CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Cosmic Creativity

NEA: When Dan Goods was studying graphic design, he figured he’d probably end up at an ad agency or some sort of commercial corporation. But these days, his artistic concerns are bigger than choosing the appropriate typeface, layout, and color. Much bigger. Like Jupiter-sized big.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Since my grandfather once worked for NASA, I have grown up around the whole science-y bits of space exploration, and as a young kid, it wasn't always easy to grasp what he was talking about. This new graphic way of showing what they are doing will do wonders for children to understand space exploration more. Visuals are useful, yes, but if you experience it, then it is a whole different story. To experience something leaves a bigger impression on their lives. If they had this when I was little, I might have wanted to be a scientist like my grandfather.

Camille Rohrlich said...

This is such a cool job! I think that people often believe that science and art don't mesh well together, but that's obviously far from the truth. Scientists and artists alike solve problems (they're just very different problems) through creative thinking and trial and error. The two communities have a lot to learn from each other, and Dan Goods' career is a powerful example of how much our society can gain from cross-disciplinary projects and initiatives. Goods' approach to bridging the gap between cosmic science and day-to-day experiences is very interesting, and I would love to go check out one of his projects.

Sarah Keller said...

I'm interested in the concept of creating lighting that actually forces viewers to use their cellphones to see it.At first I thought this might be odd, since it has the potential to create a disconnect between the audience and the art/display, but especially in this context it would be very effective. In addition, it would actually keep people busy and stop them from checking their phones!
I also love the section of the article where it talks about how Goods' creative team not only inspires the scientists, the scientists have actually affected the process as well. Often we talk about how art can improve science and make it more accessible and more creative, but I think it's interesting to think about how we can use scientific methods to improve our art as well.

JodyCohen said...

I have a friend who works in medical art. You know, illustrating those charts you see in doctor's offices and in medical pamphlets and such. Most of it is anatomy, but every now and again, there is something kinda different that she gets to work on. This job, to me, sounds exactly like that only instead of biological science it's physics and earth science. Cool. They take ideas and explain them in metaphors, then produce art inspired those metaphors that the laymen can understand. That's awesome! What a great opportunity! This article was in the NEA magazine...Does NEA contribute to this? Or have similar programs in other fields?

caschwartz said...

This sounds like it would be a pretty awesome job. These art installations should like a great way to introduce science to people, and to make it understandable to the general population. I wish I could see some of these installations, as they sound amazing. I think we need more art like this, which bridges disciplines and teaches in a different manner.