Science Art      Wissenschaft-Kunst

Science Art (Wissenschaft-Kunst), or SciArt, is a genre in painting, not so new, but now coming into it´s own.  It is the creative and aesthetic depiction of images expressing science concepts, thereby offering new images of the physical and natural universe ignited by, but going beyond our ever expanding knowledge-base in the sciences. Science Art does not simply present mere organic patterns or shapes of nature as in "Biomorphism". It is also not the mere application of biological materials to generate artefacts.

Historically, Science Art began as illustration of scientific texts. Until the 1990`s there was still a clear demarcation between science illustration and Science Art. Visual illustrations are aids to understanding science texts.

The advent of digital art tools have enabled and provoked science illustrators, mostly themselves scientists, into now taking a more liberal approach to illustration, creating images that go well beyond the precise explanatory function. Gradually the delineation between the iIllustration and liberal representation of science subject matter, that we may call art, is dissolving.

The term Sciart is simply a catchy acronym for the term Science Art. It appears almost simulataneously in the mid-1990´s from a number of art projects aimed at furthering interest in technology by way of art. One such project was initiated by the Wellcome Foundation to purvey the positive attributes of pharmaceutical technology. To varying degrees these projects were, and still are tied to some fuzzy hopes that opening science to art might further scientific investigation. However, Science Art need not lead to, or even be expected to provoke new thought in science, let alone spark off new lines of scientific investigation. It´s purpose is to generate interest in the science-inspired images. For sure, this in turn may lead to discussions, which, who knows, may lead anywhere. But that is a different issue.