Remixing Messages: A Call for Collaboration Between Artists and Scientists

Abstract

In this chapter, artist Mary Miss discusses her vision of how artists can bridge the gap between scientific research and public engagement by making ideas that are currently being investigated by scientists accessible to a broader audience. She looks at how artists can participate in communicating the importance of ecological awareness through collaborations with scientists through projects that demonstrate how new bonds can be created between the built environment and the natural world. She discusses the potential of a framework such as ‘City as Living Laboratory: Sustainability Made Tangible through the Arts’ where projects are implemented in the public realm that are intended to arouse viewers curiosity and understanding of issues such as green infrastructure or flood threats. Specific examples from her own work are given as she describes the evolution of her thinking. The goal of these collaborations is that scientific research be made accessible through a bonding of experiential engagement with interpretive content.

Artist Mary Miss has reshaped the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, landscape design and installation art by articulating a vision of the public sphere where it is possible for an artist to address the issues of our time.