Art as a Method of Cognition
This is not art about science. This is art as science. A different kind of laboratory.
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The Art&Science project "Art as a Method of Cognition" (Planetarium, Saint Petersburg, 2022) is an immersive investigation of the liminal zone between empirical knowledge and intuitive revelation. Drawing from field materials gathered during expeditions to the Kola Peninsula and Northern Norway, the artist constructs a visual model of "mental astronomy", where data on landscapes, magnetic fields, and cosmic phenomena are translated into the language of painting, sound, and scent.
Presented as an exhibition and lecture programm at Planetarium, St. Petersburg, 2022.
Methodologically, the project became a key stage in the crystallization of the author's "creative alchemy" technique. Information collected during the expeditions (geological patterns, the light of the aurora borealis, the sound of the wind) underwent a synesthetic "translation".
In painting, this manifested as a complex layering of airbrush, powdered pigments, and bas-relief modeling that imitates the topography of the terrain. This visual series was placed within an environment created in collaboration with a composer (sound art on the Hang) and a perfumer (an olfactive composition), allowing it to be presented as a holistic, multisensory phenomenon.
In painting, this manifested as a complex layering of airbrush, powdered pigments, and bas-relief modeling that imitates the topography of the terrain. This visual series was placed within an environment created in collaboration with a composer (sound art on the Hang) and a perfumer (an olfactive composition), allowing it to be presented as a holistic, multisensory phenomenon.
Presented as an exhibition and lecture programm at Planetarium, St. Petersburg, 2022.
The value of the project lies in overcoming the traditional "science vs. art" dichotomy. The artist operates not as an illustrator of theories, but as an equal researcher, whose method becomes a tool for generating new knowledge about the world. The project directly addresses the current Art&Science agenda, where the emphasis shifts from data visualization to creating an emotionally-corporeal experience of connection with cosmic processes.
The integration of a lecture with physical experiments into the exhibition program underscored this dialogue, positioning art not as an object of contemplation, but as an active trigger for cognitive interest and a shift in perspective.
The integration of a lecture with physical experiments into the exhibition program underscored this dialogue, positioning art not as an object of contemplation, but as an active trigger for cognitive interest and a shift in perspective.