Seeking Symbiosis: Art and Science in the Classroom
In this discussion artist Marnia Johnston describes her collaborative art practice with bio-anthropologist Dr. Eben Kirksey. Kirksey, Johnston, and several other ethnographers and artists have contributed since 2007 to a series of events called the Multispecies Salon. These events are grounded in explorations by both artists and anthropologists of multi-species ethnographies, seeking to bring philosophically like-minded academics together. The events have resulted in synergistic collaborations that spurred growth in both science and art practices. The discussion will specifically outline modes of working, hybrid gallery shows and symposia and the resulting artworks and publications.
Artist and Researcher
Geoffrey Thomas has worked as an artist, designer, curator, and professor and is trained in the fields of fine art, animation, and digital media. Much of his work celebrates alterity—the amazing and strange phenomenology of humans, animals, plants, and machines. He has exhibited his multimedia projects in national and international media festivals, including File, ISEA, Siggraph, Switch Media Art Festival, SXSW Interactive, and Transmediale.
PhD Student, Environmental Studies
University of California, Santa Cruz
Juniper Harrower has worked at the intersection of art, science, and education throughout her career. She has experience as a plant pathologist at the University of California, Berkeley; as a tropical ecologist in Costa Rica; and as a public-school science teacher in Oakland, Calif. During an art residency in Argentina, she developed a unique way to create a paintable pigment from different varietals of red wine and mushrooms; she has exhibited her work internationally and in California. She is currently a PhD student in the Environmental Studies department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she is researching the impacts of climate change on Joshua trees and their symbiotic fungi and co-evolved moth pollinators. As the art and STEM outreach officer for WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), she continues to work across the boundaries of art and science to develop projects and frameworks for successful interdisciplinary collaboration.
