Back to STEAM home page

READINGS

There were five required readings for this course. Readings were discussed over group meals.

A few common themes run through the readings, and thus, ran through our discussions:
- the role of art in society
- society's relationship with science
- the 'two cultures' vs. a 'third culture', 'fourth culture' or 'n cultures'
- the unexpected merits and outcomes of science-art collaboration
- the idea of potential energy between the arts and sciences to create something new
- the necessity of both art and science in describing the human condition
- the importance of understanding the context for what one is seeing or reading
- the importance of not reducing art by science
- the importance of the scientific method as a means of gaining knowledge
- the double edged-sword of discipline specialization
- how to rethink our educational system
1. Chapter one of C.P. Snow's "The Two Cultures":
2. The Future of Science Is....Art? by Jonah Lehrer
3. Introduction and chapter one of Emergent Ecologies
4. Chapter one of Ways of Seeing
5. Art and Science as Creative Catalysts by Eleanor Gates-Stuart