Exhibition Review: Foreign Bodies, Common Ground

Whether I'm a good scientist is open to debate, but I'm certainly no
artist — in fact I was explicitly forbidden to do GCSE art after being told I would fail.

Stung by the experience, I've since shied away from anything remotely arty. So it was with some trepidation that I went along to the Wellcome Collection's 'Foreign Bodies, Common Ground'.

The exhibition is the Wellcome Trust's most recent exercise in
public engagement, conceived in an attempt to make the worlds of art and science
collide.

Six artists, ranging from photographers, performance groups and
multimedia artists, were sent to Wellcome-funded research centres around the
world. These included the Sanger Institute here in the UK, as well as centers
in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.

The goal of these 'foreign bodies' was to immerse themselves in scientific
research for six months, and then produce some work that reflected what they
learnt. Ultimately, Wellcome hopes to stimulate new thinking and debate in the
two disciplines that are often thought of as being very distinct.

In hindsight I am not sure what I was expecting, except perhaps for
some more science, but despite trying to pull these two worlds together, the end
result of 'Foreign Bodies, Common Ground' is… an art exhibition.

And no art exhibition is complete without hushed tones, fluorescent
lighting and oddly non-specific descriptions of each piece on white card.

Nonetheless, after my initial panic on witnessing such a scene, the
exhibition did get me thinking.

Although the process of 'science' may well have been similar every
time, each artist had a very different experience during their residencies. This
is reflected in the variation of art on display, both in style and tone. There
are photographs, some sculptures, a shadow-installation, video screens, music
and a fun, interactive set where you can put on an adorned lab coat and take a
photo of yourself with science related props.

But despite this variation, a common theme is rarely far from the
surface. Several artists worked closely with the public to provide insight into
how cultural opinions can influence research and its interpretation. As a
result, many pieces depict the divide between researchers and a 'wider
community' which often views medical research with confusion and skepticism.

One piece deserves particular mention. Katie Paterson spent six
months in the Wellcome Trust labs in Cambridge, where she became interested in genomic archaeology. Her contribution, 'Fossil Necklace', is nothing less than
extraordinary.

Exhibited in a dark room, the necklace is made from 170 beads, each
carved from a fossil that represents a major event in evolution. Some of the beads represent single-celled
organisms and are millions of years old. Others represent the emergence of
vertebrates from the sea to land - the hottest period in the planet's history -
or the origin of language. It's mind-blowing.

As a whole, the exhibition has made me take a less dismissive view
of art, and made me appreciate the artists' dedication. In fact, a lot of similarities exist between art
and science - curiosity, immense attention to detail, and the desire to communicate.

In this exhibition, the Wellcome Trust's efforts in using art to help make science
more accessible to the public are well-aimed. And, yes, researchers perhaps need
reminding how our work fits into a wider context and that we too can learn from
other disciplines.