The Bright Beneath: The Luminous Art of Shih Chieh Huang Docent Guide

Bioluminescence is an amazing, widely used form of communication in the ocean!

The Artist: Shih Chieh (CJ) Huang

About the Artist:

With The Bright Beneath, CJ returns to Natural History displaying current work for the first time in the museum where he derived much of his inspiration. In 2007 CJ joined NMNH as an artist-in-residence where he worked with Dr. Lynne Parenti, curator of fishes. Over the course of two months, CJ had the opportunity to investigate marine organisms that utilize bioluminescence to survive in the deep ocean. The artist was able to take out different organisms from the museums collection , examine them under the microscope, touch them, and photograph them. CJ was particularly intrigued by the strange adaptations these animals maintain in order to survive the harsh conditions and the total blackness they experience thousands of feet below the oceans surface. He was also interested in the light patterns bioluminescent organisms create when they light up the blackness as well as the way they move and swim. Inspired by his time at the NMNH, CJ has CJ in the lab at NMNH gone on to exhibit in locations as varied as a massive warehouse in Brisbane Australia to underneath the Santa Monica Pier in southern California. In these spaces, CJ fabricates another world where visitors can walk amongst and interact with glowing robotic bioluminescent organisms. His sculptures appear organic as he incorporates arm-like appendages that gently swing about. These arms are composed of plastic bags, which are inflated and propelled by desktop cooling fans. The sculptures move independently, but they also respond to motion from the viewers because CJ installs motion sensors in his works. The result feels like a choreographed underwater dance, which truly captures the feeling of being in the deep ocean, in a world with no sunlight, yet teeming with life. CJs sculptures are made from recycled and everyday materials. He takes apart small mechanical devices, such as automatic nightlights, and repurposes them to make his creatures. Tupperware containers provide the skeleton of the work and LED lights create the lightshow. An amalgam of different machine parts, his works purposely leave CJ's Installation in Brisbane Australia wires exposed showing the innards of the machines and the parts that make them work. Inspired by half-deserted buildings he explored as a teen, CJ is fascinated by exposed parts. While the materials he utilizes are non-organic, his sculptures tell the story of an underwater ecosystem. As CJ explains, mimicry is not his goal, but rather he wants to create an experience for the viewers that allows them to share in his fascination of these unique life forms:

I'm not trying to mimic the fish. It's more like I'm trying to grasp the unusual and strange elements of the topic. When I was asking the scientists, for example, about one fish that has a flashing light organ under its eye, a lot of the answers felt like just interpretations, they just happen to work. It's never one hundred percent. And I was thinking, in my installations, people think different creatures are almost communicating with each other, but they're not quite sure. These unexplained things ambiguous, unknown elements they fascinate me1.

As CJ describes, one very important element of his work is communicating a feeling of wonder and curiosity. Just as CJ studied bioluminescent organisms at the museum, he hopes viewers will study his sculptures and guess at how they function and move. More of CJs work can be viewed on his website: http://www.messymix.com/

Panel Text:(in the exhibit)

CJs Artist statement:
My artwork explores the unusual evolutionary adaptations of the mysterious, deep ocean creatures that reside in conditions inhospitable for humans. I am inspired by the appearance of these creatures, both in their natural habitat and under the microscope. I hope my creations, with their lights, computer parts, and plastic-tube appendages, evoke a sense of wonder and curiosity as they float in the darkness of the Museum gallery. The Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship was my first chance to work with scientists and has deeply affected my art-making process. Just as the researchers at the Museum catalog and study each specimen in great detail, I find myself documenting and analyzing myself in the studio to learn more about my process. Shih Chieh Huang, 2007 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow

Lynne Parentis curator statement:

During his time at the National Museum of Natural History as a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, Shih Chieh Huang pored over our collections of preserved bioluminescent organisms. It may seem odd to investigate bioluminescencelight produced by living organismsby examining dead animals. Yet it is perfectly natural to me and my colleagues at the Museum. We study and compare the diversity found in plants and animals largely by examining the specimens in our collections.

