FOREWORD

The exhibition that you will see today is dedicated to understanding natural phenomena in our universe and man’s pursuit to make sense of it all. It deals with the fascinating interaction between duality of physics and philosophy.

Many tend to think of science as the objective pursuit of cold facts and stony certainties, worlds away from vague musings and dreamy visions that belong to the world of philosophy. But those involved in research know that scientists in their bright labs and philosophers in their dingy attic rooms have more in common than we think. They both spend their lives in the quest of ‘why?’ and ‘how?’

Science used to be considered a ‘natural philosophy’ at some of the older universities in Britain. It is all about learning about the world through observations and experiments. Philosophy – the ways in which we see the world and conceptualise it, our different perspectives and points of views - inform and change the fabric of science and technology, and open up scientific investigation to the forces of the Universe, with all its questions and uncertainties.

Sometimes modern science and philosophy seem to become closely intertwined. In my own work, I see how the bridge that results from the work of Thomas Bayes in the 1750s allows the objective and the subjective to function together. This is now fundamental to some of the most exciting research areas.

I hope you enjoy the exhibition.

If there is more potential interchange than often credited between the scientific and the artistic or cultural imagination, then perhaps it can be best considered in terms of how disciplines within both science and the humanities so often fold the idea of creativity into an original action or thought. In
terms of the early twentieth century, the avant-garde’s privileging of originality in art can be seen
in the same way as the interest in the original spirit or moment of scientific speculation. In reality,
any myth of ‘origins’ produces its own linear history, eliding in the process the actual cul-de-sacs,
forking paths, blind alleyways and downright failures that are so much part of the creative process.
Moved further away from empirical and embodied feelings through and of the world by ever more
abstract systems of scientific knowledge, it is hard for us to recognise that scientific facts and logic are just momentary crests in the chaotic flux that is both the world and our bodies. Placing physics
more vividly in conversation with metaphysics through the artistic speculations presented in this
exhibition might start to reveal how as embodied beings, we are nevertheless not incapable of
presenting new topologies for a scientific imagination and of living beyond the here-and-now or
even beyond ourselves. here-and-now or even beyond
ourselves.

 - Dr Catherine James, Lecturer
  of Modern & Contemporary Art,
  Christie’s Education

EPILOGUE

The physicist Richard Feynman talks at length about the inadequacy of science to capture the marvel of our universe and the need for art to help us bridge the gap between the tangible and the intangible.
Considering the artworks of Knowles, Dunseath, Ly, Cox et al, this story starts to unfold. Here we
see artists who have placed the potential of enquiry and thought at the core of their practice. Whilst
all are exercising their own imagination and interests, it is possible to trace the spirit of scientific enquiry within their work. The artworks within Beyond Ourselves are not didactic or theoretically correct. They have their roots in earth, but their gaze is upwards, channelling the wonder that our universe is, placing the individual into a central role of mediation between these two fields
of endeavour and offering an accord that shows how, without the questioning mind, none of this
would be possible.

 - Ingrid Hinton, Curator