During Spring quarter of freshman year at Oregon State, I was simultaneously enrolled in a general chemistry course for my engineering major, and a contemporary art history course for my studio art major. The approach to academia in my two classes could not have been more different, and yet there was a common theme: color. In chemistry lab, we focused on and experimented with spectroscopy—using spectrometers to understand light, color, and wavelengths.
In contemporary art history, we discussed the metaphor and emotion of color impressionism and post-Impressionism and the theory behind it. We studied various neoclassical works, and how contrast of light and dark characterized the 1800s paintings. As a result of that experience, a community activity that I have wanted plan is a series of informal presentations involving three people: a scientist/engineer, an artist (sound, visual, or other), and myself (to direct the talk and act as a translator between the disciplines). Each talk would have different guests, and a one-word theme that has relevant—albeit different—meanings in each discipline.
The talks would be co-funded by the College of Engineering (or Science) and College of Liberal Arts, and would not be specific to OSU. It could become a global initiative to—in real time—make concrete connections between seemingly incongruent fields of study. It would halt the nonsense of scientists not attending artist talks, and artists never attending science talks by something as simple as a common world. What are your guys' thoughts? is this something you would attend?