1 Shih Chieh Huang, Glowing Art, Glowing Fish. INMY. 2008.

http://www.xymara.com/inmyx/index/inmyx709/cu-200907-index/cu-200907-shihchiehhuang.htm

Shih Chieh Huang knew this examination was critical to his artwork. And the collections themselves repaid him for his investigation, sparking his imagination and creativity. Neither reconstructions nor biological models, Huangs constructions are full of warmth, whimsy, and artistic genius. Lynne Parenti, Curator of Fishes, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, NMNH

Making Connections for Visitors:

CJs work is an art installation (we want viewers to see it as art) so it is important to encourage viewers to experience the work, and spend time with the work. Let CJs installation transport you to an underwater world! Tell visitors to imagine they are a fish that lives thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean. The exhibit allows them to experience what a deep-sea organism might see. An immediate connection for visitors is that CJ actually studied at the museum! Although he is an artist he was greatly inspired by science and walked through the same ocean hall they are standing in! (show visitors the picture of CJ on panel)

Art and Science

Background on the Museums Efforts:
The Bright Beneath is the second installation in the Sant Ocean Hall exploring the interdisciplinary realm between art and science. The previous exhibit, from which CJs work is inheriting the space, also bridged the two disciplines. The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, focused on the importance of coral reef ecosystems, and human impact on reefs. The craft technique of crochet was utilized to form a sculptural reef that integrated math, marine science, and conservation messages into the installation. These installations are part of a larger strategy by the museum to encourage exhibits that demonstrate interdisciplinary connections between the fine arts and sciences. The stereotypical perspective on the relationship between art and science is that the two subjects are polar opposites. Many museum visitors may come in with this attitude, so it is our job to help them see possible connections. There are no definitive answers to explain how art and science are related, but the debate makes for an interesting conversation. Let us encourage these conversations.

Questions for Visitors:

The following are some questions and possible conversations points that may be useful to engage visitors in discussion about art and science.

How are art and science similar? How do you think they differ? Similarities:
The process artists and scientists go through in their work is similar. They both rely heavily on observation. Artists observe the human form in order to paint it, for example. A behavioral ecologists may sit and watch squirrels behavior for hours. The observations scientists and artists make help them gain a deeper understanding of their subjects. Curiosity about the world is a necessary quality for both artists and scientists to have. Scientists usually have a deep curiosity about the world around them and are propelled to study because of a thirst for knowledge. Artists also have a great curiosity about the natural world and how we see. Scientists and artists oftentimes both work with the natural world. Scientists study natural phenomenon such as animals, bugs, and flowers. Artists also study natural subject matter such as the landscape, or the human form. Artists and scientists strive for their messages to be universal. An artist exhibiting in any museum wants share a personal message with the world and connect to other people. Scientists take what they learn from their specific research and compare it other research to see if it matches. They hope to find a pattern that can explain a worldwide natural phenomenon. Creativity is necessary when working in both disciplines. While artists may be thought of as the creative ones, a lot of what creativity is in the art world is working from constraints. Artists must work with what they have, the time, money, and support they get. Similarly scientists mush work around these constraints and must develop creative hypotheses accordingly. While it may seem like artists are the ones who are constantly striving for a unique voice, scientists must also look at problems from unique perspectives in order to learn new things about their subjects.

Differences:
Artists analyze the way we see the world. They interested more in human emotions and experience, and are concentrated on visual culture. Scientists look objectively at how the world works. They are interested in the properties and laws that govern our world. The end result or product artists and scientists make is rather different. Fine artists that exhibit in museums tend to make physical objects whether that is a painting or a video piece. Even dancers, actors, and authors who represent a different type of art create something that has to be experienced. Rather than emotional experiences, scientists end up with more hard facts and knowledge. They tend to produce work that must be read, analyzed, and studied.

Can science ever been seen as art, or art as science? What makes them distinct?

