The Science of Art
By John Wright and Christian Montag
A word by John and Christian
This project started in the middle of the COVID pandemic as an attempt to better
understand the blurred lines between science and art.
With this present online-platform, we are interested to understand how the visitors of our online-exhibition respond to John’s art and how this experience compares to John’s intention when creating the work.
Since April 2021 several hundred participants have visited our platform and we have received plenty of positive feedback.
We plan to bring this exhibition to a place in the “real world”. How and when this will happen, will be shared by us in due time.
Thanks for your generous time investment when visiting TSOA.
Sincerely yours,
John and Christian
Initial words
by John and Christian
It is the age of COVID-19 and in April 2021 we all wait for the vaccine. Until then we are staying more at home and we are spending more time at screens glowing in the dark.
We miss meeting other people, we miss to travel to see other places and we miss going out. Many of us miss the moment when the lights go out at a concert and the collective experience when the music starts. Many of us also miss the visit of a museum, where we can enjoy photographic art in a special atmosphere.
While the pandemic is ongoing both in the UK and Germany, it is discussed in the mass media how "system relevant" art is. Of course the many doctors, nurses and other medical staff working 24 hours a day are the heroes of our time. But we also argue that in times of sorrows, art can bring some light to the dark.
For us the pandemic also had its reflective moments. We started to look back on our lives, we explored where we are at the moment and what we aim to do in the future. Having never met before, Christian and John decided in a Zoom call to cooperate on this project, namely to explore the blurred boundaries between arts and science.
Being connected via the Internet gave us great pleasure and enjoyment while thinking how to create this science-arts project. If everything runs well, this project will one day swap over to a proper offline experience ... and John and Christian willl meet for the first time in person.
Thanks for visting and supporting our project!
Stay healthy.
Yours John and Christian
John Wright
John Wright is a London based photographer and his work is held in the permanent collection of The National Portrait Gallery in London. He is a student of Taoism, Buddhism and Stoicism. He finds it difficult to separate work life from life. His work is his attempt at communicating the way he feels about the human beings he sees in the world around him. He hopes his images will entertain, challenge, reward and delight you. If you want to get in touch visit his website: https://johnwrightphoto.com
Christian Montag
Dr. Christian Montag is Professor for Molecular Psychology at Ulm University in Germany and an author of many peer-reviewed papers as well several popular science books. He studies individual differences in human emotions. He is thrilled to do this project shedding light on the blurred boundaries between arts and science. He hopes that this study will create a unique experience for the website visitors - worth the time investment. Read his book "Animal Emotions" for free. If you want to get in touch visit his website: www.christianmontag.de