This instalment of the When Art Meets Science series has at its core a lecture by Antje von Graevenitz. She holds an archive of thus far unpublished correspondence relating to Op Art and Kinetic art, especially Nouvelle Tendance, an international group of artists with affinities to scientific enquiry, which was founded in 1961 and met in Zagreb. Her late husband, Gerhard von Graevenitz, was a member of this group, as well as of the Zero movement. Von Graevenitz’s lecture will explore how these artists thought along with natural scientists, striving for and reaching relevant visual formulations of quantum theory, as well as producing work that could serve as props for scientific experiments, as complex thought forms, and as art. This historical case study thus proposes a broad understanding of how art can meet science, when the lines between these realms and those practicing in them are not clear cut but generative. Those present will be encouraged to bring their own experiences and understandings to the table.
One of the first hoping to philosophically explain the structure of the world based on tiny particles was F.G. Hegel. In his "Phenomenology of Spirit" (1807), he divided the world into particles and wholes, including human consciousness. For the philosopher, subject and object constituted a whole. For physicists of the late 19th century and in the decades to come, such a statement was not the focus of their research, because these particles, as Röntgen, Planck, Bohr, and Heisenberg, among others have shown, emit discrete radiation and react to the radiation of other particles/quanta. Their main question was what this creates, but they also discovered that the subject is always involved. In doing so, a paradox was recognized for the mental comprehension of experimental results and mathematical measurements. This "reality" could be established. However, no progress has been made so far in the objective/subjective description of the contradiction and then this constitutes a challenge for the mental comprehension of experimental results. As the 2022 Nobel Prize winner, quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger, explained, the right terms are still being sought. These now apply not only to the type of discrete radiation emitted by quanta, but also to the transmission of their so-called information to more distant quanta. How do they actually gain this information? The paradox of a "both/and" is simply part of the reality of nature, said Zeilinger.
Was this different in the visual arts, where not terminology but visual units form the basis of imagination? Were comparable phenomena even a representation of the contradiction in quantum theory, or, in the contrary, can you define them as equilibriums, as parallels i.e. independent transformations of so-called contradictions? Starting with a few relevant examples in the design of microparticles in the field of visual art, depictions of energy radiation, invisible forms, and light formations from Futurism, Abstract Art, and Biomorphism, this question will be addressed in my art-historical lecture. We will look at examples relating to Op Art and Kinetics, some works by Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley, François Morellet, and other main representatives of the “Nouvelle Tendance”. In doing so it should always be clear that these are examples of visual art, which have different conditions and goals than representations in models from the natural sciences. What these differences but also meeting points are can be subject of the ensuing discussion.
| 9:30 | Coffee |
| 10:00 | Welcome and brief introduction to When Art Meets Science and this event by: Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes, Maartje van Raijmakers, and Eftychia Stamkou |
| 10:15 | Antje von Graevenitz: “Op Art and Kinetics in the Light of Quantum Theory” |
| 11:00 | Q&A, discussion |
| 11:30 | Closing and possibility to stay for lunch |
Antje von Graevenitz has lived in Amsterdam since the late 1960s and lectured at the UvA before being appointed to the Chair of Modern and Contemporary Art History at Cologne University (1989-2005). In her research she is mainly focused on ephemeral art (performances and Fluxus) and interdisciplinary and anthropological topics (art in relation to rites of passage, philosophy, music, theatre or dance). Some of her publications are dedicated to Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik. Her recent book (Hatje Cantz 2024) is entitled: Aus dem Spiegel holen: Sensibilitätskult in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts.
In addition to studying librarianship, she read art history, archaeology and ethnology at Hamburg and Munich, where in 1973 she obtained her PhD with a dissertation on Dutch Baroque ornament.
From 1971 onwards, she began writing art reviews and essays mainly on contemporary art for Süddeutsche Zeitung, for as well as for international journals. As advisor, she worked for both the Dutch government and for the municipality of Amsterdam. She was in the selection committee for the curator of Documenta X, Kassel. Furthermore, she served as a member of the boards of cultural institutions, such as de Appel, and academic advisor of the Rijksakademie, both Amsterdam. For many years, she was President of the Dutch section of AICA, the International Association of Art Critics.
The series Where Art Meets Science explores the many spaces where art and science meet. In this iteration, as in other instalments, we aim to develop multiple perspectives for understanding the various ways in which art and science meet. What are the different motivations? What binds the fields together, and what makes them distinct?