Lewis Z Liu Studios | Physics & Art

"Explorations in Classical Magnetism and Contemporary Art –Ambient Magnetic Dipoles: Amplified Mapping of Dipole Moments Through Magnetoresistance Sensors, Analog Differentiation Techniques and Ferromagnetic Fluids and Experiments in Painting with Magnetism.

Harvard Undergraduate Thesis, Department of Visual & Environmental Studies and of Physics; summa standing thesis, Rudolf Arnhiem Prize Winner

6 June, 2008; revised 15 December, 2008

Abstract

Both physics and the visual arts can be said to generate ways of looking at the universe. Traditional painting, photography, and video use the physical world, as understood and represented through visible light (400-750 nm electromagnetic radiation) as a basis for art-creation. This visual investigation is then mapped onto visible physical objects, such as oil on canvas, film, or silver gelatin print, through the operation of the painter or camera. At the same time physics theories and experiments allows us to understand the fundamental, mostly invisible, structures that govern the world we live in. Just as light permeates our world, so do magnetic fields as created by our planet, by our technology, and even by our bodies. This project endeavors to shift the focus of the physical world seen through visible light to the unseen physical world of magnetic fields with two distinct installations: the first, titled Experiments in Painting with Magnetism, involves exploring painting and mark-making using controlled magnetic fields and a newly developed magnetic-spray technique. The second, titled Ambient Magnetic Dipoles: Amplified Mapping of Dipole Moments Through Magnetoresistance Sensors, Analog Differentiation Techniques and Ferromagnetic Fluids is an active joint laboratory/studio/gallery project that dynamically maps this “magnetic world”, using magnetoresistance sensors, analog differentiation techniques and magnetic coils, onto an artificially constructed magnetic field. These artificially generated fields are then made visible through the exploitation of ferromagnetic fluids. Thus, by exploring a previously unseen part of the world described so far only by physics equations and experimental devices, these two projects integrate the aesthetic experience of an art gallery with the experimental investigations of a physics laboratory.

Professors Stephen Prina and Gerald Gabrielse, thesis advisors

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Excerpts in "Explorations in Classical Magnetism and Contemporary Art ...."

Harvard Advocate, Commencement Issue

2008

"Magnetism and Painting"

Harvard College Tuesday Magazine, Vol 4 Issue 1

2006

Abstract

Representational painting arose from an aesthetic paradox: artists wanted to share the way they saw reality—the details that their eyes picked out, the colors that they noticed—with their friends and viewers. The progress of representational painting, however, came to a standstill with the advent of Modernist abstract painting in the early twentieth century. Although many artists today are returning to the exploration of representational painting , they, like traditional painters, limit themselves to the world as seen by the naked eye. In this project, I question the assumption that representational painting must reflect direct visual experience by attempting to represent the underlying structure of an invisible world, specifically, the physical magnetic field through an innovative painting technique I have developed.

Joshua P. Haas, editor

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"Physics, Art and A.I. - Compositional Aesthetics with Respect to Electrodynamic Potentials"

Harvard College Tuesday Magazine, Vol 3 Issue 1

2005

Abstract

Art used to be easily recognizable. A skilled human created images both beautiful and meaningful. But with the advent of modernism, abstractionism, and conceptual art, the line between art and non-art became blurred. Contemporary audiences often find new art intellectually confusing; most pieces use unfamiliar forms and shapes, and some even deliberately attempt to alienate the viewer. Modern art can also seem emotionally sterile, frustrating viewers with ambiguous meanings. Understanding conceptual art can be difficult because often the concept behind the art is the art itself, which can leave viewers howling “but what does it mean?” Some conceptual artists today no longer paint their paintings; rather, they plan them and then have assistants do the actual rendering. Do the conceptual artists or do their assistants deserve the credit for these artistic creations? The Turing Test, designed by Alan Turing in 1950, provides a practical criterion for computer sentience. He addresses the seemingly intractable problem of defining the nebulous idea ‘intelligence’ by reducing it to a comparison with something we already consider intelligent: humans. Similarly, I use a comparison between humans and computers to address the problem of defining art. Turing’s protocol states that if a human subject in a room talking with both a computer program and another human through a teleprompter (like chatting over AIM) cannot tell which one is human, then the program should be deemed ‘intelligent’. My experiment involved generating images with a computer program and asking subjects to pick them out from a set of human-composed abstract paintings

Joshua P. Haas, editor

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