Exploring Scientific Metaphors in Visual Arts

1. Physical Aesthetics: Scientific Metaphors and the Visual Arts Steve Zides Wofford College zidessb@wofford.edu Search for Truthby René Magritte

2. Course Goals • To expose students to the major conceptual ideas arising in Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Optics, and Relativity. • To humanize these topics by extending the physical concepts into broader physical metaphors. • To critically examine how these physical metaphors get used in the visual arts and pop-culture.

3. Class Structure Tuesday (Scientific Concepts) Discuss the assigned reading from the physics text View excerpts from science documentaries (NOVA) Engage in collaborative group exercises Thursday (Visual Counterparts) Discuss the assigned reading from the art texts View excepts from pop culture television (Futurama) or art documentaries (Art 21) Engage in class debates and peer review

4. Example Topic: Force (Physics) - Aristotle’s ideas on Force and Motion - Galileo’s thoughts on Motion and Inertia : excerpt from Dialogs Concerning Two New Sciences : experiment vs. thought experiment - Newton’s theory’s on Force and Motion : three laws of motion : universal gravitation : excerpt from NOVA Newton’s Dark Secrets - Vectors and Vector Addition - Free Body Diagrams

5. Example Topic: Force (Art) Mass Force Vector Pieta by Michelangelo The Tragedy by Pablo Picasso The Death of Marat by Jacques- Louis David

6. Example Topic: Force (Art) Mass Mass as Weight or Heaviness - “density of the sculptors medium” - “complexity of the entire work” - “emotional impact of the work” Mass as a Measure of Inertia - “personal inertia” - “social or cultural inertia” Mass in the Religious Sense - “Catholic Mass” Pieta by Michelangelo

7. Example Topic: Force (Art) Force Force as an Influence - “forces of nature” - “personal forces” - “emotional forces” - “Newton’s Laws as possible laws of human behavior” Force as Violence - “might makes right” The Tragedy by Pablo Picasso

8. Example Topic: Force (Art) Vector Vector as a Physical Object - ”Knife that killed Marat” - “Arrow of Odysseus” Vector as a Direction - “personal fate or destiny” - “evolution of a society” - “narrative of history” The Death of Marat by Jacques- Louis David

9. Assessment Strategies Traditional Strategies Quizzes, Class Participation, Lab Reports Non-Traditional Strategies Art Analysis Essays, Integrated Exams

10. Example Art Essay: Mechanics Pick an artwork, from The Art Book, which exemplifies a mechanical metaphor (i.e. position, velocity, acceleration, force, mass, etc.). Create a 500 – 1000 word essay discussing how the artist uses this metaphor. If you like, you may compare and contrast a metaphor used in two separate artworks. You may also discuss several related metaphors that occur in a single work. One student selected to write about the velocity metaphor in Coming from the Mill by L. S. Lowry

11. Example Test Question: Mechanics Look at the following painting by Joseph Turner. The work, entitled The Fighting Temerairedepicts the period in naval history when both the seasoned sailing ship and the proto-steam ship shared the coastal waterways. Answer one of the following questions: i) How are the motional concepts of position, velocity, and acceleration represented in the painting? ii) How does the painting utilize the physical metaphors of work and energy?

12. Mathematical Adaptations? Equation Functions Countable Sets Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian CHX by Moholy-Nagy Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat

13. Physical Aesthetics: Scientific Metaphors and the Visual Arts Steve Zides Wofford College zidessb@wofford.edu Time Transfixedby René Magritte