics is closer
to this approach than most other
sciences; as Bertrand Russell said
in 1901, Mathematics is “The subject
in which we never know what we are
talking about, nor whether what we
are saying is true.”
Asking questions is what both artists
and scientists do for a living, so why
not work together to find solutions?
Asking scientists questions based
on limited or zero knowledge is highly
entertaining, not least because you
learn how to ask “good” questions,
even if you don’t know what you are
talking about. Yet scientists are
pleasantly surprised that artists
can, and do, ask questions that
make them think.
Asking a physicist to explain quantum
mechanics in the time it takes to drink
a pint forces them to refine their
arguments and thinking so that we
can understand what they say, even
if we still can’t understand what they
mean. Working together enhances
each individual’s critical thinking,
opens them up to new ways
of thinking, doing, making and
experimenting. A true art-science
collaboration should be a two-way
street; information, ideas, techniques
and approaches should be shared
and utilised as an ongoing process
where the outcomes of one is more
similar than different to the outcomes
of the other. Creativity is the key to this
approach. Recognising that theoretical
mathematicians, molecular biologists
or geologists all share huge areas
of overlapping cognitive and haptic
skills with artists is recognizing that
the Scientific Process is the same
as the Artistic Process.
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