Enthralling Art Leaps Out of Labs

Petri dishes, microscopes and equations are all used in scientific research, but those tools can yield fascinating art, as a new exhibit at Princeton University shows.

The school recently held its first "Art of Science" competition to inspire the creation of science-related images from staff, students and others in the Princeton community. The project led to a spectacular new art installation now on display at the school, and an accompanying online gallery of images.

To see the winners, and some of our favorite images, click through the accompanying gallery.

The 55 pieces in the exhibit are all the products of scientific research, or works of art that incorporate the ideas or tools of science. Part of the fun was discovering art usually only observed by researchers themselves.

"There's got to be all these images out there on campus that nobody ever sees," said Katalin Lovasz, a graduate student in comparative literature and one of the organizers of the competition.

The art includes a neon image of a virus infecting human cells; multicolored, magnified ants; an image of colliding galaxies; and a close-up of the genitalia of a spider. There's even a line drawing of Albert Einstein in a bustier.
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"One thing that ties (art and science) together is they are both based so much on observation," said Alex Halderman, another of the organizers and a Ph.D. student in computer science who helps teach a digital-photography class. "The ability to look at something visually and then think about the meaning of what you are seeing is crucial as a research scientist or as an artist."

Interest in the contest exceeded organizers' expectations. They received more than 200 submissions.

The organizers came up with the idea when looking for ways to bridge the arts and science disciplines. They wanted to do something more interactive than workshops or a speaker series, said Halderman.

Prizes were split according to the mathematical principle, the golden ratio. First place won $250, second place received $154.50 and third place, $95.50.

The show – located in the school's engineering building, the Friend Center – will run through the start of the new school year in the fall.

http://www.princeton.edu/artofscience/gallery/