The Art of Innovation

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The Art of Innovation: Omnibus 4

Omnibus 4

BBC Radio 4 - The Art of Innovation, Omnibus 4

Ian Blatchford and Tilly Blyth on how art and science have inspired each other.

Sir Ian Blatchford and Dr Tilly Blyth with their final omnibus edition exploring how science and art have inspired each other in our modern day Age of Ambivalence

Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum Group, and the Science Museum’s Head of Collections, Dr Tilly Blyth, with their final omnibus edition in which they draw upon key works of art, along with objects from the Science Museum Group's collection, to explore how art and science have inspired each other in our modern day Age of Ambivalence

Along the way: Ealing Films' warning on the dangers of scientific hubris in The Man in the White Suit; the Polaroid photo's scientific and artistic revolution in the taking and making of pictures; the fragile self regulating Earth in the mystical landmark TV drama Edge of Darkness; can a computer produce original art without human intervention; imaginative revelations at the very edge of our understanding as we seek to explore the nature of the cosmos.  

 Producer Adrian Washbourne

Produced in partnership with The Science Museum Group

Readers: Shaun Mason, Katherine Cusack, Sean Baker.

Music composed by Mark Russell

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

How art and science have inspired each other.

Sir Ian Blatchford and Dr Tilly Blyth explore how art and science have inspired each other.

In this landmark series, art historian and Director of the Science Museum Ian Blatchford and technology historian and Head of Collections of the Science Museum Tilly Blyth explore the art of invention and the invention of art and reveal the symbiotic relationship between the two. Many feel science takes the magic out of creativity. These programmes show how scientific advance facilitates creativity. And further, how artistic and scientific endeavour are inspired by the same desires and, often, are the result of intimate conversations between good friends. Galileo's painter friend Ludovicio Cigoli paints a maculate moon on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel and what does Galileo see when he looks through his telescope? A maculate moon. The poet Samuel Coleridge and the chemist Humphrey Davy were very close friends. Scientific innovators are creative thinkers. And the creation of art is dependent on technological development, as well as an aesthetic sense. Throughout history, artists and scientists have both desired to make sense of the world around them and change it, 

Produced in partnership with The Science Museum Group. 

Image credit: Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.

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