2.16.1 There have been rare instances, however, of artists, scientists, and engineers who know the language of art and science so well that they are easily able to travel between the two worlds, thus enriching both sides and closing the gap between them a bit One important example of a person able to speak two languages and who made bridging this gap his life's mission is Frank Malina. Malina was an astronautical pioneer and kinetic artist who founded a journal dedicated to exploring the triangle of art, science and technology in 1968, which he named after the quintessential person embodying the unification of these fields-Leonardo. [12] A conference dedicated to these topics entitled The International Workshop on Art and Science took place in December 1992 in the small town where Leonardo was born‹the Tuscan town of Vinci, not far from Florence. The International Workshop on Art and Science was organised by the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) and took place in the castle library. WAAS is an independent, international organisation whose members are scientists, artists, art historians, and critics. One of the participants who was unable to attend but wrote a paper for the conference proceedings was Paul Feyerabend. After sending the final version of his contribution, Feyerabend died in February 1994. This paper was one of his last works on the topic of art and science. (Leonardo, pp.23- 28)

2.16.2 After receiving his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1936, Malina directed the WAC Corporal program that put the first rocket beyond the Earth's atmosphere. He co-founded and was the second director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), co-founded the Aerojet General Corporation, and was an active participant in rocket-science development in the period leading up to and during World War II. Invited to join the United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) in 1947 by Julian Huxley, Malina moved to Paris as the director of the organisation's science programs. Notably, Malina participated in the CP Snow debate in practice by attempting to merge his scientific expertise with his long-standing artistic sensibilities.

2.16.3 From the sciences he introduced the concept of publishing a peer reviewed journal for serious artists working with technology. Leonardo remains an influential journal in the establishment of a triangle of art, science, and technology. [13] As an artist, Malina moved from traditional media to mesh, string, and canvas constructions, and finally to experiments with light, which led to his development of systems for kinetic painting. He became active with a group of people who were starting to experiment with art and technology in the early sixties, Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT). [14] [top]

Notes:

12. Since Frank Malina's death in 1981, his son Roger F. Malina has followed his footsteps and contributed to significant growth of the journal. He moved the publication to Berkeley, positioning it in close proximity to the burgeoning Silicon Valley and expanded it to include a World Wide Web online publication. With the support of founding board members Frank Oppenheimer and Robert Maxwell, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST) was formed in 1982. Leonardo/ISAST was created to address the rapidly expanding needs of the art, science, and technology community‹by participation in conferences, symposia, festivals, and awards programs, in addition to providing support for Leonardo. In 1991 the publication grew from a quarterly to a bimonthly journal and spawned a companion volume, the Leonardo Music Journal, dedicated to music and the sound arts and published with an audio compact disc (CD). [back]

13. An important precedent to Leonardo was a short lived journal entitled Trans/formation: Arts Communication Environment (1950-52), an interdisciplinary "world review" edited by Harry Holtzman, which listed Fuller, Le Corbusier, Marcel Duchamp, and Siegfried Giedion among others as consulting editors. "Art, science, and technology are interacting components of the total human enterprise," declared the editorial statement, which repeats in all three issues.(Rheingold. 1997, pp.17-36) [back]

14. For more on E.A.T., see: LOVEJOY, M. 1996. Postmodern Currents: Art & Artists in the Age of Electronic Media. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Also, there is a E.A.T. Film Series which can be purchased from E.A.T. Incoporated, 69 Appletree Row. Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. 07922. [back]

[top]