Body as Landscape: A Visual Aesthetic Model for Sensual Awareness of Challenges on our Environment.

Abstract

Human health is inextricably intertwined with the health of our environment but often they are explored independently in the domain of scientific research. This portfolio of practice-based research, from 2015- 2022, has emerged from in-depth art and science collaborations with biomedical researchers in the field of epidemiology, neurology, oncology and immunology. The interdisciplinary collaborations have resulted in the creation of new visual expressions, in the form of three- dimensional computer-generated landscapes, that address wider concerns regarding the connections between human and environmental health. Central to this body of practice is the consideration of aspects of the scientific research that remain oblique to the central motivations and practices of the scientists but that are vital to their personal engagement with their subject area. The art-science interdisciplinary research presented and reflected upon here, refocuses on these less contextualised aspects of scientific practice, providing a sensual experience of highly technical scientific research. My distinct contribution to knowledge is in the creation of a new aesthetic model in the form of an exemplary: body of practice-based artefacts and a distinct interdisciplinary process that has materialised from the creation of the aesthetic artefacts. This compendium of practice-based research is presented as two volumes: Volume I: is a written thesis, which provides a reflective and analytical text on my body of interdisciplinary practice in the form of practice- based artefacts. There are four artefacts which form this body of research: Dreams of Mice (2015); AfterGlow (2016); In Search of Chemozoa (2020) and Call of the Silent Cell (2021). Volume II: consists of a portfolio of the four practice-based artefacts in the form of aesthetic visual expressions. This volume provides documentation on the artistic techniques and processes of each artefact and is designed to be consulted as a parallel volume. Volume II is presented as a separate hard-copy and as an online version, please click here to access the online version. It is advised to view the online version as it includes embedded videos and web links to supplementary material. This research compendium (Volume I and II) combines to express my new aesthetic model that addresses challenges on our bodily health and the health of our environment through sensorial aesthetic expressions. This body of practice-based research has been produced through art and science interdisciplinary projects, providing deeper appreciation of valuable scientific concerns, through my own perceptual experiences of the science research. The thesis component (Volume I) provides an analytical reflection on the new knowledge that has been achieved through the insights of my interdisciplinary aesthetic processes. The methodology that was used to produce this body of research was practice-based in the field of computational art, supported by the examination of theory in this field by Ernest Edmonds and Linda Candy. Volume I presents an art and theoretical review (Chapter III), which examines other contemporary artists' theories and practice who are also working interdisciplinary across art, science and technology. This includes a case-study on the practice of artist collective, Semiconductor and reflects on the significance of their interdisciplinary practice over the last fifteen years. Chapter III also includes an examination of theoretical texts from key practice-based researchers who are innovators in the field of interdisciplinary practice including Victoria Vesna and Angus Graeme Forbes, who both critique the importance of interdisciplinary methodologies in the field of new media. Other relevant art and science theory has been examined in Volume I on the importance of: polymathic approaches; different types of models; aesthetics of art to enable new experiences and perception. In the analysis chapter (Chapter IV) the text responses to my initial research questions that are outlined in the Introduction (Chapter I - Section 1.1.2). This thesis provides a critical investigation of my individual contribution to this significant body of practice-based research, co- authored by Paul Smith under the collective artist name Boredomresearch.