And She Built A Crooked House, 2023, Artangel

Contributors; Gemma Anderson-Tempini, Mark Blacklock, Mariam Zulfiqar

Download PDF

New Book: "Drawing Processes of Life" 2023, Intellect Press

This open access book concludes the AHRC funded project ‘Representing Biology as Process’ at the University of Exeter (2017-2021).

Anderson, G. and Dupré, J., (Eds) 2023, Drawing Processes of Life, Intellect Press, OPEN ACCESS

Contributors:

Gemma Anderson, John Dupré, James Wakefield, Jonathan Phillips, Chiara Ambrosio, Alessio Corti, Heather Barnett, Wahida Khandker, Janina Wellmann, Sarah Gilbert, Scott F. Gilbert, Katharina Lee Chichester, Johannes Jaeger, Berta Verd

'A Manifold Dwelling: How Gemma Anderson-Tempini Built a Higher Spatial Home' Dr Mark Blacklock (Artangel, 2023)

From its first theoretical documents, n-dimensional space has fired the imagination. The mathematicians who began to allow a fourth dimension into their calculations to permit them more easily to solve certain problems, doing away with the experiential limitations of the three dimensions in which we live, could not escape the suggestive possibilities presented to them. Should we ever doubt that geometry itself is a creative discipline, describing forms and, at its origin, bringing them into being?

Read Dr Mark Blacklock’s essay situating Gemma Anderson-Tempini’s installation within the historical context of thinkers who have explored the fourth spatial dimension through mathematical research, visual arts, and literature.

READ FULL TEXT HERE

'Mother Bang and the Last of the Russian Dolls' by Gemma Anderson-Tempini (Artangel, 2023)

Suppose the Big Bang was not actually big at all, but rather it was small. The very first life forms that arose from this “small bang” were strings. When they were born, they were quite big relative to the size of the universe. Then as time went on, relative to us, who grow bigger in proportion to the world around us, strings have slowly become the smallest things that exist.

Read the full story, written by Gemma Anderson-Tempini, connecting String Theory and higher-dimensional geometry and the artist’s everyday life:

READ FULL TEXT HERE

JAR Review of “Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science”

Read JAR Journal for Artistic Research here

'Drawing dynamic patterns: The protein maze'

Book chapter in Pattern and Chaos: Making and Meaning, Intellect Press, Bristol.

2023.

Article 'Forking Paths: Depicting Mitosis through Process-based Diagramming', Journal of Visual Arts Practice, Special Issue 'Demands of the Diagram', Taylor and Francis, 2021

Abstract:
Artist researcher Anderson shares a series of drawings developed through the experimental interdisciplinary project ‘Representing Biology as Process’. In this project Anderson and collaborators have developed a new approach to depict natural history through “relational process drawing”. With focus on the dynamic patterns of the processes of life and guided by principles of choreography, they draw together relationships between energy, time, movement, and environment at the molecular, cellular, and organismal scale. The drawings discussed are a kind of hybrid representation – composed to varying degrees of visual, numerical and linguistic expressions – that both provide new insights and generate new questions for future research.

 

New Article: ‘Dynamic Form’ Published in Antennae Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

Read the article ‘Dynamic Form: Klee as Artist and Morphologist’ by Gemma Anderson via open access here

Abstract:
Guided by the themes of formation and growth in the artist Paul Klee’s work, which resonate with those of my own practice, this essay has developed in parallel with my own progression from an empirical understanding of form as object towards a conceptual understanding of form as process. Here, I advance an original outline of the relationship between Goethe’s concept of morphology and Klee’s art. Central to this is the atypical consideration of certain works by Klee as morphological studies. Following Goethe’s concept of morphology as the study of form and formative process, I interpret Klee’s artistic representation of the dynamic nature of form and, based on particular examples, propose Klee as a morphologist.

Interview - 'Artistic research: A field where art, science and philosophy meet?'

Read Sophia Efstathiou’s interview with Gemma Anderson – ‘Artistic research: A field where art, science and philosophy meet?’ in the Philosophy of Science in Practice Newsletter here

Drawing Knowledge, EMBL, 2018

Read the article ‘Drawing Knowledge’ here

on the European Molecular Biology Lab’s Newsletter

Article: 'Philosophy of Biology: Drawing and the dynamic nature of living systems' in eLIFE

27/03/19

Open access article published in eLIFE:

‘Philosophy of Biology: Drawing and the dynamic nature of living systems’

Article Abstract

Representing the dynamic nature of biological processes is a challenge. This article describes a collaborative project in which the authors – a philosopher of biology, an artist and a cell biologist – explore how best to represent the entire process of cell division in one connected image. This involved a series of group Drawing Labs, one-to-one sessions, and discussions between the authors. The drawings generated during the collaboration were then reviewed by four experts in cell division. We propose that such an approach has value, both in communicating the dynamic nature of biological processes and in generating new insights and hypotheses that can be tested by artists and scientists.

