Week 1: Two Cultures
Both Snow and Sir Kevin Robinson note that the modern education system has been largely influenced by industrialism, which I think is key to understanding the separation between the two cultures of art and science in everyday life and on college campuses. We have been conditioned to shy away from interdisciplinary study, just as we have resisted a blend of aesthetics in architecture and design.
While walking from North to South campus at UCLA, you can see a dramatic shift in the architecture. What is most striking to me is that North Campus with the arts and humanities is much more romanesque, and South campus' math and science buildings are much more "modern." To me, this insinuates that math and technology are more on the "cutting edge" of society, enforcing stereotypes that are created about the divide between the two cultures of art and science.
In Steven Pinker's video about the two cultures, he states that "A lot of social science takes place on the assumption that ideas, values, and norms float in some layer disconnected from flesh and blood... brains" (0:32-0:46). He is expressing the somewhat widely held belief that those in the humanities can discount the more physical components of study. There is also the matter of growing distrust in the scientific community over the last few decades, which has made the push towards interdisciplinary study even greater. (Law 2021).
As a college student at an institution where this divide can be seen plainly, I am of the mind that we should see art as a type of science and science as an art! There are so many moments when I think about the the inner workings of a piece of art and consider the physical components that are part of its composition, just as I can see the shapes and patterns on a graph as an artistic form. In an article from UTS School of Design, Cherine Fahd explains the ways that the beauty of the James Webb deep field images in space remind her how art and science are inextricable. She notes that "the divide between science and art is artificial" (2021).
I think this is a wonderful reminder of how important it is to change our thinking about the relationship between the two cultures, and pursue a more collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach.
Sources:
“How the Divide between Science and Art Is Artificial.” University of Technology Sydney, 12 Feb. 2024, www.uts.edu.au/news/tech-design/how-divide-between-science-and-art-artificial.
“RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Oct. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U.
Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. At the Univ. Press, 1960.
“A Third Culture: We Need Art-Science Collaborations for More Democratic Research.” Art, www.artistswithevidence.org/blog-post/a-third-culture-artscience/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.
Vesna, Victoria. “Towards a third culture |.” Art, Technology, Consciousness, 1 Sept. 2000, pp. 7–12, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv36xw15f.5.
Images:
“A Campus Divided.” PRIME, prime.dailybruin.com/justinnorth&southcampus. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.
Deborah, Dr. “Balancing the Art and Science of Business.” Osgood & Associates, 10 May 2018, osgoodandassociates.com/balancing-the-art-and-science-of-business/.
“How the Divide between Science and Art Is Artificial.” University of Technology Sydney, 12 Feb. 2024, www.uts.edu.au/news/tech-design/how-divide-between-science-and-art-artificial.
Hi Jessica!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog about the Two Cultures. I agree with your takes on the differences between North Campus and South Campus buildings. The differences really show through when comparing some of the more iconic buildings in North Campus like Royce Hall with the newer engineering buildings like Engineering VI. You have a really good analysis of Pinker's video and did a great job of relating it to the need for interdisciplinary study. It's really cool how you relate seeing shapes and patterns of graphs, which are typically described as scientific, as art.
Reading your blog has me asking: what is your major? Which of the two cultures at UCLA do you fit into? In the blog you mentioned a lot of things that are typically thought to be very sciency like the Jason Webb deep field images. Also, what has been your experience with bridging the gap between two cultures at UCLA?
Hi Jessica! Thank you for such a great post. I really resonated with your belief that art should be seen as science and science should be seen as art. As someone who is a molecular, cell, and developmental biology major who also participates in research on campus, I completely agree with you. Oftentimes while trying to perform an experiment, a certain aspect of my design may not work, and coming up with creative solutions to tackle the issue truly is an art form that requires me to think outside of the box!
ReplyDeleteI also think it is so important how you emphasized that a lot of the societal views today about the two cultures are a result of implicit assumptions being made. As a society, we definitely need to take more steps towards approaching all situations and contexts without assumptions, as this can really transform our experiences and views.
Hi Jessica, I really liked your point about how students should try to erase the divide between art and science because these two fields share so many similarities. Using space as an example really appealed to me. It takes an incredible amount of brain power in the sciences to fly satellites or rockets to space and one can view all this effort to be very artistic since the act of exploration is artistic in its own way.
ReplyDeleteComing from an engineering background, as I gained more experience in my own major, I recognized how important being creative and imaginative is when developing technology. No engineering problem has a black and white solution; instead, all engineering problems require an artistic and creative approach.