IAD in Moscow: Art in Science

(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/2012/10/25/crisis-in-u-s-science-education-better-call-in-avant-garde-photographer-berenice-abbott/)

"Circular Wave System" (1958)

Few days ago I visited Berenice Abbott’s Black-and-White Science Imagery exhibition, 1958-1962, in MAMM (Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow). When I first saw her photographs I straight thought about how incredible they would look on the walls, at home, as a piece of art.

In the early 1950’s, Abbott was intensely experimenting with photographs of scientific subjects such as physics, mathematics and chemistry. She produced images of a variety of objects like magnets and mirrors, which then were included in many scientific books. Her images represent an unexpected merging of art and science which not only create an aesthetic but also make it clear to people how for example a “Circular Wave System” works. By the same token, I have noticed that Abbott’s photographs are also singular due to their content.

Berenice Abbott spent two years creating this photos. For example "A Bouncing Ball in Diminishing Arcs" it seems easy but Abbotts commentary says: "This shows the decrease of energy in a moving object... The golf ball was rolled of a platform that was about six feet high, the relative size is very important here, and it headed towards a marble surface. I was well centered and the camera was low, almost on the floor. I knew as much about lighting this kind of thing as anyone and I didnt just use a strobe at the camera. This would have shown the effect but the balls would have looked flat."

I tried to take some pictures on the exhibition but they came out blurry.