Read article here

About eLIFE:

eLife is a non-profit organisation inspired by research funders and led by scientists. Our mission is to help scientists accelerate discovery by operating a platform for research communication that encourages and recognises the most responsible behaviours in science.eLife publishes work of the highest scientific standards and importance in all areas of the life and biomedical sciences. The research is selected and evaluated by working scientists and is made freely available to all readers without delay.

Article: Drawing to Extend Waddington’s Epigenetic Landscape

11/02/19

Anderson, G., Verd, B., Jaeger, J. 2019 ‘Drawing to Extend Waddington’s Epigenetic Landscape’, Leonardo, MIT Press.

Gemma Anderson (Artist), Berta Verd (Mathematician), Johannes Jaeger (Biologist)

Abstract

We describe a collaboration between an artist, a mathematician, and a biologist, which examines the potential of drawing for understanding biological process. As a case study, it considers C. H. Waddington’s powerful visual representation of the “epigenetic landscape,” whose purpose it is to unify research in genetics, embryology, and evolutionary biology. We explore the strengths, but also the limitations of Waddington’s landscape and attempt to transcend the latter through a collaborative series of exploratory images. Through careful description of this drawing process, we touch on the epistemological consequences it had on all participants, artist and scientist alike.

Find out more about article here

Blog Post in The Node: 'Imaging by computer and drawing by hand'

19/03/19

Imaging by computer and drawing by hand

An artist and a cultural historian of science visiting the European Molecular Biology Lab (EMBL)

Gemma Anderson (University of Exeter) and Janina Wellmann (MECS, Leuphana University Lüneburg)

Read post here

The Node is run by the journal Development and its publisher, The Company of Biologists.

BOOK: ‘Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science’

Anderson, G. 2017 ‘Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science’Intellect Press.

From the backcover:
In recent history, the arts and sciences have often been considered opposing fields of study, but a growing trend in drawing research is beginning to bridge this divide. Gemma Anderson’s Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science introduces tested ways in which drawing as a research practice can enhance morphological insight, specifically within the natural sciences, mathematics, and art.

Inspired and informed by collaboration with contemporary scientists and Goethe’s studies of morphology, as well as the work of artist Paul Klee, this book presents drawing as a means of developing and disseminating knowledge, and of understanding and engaging with the diversity of natural and theoretical forms, such as animal, vegetable, mineral, and four dimensional shapes. Anderson shows that drawing can offer a means of scientific discovery and can be integral to the creation of new knowledge in science as well as in the arts.

Review for ‘Drawing, Research, Theory, Practice’ Journal, Intellect Press

Barbara Tversky is a cognitive psychologist who has done research in memory, categorization, spatial thinking and language, event perception and cognition, visual–spatial communication, gesture, creativity, art, and design. She has enjoyed collaborations with linguists, neuroscientists, philosophers, computer scientists, domain scientists, artists, musicians and designers. Currently, she is professor of psychology at Columbia Teachers College and professor of psychology emerita at Stanford University. She was educated at the University of Michigan and previously taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She has served on numerous editorial boards, governing boards and programme committees, won awards for teaching and software, and is a fellow of the Cognitive Science Society, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Experimental Psychology, and the American Association of Arts and Sciences. She is President-Elect of the Association for Psychological Science.

Read her review of Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science here

Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science: Book Review by Andrew Yang for SciArt Magazine, April 2018

Andrew S. Yang is an artist, scientist, and educator based in Chicago. He is Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and research associate and the Field Museum of Natural History. Read his review of Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science  here

For more info about Andrew’s work: www.andrewyang.net

SciArt Magazine

Leonardo Journal, MIT Press

Drawing in Mathematics: From Inverse Vision to the Liberation of Form

Anderson, G., Buck, D., Coates, T. and Corti, A. 2015 ‘Drawing in Mathematics: From Inverse Vision to the Liberation of Form’, Leonardo, 48 (5), pp. 439-448.