Scientific illustration could be seen as both art and science. Artists make detailed drawings of plants, insects, and other organisms so that scientists can study them. It is important that the drawings be scientifically accurate so that they can be used for information. Certain visual techniques artists use are very scientific making them seem more like a science project. Op Art, which was developed in the 60s tricks the eye into visual illusions so that a 2D surface make look like it is folding in on itself. An older example of this kind of art is perspective drawing. While it is commonplace today tricking the eye to believe a 2D surface looks like a 3D space was revolutionary when it first was develop in the 5th Century.

Can artists and scientists work together?

Yes! Artists and scientist can gain a lot from working with each other. In fact CJ was an artist fellow at NMNH and studied deep-sea organisms under the guide of our Curator of Fishes Lynne Parenti. CJ examined deep ocean fish up close to gain inspiration for his work. Artists and scientists work together in designing exhibits here at the museum. Scientists have the expertise to provide scientific information to include in the exhibit, and artists help the scientists organize this information in a visually appealing way.

A Few Notes About CJs Exhibit:

CJs exhibit is a great example of how artists and scientist work togeth er in order to create. As mentioned before, CJ actually studied with a scientist at the museum. It was this work that inspired him to create sculptures. With their moveable parts, his work actually feels organic and natural. CJs studies of deep ocean organisms gave him a great sense of wonder about this ecosystem. His curiosity sparked his sculptures, and he hopes that his work will inspire curiosity about the deep ocean as well. This curiosity could take the form of scientific research or visual exploration. With CJs exhibit, no scientist will use the sculptures he made in a direct way, but they may be inspired or learn from his creation, which allows visitors to experience the deep ocean. In making his work, CJ did not study scientific papers before creating his sculptures, but he did observe and gain inspiration from the same specimens scientists use in their research. The Bright Beneath is an amazing example of how artists and scientists overlap and draw from each other in order to create.

Statement of Purpose:
This exhibit is part of part of the Museums initiative to include fine arts inspired by natural history science in response to Interplay of Perspectives: History, Art & Culture + Science, a report by the Office of Policy and Analysis discussing

opportunities and rationales for interdisciplinary collaboration2. Just as the knowledge and methods from one discipline can stimulate creativity and discovery in another, so too can exhibitions that highlight the results of these collaborations encourage curiosity and wonder in visitors. Through these exhibitions, we seek to draw audiences who might not otherwise visit the Museum, to model the interdisciplinary connections between science and art, and to provoke a sense of awe about the natural world and our place in it.

Exhibition messages:
Natural history collections can inspire artistic creativity, as well as intellectual curiosity. An aesthetic, or emotional, responseby the artist and the viewersto these collections strengthens the links between humanity and the rest of the natural world. Collaborations between artists and scientists provide a scientific foundation for creative work and open new doors to imaginative exploration of the natural history collections. In the deep-sea, most marine fish and invertebrates, even bacteria and algae, are bioluminescent. They seek prey, find mates, and warn off predators, among other functions, by creating and emitting light in particular flash patterns. In this deep oceanic environment, where sunlight does not penetrate, bioluminescence is the primary source of light. This exhibition will invoke the wonder and sense of mystery of the oceans depth and the strange creatures that live there. The environmental installation of Huangs creatures will promote an aesthetic, emotional response in the visitor about the beauty of life in the ocean.

Learning Outcomes:
increase their appreciation for the interplay between the arts and science develop new curiosities and understandings about the ocean and the organisms that live within it increase their understanding of what bioluminescence is, how it works, and how it benefits certain oceanic organisms

Interplay of Perspectives: History, Art & Culture, Science. Smithsonian Institution. September 2010. http://www.si.edu/opanda/docs/Rpts2010/HACSci100913f.pdf. July 2011.
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Making Connections for Visitors:

Asking visitors questions will allow them to draw out the connections between art and science. Such questions may be: What makes CJs work art and not science? How might the investigation CJ did in the collections be different from what a scientist might do? Do you look at CJs work differently than the other parts of the Ocean Hall? How? Why? A very important element in CJs work is curiosity. He wants his work to inspire wonder. It is this same curiosity that scientists experience when doing their research. Just as scientists wonder about the natural world, artists do too. Ask visitors what excites them? What do they wonder about?