Intensifying the Science, the Senses, and the Impact: A tale of Collaboration Between an Academic Research Lab and two Visual Artists

Abstract:

Arguably, the majority of the scientific challenges being undertaken today have relevance to society – either for their direct influence on management, policy, or human-environmental wellbeing, or for a capacity to stretch the imagination and cause wonder about the natural world. For any scientific endeavor to achieve full impact and reach diverse audiences requires not only excellent science and a mastery of analytical approaches, but also creative messaging, visual appeal, and charismatic communication strategies using innovative media. Such qualities and challenges are encountered routinely by artists. As such, science has a lot to gain from learning, leveraging, and collaborating with the artistic community. In this paper, we detail the collaborative relationship that has developed between two visual artists and a research lab that is focused on ecosystem science, technological development, and education and outreach. We describe how our relationship was developed, the successes and challenges we have experienced, the lessons learned, and our future directions. We also present several guiding principles in the hope that other researchers may utilize to forge other successful collaborations between the science communities and creative industries.