Thursday

Code for everything: making an artwork with inspiration drawn from science.

An artist’s understanding and relationship with the properties and perceived actions of colour share many attributes with the investigations of a scientist and, in the experience of this project in particular, with that of an astronomer.

‘Code for Everything’ is an on-going and evolving art work which has taken its inspiration from the science of spectroscopy and in particular the individual emission spectra of the elements.

My scientific partner in this work is Anne-Marie Weijmans of the School of Physics and Astronomy at St Andrews University and my own insights have been through access her work is as the lead observer with MaNGA - mapping nearby galaxies at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico.

In the work and in my own investigations I have also sought to draw on the inherent rigour and methodology that I see in science and this has led me to a new relationship with regard to my source materials and my outcomes.