▣ Title : The First Artists Were the First Scientists

▣ Speaker

:Jung Ah Woo (POSTECH)

▣ Date

& Time : Friday, March 21 (2:00 ~ 3:30pm)

▣ Place

: LG Research Building, Room #101

▣ Host

: Prof. Sung JooYoo(T.

2379)

▣ Abstract 

The

history of art is the history of our ongoing struggle with our surroundings,

both natural and social, to achieve the ideals that we seek. Of course, what is

“ideal” for a society is amazingly diverse, fluctuating constantly according to

different cultures, peoples, and historical periods. Thus, artists have always

devised new languages, new tools, and new visualizations to grasp the complex

ideas and questions that their society chooses to pursue. In a words, it’s not

so very different from that of scientists (and engineers and technicians).

In

fact, those first artists on earth, who struggled with so many difficulties in

painting the animals on the cave walls, can safely be called the first

scientists. They researched natural phenomenon to better understand human

needs, and sought to materialize their ideas into concrete things, all in order

to achieve a “better world” for humanity.

The

distance between art and science is actually not as far as it initially

appears. From the beginning, the term “art” came from the Latin “ars,”

which is a translation of the Greek “techne.”

“Techne”

(or “ars”

in Latin) means “skill,” which could mean the skill to make all kinds of

objects, including paintings, houses, statues, ships, pots, clothes, etc.

Moreover, it could be the skill necessary to command an army, measure a field,

or sway an audience.

All

these skills, which were called art, depend upon an understanding of nature

and, more importantly, human nature. Hence, both art and science are based on

the study of humans, or better yet, the study of ourselves.