Artwork

Since C.P. Snow’s The Two Cultures of 1959 provoked a heated philosophical debate in the UK and beyond, much has changed. From the establishment of Science and Technology Studies, the School of Edinburgh and the Sokal hoax, the discussion on art and science has most certainly entered a new era. Relationships between exact sciences and humanities, or between science and art, are undergoing considerable changes, not yet clearly mapped.

But at the JRC, we find many colleagues actively practicing an art, from theatre over painting and sculpture to writing and music. It seems appropriate to show these activities, and reflect on the mutations these borders have undergone and are undergoing in recent times – of which this festival is but a small expression.

If scientists are interested in art, it is not rare that considerations of influence and expediency move in. How to communicate hard data on global warming? How can a scientist discuss on the basis of unscientific proposals, e.g. as those made by climate deniers? By the evolution of science into a grey zone where science is denied by society, some scientists become activists to better defend scientific insights. Here too the borders between science and politics are not as clear-cut as we might wish.

Snow’s The Two Cultures was a passionate defence of a new education, where the rift between science and art might be overcome – his quote on science and art being sub-cultures indicates this clearly. How profound is this rift today? How can we overcome it? Can we provoke ‘A New Renaissance’ as the European Research Area Board advocates? In fact – can we still come up with something profoundly new? Where can we find those new ways of thinking that might help us, collectively, to tackle the great issues of our times?

Additional details

Different works of art by JRC scientists shown in a decor of vintage laboratory furniture.