Lewis Andrews

Contemplate encapsulates a body of work striving to communicate the knowledge, ideas, and theories (Including those of the artist) of the scientific landscape through an instrument of mathematics and science for centuries, the chalkboard, and introduce them into a creative space. Breaking down the barriers between art and science, the chalkboards as well as communicating both past and contemporary scientific information echo the ideas of the ‘readymade’ artwork. Born out of investigations within Lewis’s masters degree thesis into how audiences may struggle to read scientific information, the inclusion of something visual could help in the communication of new information and knowledge. 

 

Within his thesis, Lewis theorized that the image plays a vital role in the communication of complex ideas within the field of science to an audience. However, Contemplate reverses the argument by staying true to the scientific data and knowledge on display and focusing more on the communication of data. Contemplate adds another level of complexity to the argument by translating the data from a flattened typed or written format on paper to highly textured writing on the chalkboard. As a result, this could be more effective for the audience to gain new knowledge due to the history of chalkboards as a learning device and a playing ground for understanding. The material change adds a layer of informality to the data on the display with the marks of previous mistakes being removed remaining on the board adding to the notion of these being a playground for understanding.

 

With this approach, Lewis experiments with both the ability of the chalkboards to communicate knowledge more effectively than a wall of printed data whilst simultaneously refraining from the use of too much image so that all data is removed in favor of the visual.