The methods we have developed so far during the project are experimental and not particularly familiar to our respective disciplines. None of us had prior experience in exploring the intersections between art, cosmology and anthropology of science. Essentially our framework and ‘toolkit’, so far have developed through a number of stimulating and challenging conversations, most often provoked by collective reading of texts from each of our disciplines with clarifications provided by short-talks and explanatory notes. It is fair to say that during the first few months of the project, it felt important that the non-cosmologists (Sarah and Rebecca) on the research team developed a level of understanding of the science of theoretical cosmology (history, methods, claims, controversies) with the help of Kostas the cosmologist. With much of course still to learn, but also wanting to move beyond ‘explanation’ alone, Sarah and Rebecca then selected ways in which the team could dwell with some of the implications of contemporary cosmological research for their disciplines and their own practices. So far we have also interviewed the cosmologists Dr Roberto Trotta ( Imperial College, London) and Professor George Efstathiou (Kavli Institute, Cambridge) and the mathematician Professor Marcus Du Sautoy.  

 

Rebecca Ellis (anthropologist): A conventional approach from anthropology of science would have been to undertake an ethnography of ways in which the 3 disciplines encounter and work with imperceptibility, allowing for a fine-grained account of knowledge/art making practices. This has not been the approach taken however, although it is hoped that a future stage or project will involve ethnography of both theoretical and observational cosmology. Instead, Rebecca has selected texts from both Speculative Realist and Feminist New Materialist Literatures, with which to explore the provocations introduced by the radically imperceptible objects, entities and forces engaged with during the project. She has sought, in particular to collectively reflect upon the relationship between the (non)human observer and observed (e.g. Karen Barad) and how to think with objects and forces which are apparently radically withdrawn from human sensibility and possibility of relation (e.g. Quentin Meillassoux, Graham  Harman). She has then picked up on issues arising from these conversations and pursued them further in interviews with artists, social scientists and cosmologists beyond the project team.

 

 

Sarah Casey (artist) works through a studio methodology that involves collating  cross referencing visual and material information from a range of sources. Analogy and simile are key tools, seeking synergies between the ideas discussed and encountered in the readings. Thi aim is to acheive a visual exquivance wheretangential and unexpected objects can become a point of reflection , or diffraction of different aspects of the imperceptible. My sketchbook is a core tool and pages from this will be posted in emerging ideas section as the project develops.

 

click here to see work emerging in the studio>>

 

 

 

Kostas Dimopoulos (theoretical cosmologist) will write more about his methods shortly.