Science can inspire art and art science - just ask Mark Miodownik, a mechanical engineer, and Jane Prophet, an artist, whose collaboration in the use of novel materials sparked a creative buzz
The Scientist: Mark Miodownik
Animate matter is coming. Concrete that can communicate when it is about to collapse; smart hip replacements that can self-heal; and intelligent wallpaper that changes colour if you become angry - such innovations are imminent. Most material scientists, myself included, are both excited and apprehensive about the social impact of materials such as these. One thing is for sure: just as artificial pigments triggered the Impressionist movement in the 19th century, so these new, smart substances are likely to change the nature of art in the 21st century.
From the Stone Age to the silicon era, materials science has always influenced culture. In our own time, a kaleidoscope of new materials has revolutionised the way we live, with plastics transforming home and fashion, celluloid ushering in cinema, and medical and dental ceramics allowing us to rebuild ourselves. New materials can have a big impact on the way we behave, from the way in which mass-produced sheet glass and structural steel led to the skyscrapers that underpin New York-style city life, to the development of titanium and nickel alloys that allow us to indulge our insatiable appetite for air travel and escalate the rate at which cultures collide.
Artists such as Jane Prophet are often the first to adopt new materials.
Curious and experimental by nature, artists love the possibilities inherent in innovative substances. And because they can take far greater risks than product designers, architects or surgeons, they play a vital role in challenging the web of habit and regulation that stagnates the cultural landscape.
My first interaction with Jane epitomised such behaviour. She phoned me with an idea for growing gigantic crystals in a huge tank. I quizzed my colleagues and gave her our opinion: she was insane. Months later, when I heard her talk about the success of the piece she had approached me to help her with, I realised that she was that rare thing - an artist who can combine technical and intellectual spheres of contemporary art.
Artists are outsiders who can ask wider, more critical questions about science as an activity. These interactions can be a tonic and an irritant.
But by critically shaking things up, artists promote a creative buzz that is the fuel of innovative environments. There are, of course, language problems, as I spend my time designing new materials using equations, while Jane and her fellow artists have a more practical and aesthetic approach.
In an effort to bridge that gap, I have set up a library of new materials as a creative space. It is a resource for scientists and for artists using a language we both understand - the language of wonder.
Mark Miodownik is lecturer in mechanical engineering at King's College London.
Mark Miodownik and Jane Prophet will be speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival on June 9.