“Beauty is the highest degree of appropriateness in nature”
Ivan Efremov, “Razor’s Edge”
My academic research in fluid mechanics heavily relies on experimental methods that are based on photography. At the same time, in my photography, I enjoy subjects that are related to my research: water, clouds, architecture, ships, airplanes, birds, etc. Although these two areas of interest benefit each other, and in some sense, both my photography and my research straddle the junction between art and engineering, I have not been engaged in hybrid research per se. I believe this is true of majority of colleagues, who work in the similar area. Engineers produce knowledge that is applicable to engineering projects, and artists produce objects of art that can communicate emotions directly, so the classification between the two is usually quite clear.
Philosophically speaking, the results of true hybrid research are not strictly art or engineering. In fact, the status of such results and their function in the world is not clear. I am wondering if even Leonardo da Vinci, perhaps the most recognized “renaissance man”, produced works that were objects of both art and engineering at once, not one or the other.
On the other hand, it is clear that engineering advances can enable artistic creation (e.g. computer graphics). Likewise, artistic objects can be used to communicate complex scientific and engineering concepts to broad general audiences.
I believe there is definitely a close connection between art and engineering, and therefore a potential to make productive contributions to both fields through photography – a technique that is firmly established in both worlds. It would be interesting to apply photography to create objects and knowledge that would truly belong to both fields at once.
