M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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Brandon Ballengée DFA 25, Promethéus, Scanner Photograph of Cleared and Stained Multi-limbed Pacific Tree frog from Aptos, California in Scientific Collaboration with Stanley K. Sessions. MALAMP titles in collaboration with the poet KuyDelair. H 46 inches x W 34 inches. Unique IRIS print on watercolor paper 2003/07. Courtesy the artist, Capsula & Comafosca, Barcelona. � and to what extent are your ideas and results viewed as being on a level with the findings of Science? I have a long history of collaboration and cooperation with scientists. When conducting primary experiments, I employ rigorous scientific methods and discuss 16 experimental design with scientists to insure validation of the results. If enough quantifiable data is collected to suggest a phenomenon, it is shared with a larger scientific community through publishing in peer-reviewed journals. One of my long-term collaborations is with Dr. Stanley K. Sessions. We have worked together for over a decade. We have conducted numerous science and technology
investigations; for example, exploring the way highresolution scanning may be employed to create highly detailed fine art photographs, as well as how it may be beneficial in biological studies to image macro species. We have conducted primary research biology experiments made open to the public via projected webcams at art museums. The results of those biological tests were recently published in a co-authored paper. I am allergic to the term ‘blurring’ as it seems to implicate a dumbing-down. How do you feel about this? I strongly do not think blurring in the context of genuine art and science cooperation means dumbing-down. Collaboration implements increased complexity. For in collaborative multi-disciplinary projects, participants come from different skilled backgrounds and work through different models of approach. During the working process natural blurring or overlaps occur between disciplines - which is essential for a cross-pollination of knowledge and skills. Innovation happens precisely because participants approach problems differently. The process is not exclusively art or science but transdisciplinary research. In an interview Nils Norman spoke about his aim of replicating the visual language of town planners in order to ‘infiltrate their world’ and by commenting on it, to (re)inform that audience. How does this relate to a perception of your work by the scientific community? Terms such as ‘infiltration’ concern me. Artists should not need to employ a kind of espionage to inform an audience. Precisely because they are artists means they can make creative contributions to collaborative working conditions. We are artists first and foremost. We look at the world differently and that has value in and of itself. For a town-planning project, learning the visual language of this process would be a necessary first step towards communication. If artists want to work inside of rarified contexts, they have to learn a certain level of knowledge in the field. Likewise, we would never imagine a painter not investigating paint. The model I employ is about cooperation and not infiltration. When this work began, most biologists I contacted were open to collaborating with an artist. Some sent papers, others sent data and specimens while with others we just discussed ideas. I took the time to learn their language and study their methods. In 1996, biologist Peter Warny was the first to nudge me towards conducting quantifiable field-surveys. Within a couple of years, I was working on amphibian field-research for the former North American Reporting Center for Amphibian Malformations (a former United States Geological Survey program). My findings were shared with the amphibian research community. As the projects have become larger and more members of the public have been involved this sharing of collected data has continued. 17 Gregory Pryor has been described as working “under the guise of the botanist” where he produces an extensive catalogue of some thousands of drawings of endangered plant species; Paul Buchler says the greatest needs of our society are the methodologies of artists, the way artists think and work creatively and not the art itself: with this in mind please could you say something about how you view the labels ‘naturalist,’ ‘artist,’ ‘scientist’? I really dislike the term ‘guise’ as it implies a false outward appearance. Artists should not need to hide their identity to make meaningful contributions to a community. I really like Pryor’s plant drawings, he ‘visualizes’ species decline aesthetically without a blatantly moralistic attitude. Another artist that has a background of being a botanist is George Gessert who engineers varieties of flowers through selective breeding. Gessert creates exquisite photographic portraits of his sculpted floral subjects. In both Pryor and Gessert’s work there is an admirable sense of respect for the subjects they study. I disagree with Buchler about the dismissal of the art object itself. Art has always played an important and valuable role in society. Images and objects inspire and can be engaging, independent from the artist. Artist- implemented direct actions or interventions through performative practices can be vehicles to activate communities. The way artists ‘think’ along with their processes and methods can make important contributions to society. Both the naturalist’s passionate study of the natural world and the approach of scientists are both profoundly important to a future of increased environmental awareness. I think what is needed is a furthered effort towards communication and cooperation among people with diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Transdisciplinary creative strategies are needed solve increasingly complex environmental and social challenges. The artist Fritz Haeg is an artist who creates living installations through and with communities but is he just gardening? Haeg’s works are art and function as outdoor installation. Gardening is his tool of expression and working with communities is an activist strategy. Artists creating community gardens offer an opportunity to the public for environmental involvement. There is a rich trajectory of artists working in this genre as well as creating living outdoor installations involving plants. For example, the apple garden from the Harrison’s Survival Series, Patricia Johansson’s Endangered Garden, even Alan Sonfist’s Time Landscape and on and on. The methods are perhaps age-old but these artists are directing public focus back towards the landscape. By making the process participatory and experiential they are having an effect on local communities. Do you see yourself as a political activist?
