Importance of art from linguistic perspective of the term “Art & Science”

Why art is so important?

I would like to explore the importance of art through a logical understanding of the term Art & Science.

When one speaks of cultural or intellectual development, Art & Science has always been in parallel to such discourse. I find it interesting to see how Art and Science are written together, because they are commonly regarded as separate subjects. For example, our education system is divided by e.g. Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Sciences, which shows an evidence that Art and Science are discipline of its own.

Yet, when it comes to speaking a whole e.g. cultural development, arts and science seem to be treated as a collective discipline, and they are expressed as a single term - Art & Science. Seemingly, the two subjects do not seem to have in common as they are learnt separately in our higher education system. But, the logical usage of ‘&’ suggests that there must be a commonality between Art and Science. In fact, the mutuality of Art and Science is embedded in each of the field. For instance, an artist will consider geometry when drawing, and a scientist will need an observable presentation in order to come up with Fibonacci sequence.

In this respect, Art and Science co-exist with another and the each subject can be spoken with a perspective of the other. Although Art and Science are mutual in this sense, it is hard to grasp that Art and Science can be spoken in mutual way as Art is generally visible, while Science is rather hidden under the visibility of Art. For example, a work of art can represent both artistic and scientific worlds of the nature, but this is only possible through the visibility of arts. 

What’s more, whereas Art is generally considered as a language of the people, Science is regarded as an expert knowledge. Considering the term Art & Science, it is probable that it is written that way due to the alphabetical order, but also equally possible that Art is written first as it is more familiar than Science. In this respect, the logical written order of the expression Art & Science is in line with an assumption that Art embodies the concept of Science. That is, the latter word can be understood by the inference of the former word: Science can be understood by referring to Art.

From this perspective, a work of art seems to provide an encompassing understanding of Art & Science. Artists have been arousing philosophical and scientific notions through their artworks. Lucio Fontana’s famous buchi and tagli (holes and cuts) on the canvas could be a good example that shows an innovation in artistic method that could open up a new mode of understanding.

Concetto Spaziale, Atesse, 1960 | courtesy of Robilant + Voena

The double-slit experiment poses key findings: such as, regardless of the infinite probabilities of the wave particles’ directions, the final destination is always specifically determined, therefore appears as a pattern - just like the specific cut on the painting.

Evidently, throughout his famous Concetto Spaziale, Atesse, Lucio Fontana showed a way of expressing another dimension on canvas. The cuts on his canvas opens up another plane, creates a depth and provides a black hole like impression. Artistically, his expression on the canvas provides a feeling of intense vitality. At the same time, one could argue that it represents a metaphorical understanding that could lead to philosophical and scientific understanding.

Whereas understanding a scientific concept requires certain knowledge, an artwork could represent and provide a metaphor of scientific notions that can be understood visually. Also, an artwork could provoke philosophical questions that could be explained together along with Science. Then, this is in line with the logical order of the expression Art & Science, that Science can be understood by the inference of Art.

From this perspective, it could be argued that demarcating Art and Science in our education system provides an in-depth knowledge about each of the discipline, so that a mutual concept - for example an artwork - could be understood from the both point of views. That is, an importance of art can be explained by the fact that a work of art could provide an encompassing understanding of Art & Science. Moreover, since art is more familiar to people that to science, art could provide a metaphor of a scientific knowledge that anyone can simply enjoy.

Then, it seems that an importance of art lies on the fact that it stands as a medium of Art & Science. Not only that art has a capacity to explore scientific knowledge, but also that art is simply more visible and it is more familiar to people. Perhaps this might be why art has always been celebrated and cherished throughout the human history, because a work of art could not only encompass an understanding of Art & Science, but also because an artwork could show as a result of human knowledge.