{"id":339,"date":"2008-09-17T22:50:33","date_gmt":"2008-09-17T22:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/2008\/09\/17\/art_intimating_science\/"},"modified":"2008-09-17T22:50:33","modified_gmt":"2008-09-17T22:50:33","slug":"art_intimating_science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/2008\/09\/17\/art_intimating_science\/","title":{"rendered":"Art intimating Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my last post<\/a> I tried to elucidate the classy and artful double-entendre<\/em> title of this blog. My Reciprocal Space<\/em>, I explained, is a place for exchange, but the name also belies a play on words that invokes the peculiar mathematical construct used to interpret the X-ray diffraction patterns from crystalline samples. Reciprocal space inverts reality and reflects it back at us in ways that are not immediately obvious or revealing, as those who have grappled with the concept will know; but it can<\/em> reward persistent analysis.<\/p>\n

\tNow I promise that am not<\/em> going to keep harping on about this, but I have just spent a few days in Chicago and two artistic encounters evoked alternative types of reciprocal space<\/em>. So let me beg your indulgence on this topic one more time and then I\u2019ll drop it \u2013 at least for a while!<\/p>\n

\tThe first encounter happened last Sunday on a dismal grey afternoon as incessant rain glossed the sidewalks and seeped into my shoes. I took refuge in the Art Institute of Chicago<\/a> and came upon Ivan Albright’s<\/a> The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em>. The painting was commissioned for the 1945 film of Oscar Wilde\u2019s famous novel<\/a> of the same name. In the book Dorian Gray maintains his youthful looks and pursues a life of debauched hedonism at the expense of his portrait, which\u2014locked in the attic\u2014decays slowly to reveal the terrible degradation of his soul. Albright\u2019s painting is laden with corrupting detail (his signature style) and reveals the late stage of decay of the portrait. It is a truly shocking reciprocal<\/em> to Dorian\u2019s supremely indulgent lifestyle; the inversion is ugly, repellent – even the cat<\/em> is disgusted with its master.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\nDorian Gray corrupted<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\tThe second occurred on Tuesday at the nearby Millennium Park where Anish Kapoor\u2019s<\/a> sublime and very shiny sculpture, Cloud Gate<\/em><\/a> sits gleaming in the sun. Known more commonly as \u2018The Bean\u2019, since that is exactly what it looks like, this is a fun piece of public art. The smooth, polished contours of the huge steel sculpture reflect the surroundings, playfully bending the linear, cornered cityscape into friendly curves.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\nThe Bean<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\tBut more enchanting still is to walk in underneath<\/em> and gaze up at the convex metal surface which bounces and duplicates your reflection, casting it all over the place. Your image shimmers, stretches, separates and squeezes as you wander around. The pattern of reflections is so complex that you cannot easily make out the surface of the mirror\u2014real and reciprocal spaces are conjoined\u2014and you have to be careful not to bump into the metal walls. I stood and stared upwards, smiling with amusement, and trying\u2014ever the scientist\u2014to figure out the symmetry of my reflections.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\nMe, multiplied<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\tThere\u2019s nothing terribly deep in either of these observations but, as I say, they did put me in mind of reciprocal space. I wonder have others chanced upon works of art that had echoes of their scientific interests? I would be glad to hear any reciprocal views…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last post I tried to elucidate the classy and artful double-entendre title of this blog. My Reciprocal Space, I explained, is a place for exchange, but the name also belies a play on words that invokes the peculiar … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}