Routledge Handbook of Art Science and Technology Studies

<p>Art and science work is experiencing a dramatic rise coincident with burgeoning Science and Technology Studies (STS) interest in this area. Science has played the role of muse for the arts inspiring imaginative reconfigurations of scientific themes and exploring their cultural resonance. Conversely the arts are often deployed in the service of science communication illustration and popularization. STS scholars have sought to resist the instrumentalization of the arts by the sciences emphasizing studies of theories and practices across disciplines and the distinctive and complementary contributions of each. The manifestation of this commonality of creative and epistemic practices is the emergence of Art Science and Technology Studies (ASTS) as the interdisciplinary exploration of art-science. <p/>This handbook defines the modes practices crucial literature and research interests of this emerging field. It explores the questions methodologies and theoretical implications of scholarship and practice that arise at the intersection of art and STS. Further ASTS demonstrates how the arts are intervening in STS. Drawing on methods and concepts derived from STS and allied fields including visual studies performance studies design studies science communication and aesthetics and the knowledge of practicing artists and curators ASTS is predicated on the capacity to see both art and science as constructions of human knowledge- making. Accordingly it posits a new analytical vernacular enabling new ways of seeing understanding and thinking critically about the world. <p/>This handbook provides scholars and practitioners already familiar with the themes and tensions of art-science with a means of connecting across disciplines. It proposes organizing principles for thinking about art-science across the sciences social sciences humanities and arts. Encounters with art and science become meaningful in relation to practices and materials manifest as perceptual habits background knowledge and cultural norms. As the chapters in this handbook demonstrate a variety of STS tools can be brought to bear on art-science so that systematic research can be conducted on this unique set of knowledge-making practices.</p>