You Are Looking At Science – And Science Is Looking At You!

The day after Loyalty Day, which was Thursday, 10 October 2019, I visited the Sining Makiling Art Gallery, which is at the basement of the DL Umali Auditorium at the western end of the UPLB grounds. The art gallery is presided over by Professor Jerry R Yapo of the Office of Initiatives for Culture & the Arts of UP Los Baños. 

I had to visit this exhibit of works of a collection of artists because the title challenged me: Artfully Science. I finished a science degree: Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (major in Ag Education), UP Los Baños. I am a technical editor, so I should know my science. I am not an art critic, but I love the arts. And I am a science writer, so, will I see something that I can write about "science" perhaps?

The exhibit is titled "Artfully Science" and the images I have number 12. These are (listed in the e-file emailed me by Mr Yapo (no arrangement provided here):

X Think by Arnel Borja; Rotunduml Adansonia by Ivan Co; Bubblesby Cris Eguaras; Density Tower by Mara Fabella; Rurok Ng Guni-Guni by Dennis Jimenez; In Transit by Elena Malgapo-Domingo; New World by Jay-Rness Ceria; The World According To The Fibonacci Sequence by Antonio Jesus Quilloy; Vitruvianismo: Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustasby Karla Sajona-Sta. Cruz; Soul Boatby Jualim Vela; Symbiosis by Roger "Rishi" Tibon; and Making Sense Of Mathematics by Ivan Cuento & Jeremiah Francisco & Carmela Masakayan & Anna Nabutel & Andre Sy.

I was not interested in the dictionary sense of Science, so I did not google. Guess what? The one that struck me as science was Rurok Ng Guni-Guni by Dennis Jimenez (above image). Height Of Fantasy (my translation). The "eyes" are opened wide and they keep looking – as science should behave, not stopping at a finding or theory. What are those eyes looking at? It does not matter – they can be a pair of lungs, fruit, or even "simply" consequence.

I had not read the artist's words of his work before I made my decision, but I love what he has to say:

Rurok ng Guni-Guni piques our curiosity on how we should live with thoughts that are formed in our minds, which should not just be hallucinations but… motivations for desired actions.

The other artworks by the other artists all portray knowledge. Not my kind of science.

The e-file that accompanies the art exhibit quotes my favorite genius Albert Einstein as saying:

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Imagination. I am more excited if you claim your "science" as some tentative construct and not some settled knowledge.

I will now assign the artwork my own title: "The Persistence Of Looking," to borrow from Spanish painter Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory." By my title, I mean, science, which the world equates with knowledge, is not a settled thing.

Like I said, "Science is in the eye of the beholder" – there is no settled science. More or less, yes. Even climate change is not settled science!@517