Can Sci-Art projects lead to the creation of wealth generating products, processes and services? (second page)
You will have guessed, of course, that the miracle had been achieved; the three year old Mother and Child was still green - the ephemeral had been fixed! Similar grass artworks have been created round the world ever since.
On the science side, I can give you only a glimpse of the many stages of development that have taken place since 1997. Sid Thomas sums up progress as follows:
“The Sci-Art Award led to a DEFRA project to develop imaging as a tool for crop monitoring. Subsequently, the remarkable outputs from a study for PIMHAI (an acronym for an EU-funded project on hyperspectral imaging from planes) convinced us, and others, that monitoring land use from airplanes will greatly enhance our ability to ‘read’ landscapes.”
Sid goes on to say that IGER’s latest work for UMAP (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Manage Agricultural Practice) will establish a new business sector providing landscape management services to agriculture, environmental agencies and companies.
FIXING THE EPHEMERAL ‘Mother and Child’
Living grass photograph
Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey
FIXING THE EPHEMERAL
Aerial view near IGER showing greenness (ie in red)
Returning now to AFTER IMAGE, I have already mentioned the numerous follow-up projects carried out by Alexa and her scientific partner Alf Linney.
The latest, Conversation Piece, which received a Sci-Art Award in 2006, is described
by Alexa as an intelligent room that can hold conversations with its occupants.
Alexa explains: “In this interactive audio installation visitors will encounter up to three small sculptures displayed on plinths. People are tracked as they enter the space, and anyone passing close to one of the sculptures will be greeted by a disembodied voice which will then try to engage the visitor in conversation. Using keywords to interpret what is said in reply 'Heather', the disembodied voice, will conduct conversations with individuals at up to three different locations in the room.”
What is the scientific value of this work? Conversation Piece has brought together existing and emerging technologies for speech and hearing and introduced people
and ideas from various scientific disciplines to one another. The work is still in its development stage so it is too early to assess the extent of its benefits to science or,
for that matter, its significance.
So the question remains: can this type of Sci-Art follow-up activity be regarded,
in any way, as wealth generating? Probably not in the short term but, at a time when there are growing doubts about whether or not our educational system (which usually divides the arts from the sciences) can meet the needs of an emerging knowledge based economy, I believe Alexa’s example pinpoints the way ahead. We all stand to gain from an educational system in which scientists and artists are encouraged to enrich and maximise each other’s potential. For the future, to promote growth
and competitiveness, it will be vitally important that we give increased emphasis
to the under-recognised role of the arts in driving change and innovation.
AFTER IMAGE follow-up
‘Conversation Piece’, an interactive studio installation
Alexa Wright & Alf Linney
