Lizzie Kripke   |   2014   |   Painting & Neuroscience

 

Curiosity is a silken funnel.
A silken funnel with marshmallow lips and a long, descending larynx.
It’s a surprisingly practical apparatus,
harnessed in studies and by dreams.

I like to use it to better understand, describe, and respect nature.
But really,
I like to shove data sets and flaccid paint down its gushing throat
until, on lucky days, it regurgitates poetry.

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grid it is a representation of scientific knowledge in relation to nature. Grids signify order, a reduction
of geometry, a predictable measurement. Grids are standard. Grids are complete. It comes as no
surprise, then, that grids are commonplace in scientific practice. Place something against a grid and its
irregularities become clear. The grid helps us to digest complexity.

Digestion, however, is merely a breakdown of large components into smaller ones. Considering this as
an allegory for scientific reduction, does breaking something down into smaller components really help
us to better understand it as a whole? Or does it result more readily in the creation of something else -
something distinct - something inquiringly new?