Fluids in motion: Contemporary artScience- inspiration and realization

TL;DR

This paper explores the intersection of art, science, and technology through contemporary fluid motion artworks, highlighting how digital tools and high-speed photography enhance understanding and visualization of fluid dynamics.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of artistic and scientific approaches to fluid motion, emphasizing the role of digital technology in creating innovative visual representations.

Findings

Artists and scientists share goals in visualizing fluid phenomena.

Digital technology enables new artistic expressions and scientific measurements.

Public installations demonstrate fluid dynamics through artistic mediums.

Abstract

I examine contemporary work in fluids in motion to demonstrate strong connections between art, science and technology. In one burgeoning domain, falling liquid drops impacting solid substrates or pools it is valuable to compare how artists and scientists describe their goals and their use of high speed digital photography to capture and measure events. I also examine the use of devices beyond paint brushes to create pictures and views, including installations and projections from computer simulations. In particular, Ned Kahn whose installations in the public domain show various fluids in motion - water, sand, fog, fire as turbulent boundary layers, vortex rings, whirlpools, waterfalls, etc. Finally, I examine aspects of the role of digital technology and its utilization by artists, museums and galleries for innovative displays.