Download PDF

Architectural Theory Review, Taylor & Francis

Drawing Resemblance: Mineral Nicknames and Isomorphology

Anderson, G. 2016 ‘Drawing Resemblance: Mineral Nicknames and Isomorphology’, Architectural Theory Review, 20(30) 336-349.

Download PDF

Leonardo Journal, MIT Press

Endangered: A Study of Morphological Drawing in Zoological Taxonomy

Anderson, G. 2014 ‘Endangered: A Study of Morphological Drawing in Zoological Taxonomy’ Leonardo, 47(3), pp. 232–240.

Download PDF

Notes from an Artistic Collaboration, Imagine Maths 4.

Anderson, G. and Corti, A. 2015 ‘Notes from an Artistic Collaboration’, in Emmer,M. and Abate, M. (eds.) Imagine Maths 4. Unione Matematica Italiana; pp.72-82.

Download PDF

Artists Book: 'Isomorphology', Atlantic Press 2015

Available to purchase here: http://atlanticpressbooks.com/product/isomorphology/

Isomorphology: An Introduction to Principles and Practice

Anderson, G. 2016 ‘ISOMORPHOLOGY: An Introduction to Principles and Practice’Journal of Zoology Blog, 20 April 2016.

Take drawing seriously as mode of enquiry Anderson, G. 2016 ‘Take drawing seriously as mode of enquiry’, British Council

Anderson, G. 2016 ‘Take drawing seriously as mode of enquiry’, British Council, Voices Magazine, 19 February 2016.

Drawing as a way of knowing

Anderson, G. 2016 ‘Drawing as a way of knowing’, Interalia Magazine, Drawing Thoughts, 20/21, January 2016. Invited contribution to Interalia – a magazine dedicated to the interactions between the arts, sciences and consciousness.

A process ontology for biology

Dupré, J. 2015 ‘A process ontology for biology’, Physiology News, 100, Autumn 2015, 32-34. Cover artwork from the Isomorphogenesis series.

'Drawing the real and the unknown: A look at a project by Gemma Anderson'

Hernly, K. 2015, Drawing the real and the unknown: A look at a project by Gemma Anderson’, Drawing Research Theory and Practice Journal, Intellect Press.

 

Download PDF

Drawing in Mathematics: Geometry, Reasoning and Form

Anderson, G., Buck, D., Coates, T. and Corti, A. 2014 ‘Drawing in Mathematics: Geometry, Reasoning and Form’TRACEY, (Online Journal: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/microsites/sota/tracey/journal/thin/2014/anderson.html

Isomorphology: Drawing Research and Methodology

Anderson, G. 2013 ‘Isomorphology: Drawing Research and Methodology’, Proceedings of the Drawing Research Network 2013 Conference / Thinking Through Drawing Seminar, Teachers College – Columbia University + The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Conversation between Johanna Zinecker and Gemma Anderson

Zinecker, J. and Anderson, G. 2013 ‘Conversation between Johanna Zinecker and Gemma Anderson’, in Gemma Anderson: Isomorphology, London: Ebb and Flow 2013: 44-51.

Isomorphology – an introduction

Ambrosio, C. 2013 ‘Isomorphology – an introduction’, in Gemma Anderson: Isomorphology, London: Ebb and Flow 2013: 6-9.

Coral: Something Rich and Strange

New Book out now: Coral: Something Rich and Strange

Available from Liverpool Press, www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk

Isomorphology: The Exhibition

Gemma Anderson, Published by Ebb and Flow Gallery, London 2013

Available at printed matter:

http://printedmatter.org/catalogue

Artists Book: Isomorphology: An Introduction

Gemma Anderson, Published by Super/Collider, London 2013

Portraits: Patients and Psychiatrists

Gemma Anderson, Wellcome Trust Arts Award 2010

Available at printed matter:

http://printedmatter.org/catalogue/moreinfo.cfm?title_id=93746

Download PDF

Drawing Projects: An Exploration of the Language of Drawing

Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, Published by Black Dog, London 2011

Download PDF

Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science: Book Review by Professor Barbara Tversky for 'Drawing, Research, Theory, Practice' Journal

Jerwood Artist in Residence Publication

Anderson, G. ‘An investigation into drawing in the Life Sciences’ 2010. Jerwood Visual Arts, London.

Publication based on a year long investigation as Jerwood Artist in Residence at London institutions: UCL, Kew, NHM and the Royal Society into the current role and value of drawing within the life sciences.

Read more about the project here

Download PDF