Page 1 and 2: Antennae Issue 10 - Summer 2009 ISS
Page 3 and 4: T his issue of Antennae is fully de
Page 5 and 6: ‘Y ou don’t need a Ph.D. in lin
Page 7 and 8: Simon Starling Kakteenhaus, 2002, V
Page 9 and 10: BEYOND CLASSIC FIELD BIOLOGY: BATRA
Page 11 and 12: Brandon Ballengée DFA 83, Karkinos
Page 13 and 14: empathy in viewers. The intention i
Page 15: Brandon Ballengée The Ever Changin
Page 19 and 20: F ood production, energy consumptio
Page 21 and 22: W hat is a Translocal Curator? We u
Page 23 and 24: The feminist challenge to patriarch
Page 25 and 26: O ver the last several decades, the
Page 27 and 28: Julian Montague The Stray Shopping
Page 29 and 30: Julian Montague The Stray Shopping
Page 31 and 32: L ondon Fieldworks’ latest projec
Page 33 and 34: London Fieldworks Stalin Animal Sho
Page 35 and 36: and violence; keeping urban reality
Page 37 and 38: E ndangered Species began as a resp
Page 39 and 40: Todd Gilens Top images: Waiting at
Page 41 and 42: Todd Gilens Foldable Pelican Bus
Page 43 and 44: MAINTAINING A GREEN NEWS AGENDA Thi
Page 45 and 46: coverage shaped in this way appeare
Page 47 and 48: CAPE FAREWELL: THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY
Page 49 and 50: David Hinton Director David Hinton
Page 51 and 52: Nathan Gallagher Ryuichi Sakamoto o
Page 53 and 54: Patrick Huse Bølgende landskap, wa
Page 55 and 56: Which brings me back to what origin
Page 57 and 58: nature. The affirmation is one that
Page 59 and 60: Max Eastley Max Eastley recording s
Page 61 and 62: and leave land behind. This region
Page 63 and 64: Max Eastley Exposición CAPE FAREWE
Page 65 and 66: I t can be argued that culturally a
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Ana Mendieta Untitled, from the ser
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Ackroyd & Harvey FlyTower 2007, Nat
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Ackroyd & Harvey Green brick, green
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Ken Yonetani The Dead Sea, 2008, ce
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Mark Wilson and Bryndís Snæbjörn
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Georgina Reid For the Baby, In Ligh
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Art Orienté Objet have been creati
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Art Orienté Objet Bwiti Turning, 2
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and his environment emerges from th
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Art Orienté Objet The Happy Hen, 2
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M INE is a documentary film by Gera
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Geralyn Pezanoski Mine: Taken By Ka
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91 MAUSOLEUM The extraordinary bota
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Gregory Pryor Herbarium, Naturhisto
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Gregory Pryor Top Image: Black Sola
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Brandon Ballengée DFA 2, Héphaist
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M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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