BHI Colloquium
Monday, October 30, 2023
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
BHI Colloquium
Lynn Gamwell
Description
Title: Black Hole Aesthetics
Abstract: Inescapable and mysterious, black holes have captured the imagination of the broader culture. Visual artists have responded by giving concrete form to these unseen phenomena. In this talk I’ll show how artists have addressed the challenge of visualizing black holes by developing new methods. I’ll note that certain themes of the science of black holes—nothingness, emptiness, darkness, void, silence—have been themes of modern art since its inception, and I’ll show examples of contemporary artists who share a modernist lineage who have made artworks about black holes. These themes are also rooted in traditional Eastern thought, so contemporary Asian artists are predisposed to respond to black holes. In general, I’ll intermix science and art, illustrating relevant artwork that responds to the science of black holes and relevant science diagrams in my discussions of art. I’ll show many artworks that were not featured in my talk at the 2023 annual BHI conference.
Bio: Lynn Gamwell does interdisciplinary research on the connections among art history, the history of mathematics, and the history of science. She teaches these subjects at the School of Visuals Arts in New York. She is currently writing Black Hole Aesthetics: Scientific and Artistic Images of Invisible Objects (Princeton University Press, forthcoming). Her published books include: Exploring the Invisible: Art, Science, and the Spiritual, revised edition (Princeton University Press, 2020); Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History (Princeton University Press, 2016); Dreams 1900-2000: Science, Art, and the Unconscious Mind (author and editor; Cornell University Press, 2000); and Madness in America: Cultural and Medical Perceptions of Mental Illness before 1914 (with Nancy Tomes, Cornell Studies in the History of Psychiatry, Cornell University Press, 1994).
When
Monday, October 30, 2023 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Where
Share
BHI News
BHI Publication
Expanding Sgr A* dynamical imaging capabilities with an African extension to the Event Horizon Telescope
April 1, 2023
Astrophysical jets are relativistic outflows that remain collimated for remarkably many orders of magnitude. Despite decades of research, the…
Read The BHI Publication