The Metabolism of Drawing: a Rhizomic Thesis

Interest in the intersection of art and science as a way of collaborating and developing cross-cultural understanding has exploded in recent years, despite Miller reporting that “collaborations between artists and scientists turned out to be a minefield” (21). The title of Miller’s book, Colliding Worlds, suggests interactions at the intersection of these cultures are not always smooth. A Rhizomic thesis is a proposed method that treats the intersection of art and science not as a colliding of cultures but as a series of interconnected ways of seeing that are made visible by making any interface between the two cultures1 more permeable. Once inside of a Rhizomic thesis, the two are treated as a whole rather than as two isolated cultures. The non-hierarchical nature of rhizomic things treats both cultures as equal partners for providing insights into the way things are or might be. D and G’s nodes within the rhizome represent points for the connection of knowledge, and as such, within a thesis, each node of knowledge can necessarily connect to other nodes using creative methods. In some ways, a Rhizomic thesis has an affinity with Kurt Schwitters’ Merz, a system which sought to connect all things in the world, with a goal of “the union of art and non-art” (O’Dowd 3). The goals of a Rhizomic thesis are less grand, aiming to provide a mechanism to help make unseen connections between art and science seen. This methodology utilises three branches of personal expertise: science, fine art, and teaching. Research using insights in these areas is blended using drawing, speculative writing and provocations gleaned from many fields. Three significant sources influencing research in this thesis are: D and G’s A Thousand Plateaus, Bethan Huws’ Research Notes and Vladimir Nabokov’s creative research method of shuffling index cards. All of these practitioners used science in various ways to enable their work. D and G were influenced by the biochemist Jacques Monod’s2 book Chance and Necessity; Bethan Huw’s Research Notes by the artist Marcel Duchamp; whilst Nabokov was both a notable artist and entomologist. Nabokov’s final work The Original of Laura3 influenced ideas about how index cards and non-linearity might work within a Rhizomic thesis. The Original of Laura contains 138 facsimile cards with perforated edges bearing Nabokov’s original pencil notes, this work was a model for using chance and necessity in making novel connections. As a researcher I employed creative, open-ended approaches to make drawings, collages, video, and other creative artifacts. Research tools and procedures used in science such as electron microscopy, chromatography, and fieldwork informed the drawing practice.4 The documentation answers questions posed by the Metabolic Arts Gathering at the Medicinsk Museion in a visual way.5 The form of drawing in my practice is rhizomic: each drawing having multiple entry points as well as the drawings themselves being non-linear constructions of line. Speculative writing in the form of diegetic dialogues, responses to provocations and reportage from the field are to be found in the Artists Books Collection within this University. The Rhizomic thesis can also be considered as a form of open-ended Socratic dialogue similar to the ones used in developing critical thinking in teaching. The drawings themselves have Socratic6 properties as devices to provoke dialogues with the viewer. A Rhizomic thesis is a response to D and G’s use of rhizome in A Thousand Plateaus. This is a response, not an analysis of their work. It is a provocation for thinking and extending the scope of their concept of the rhizomic into rhizomic research and then to a Rhizomic thesis. Bethan Huws’ work as an artist influenced the way the artefacts of research are important. Research Notes is a work of art that can be enjoyed and understood as a nonhierarchical pictorial guide without recourse to a written guide. 1 The two cultures referred to here are those of the arts and the sciences. C.P. Snow’s 1959 Rede Lecture on the two cultures concerned itself more with the literary arts and the sciences than the arts in general. Over the years this idea has broadened and expanded somewhat to encompass most things not science. 2 The book cover is included in ‘A photographic documentation of the exhibition The Metabolism of Drawing in the LifeSpace Science Art Research Gallery, University of Dundee’. 3 See ‘A photographic documentation of the exhibition The Metabolism of Drawing in the LifeSpace Science Art Research Gallery, University of Dundee’ 4 See ‘A photographic documentation of the exhibition The Metabolism of Drawing in the LifeSpace Science Art Research Gallery, University of Dundee’. 5 See ‘Main Focus with subsidiary research questions’ in this introduction, page 22