nature as art

I believe it was Hegel who made the key destinction between the beauty of art and the beauty of nature the foundation of his theory of aesthetics. Art being specifically enobled by the human spirit (Marx would have said by human work), whereas nature is simply by itself and for itself without any additional human contribution applied nor necessary. Today, we are facing new questions as to what is remaining of nature and how art is changing in light of digital machines that are quite capable of creating artifacts (again, without any human intervention).


Carsten Nicolai, Milch (80 Hz)
In this context I found two different treatments of milk in art illuminating. Just the other day I was confronted for the first time with the cross-over art and sound work by Carsten Nicolai (see previous entry anti reflex). In one of his pieces he is using milk mainly as a vehicle to visualize the harmonics of sounds at certain frequencies. It just so happens that the texture and density milk has recommends it as a medium that's very suitable to display changing sound waves. Nicolai follows here the footsteps of 18th century physicist Ernst Chladni who had experimented extensively with harmonic vibrations.


Wolfgang Laib, Milkstone
An entirely different treatment of milk we encountered in the artwork of another German artist, Wolfgang Laib. Laib uses milk as a kind of liquid skin which barely covers a marble plate. In this way he almost creates a Zen dimension of time to an otherwise timeless still-life. Laib cherishes milk as a natural phenomenon, similar to the other materials he selects for many of his art works: you'll see unusual stuff like bee wax, rice houses, and plant pollen utilized to form the most beautiful and transcendental sculptures you have ever seen in a museum - so it must be nature as art?


Wolfgang Laib pouring milk
I saw Laib's milkstone in his big retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Art in La Jolla, California. It was displayed in a most stunning environment, sitting alone in a room with huge panoramic windows overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The whole scenario felt as if the art work's timelessness was juxtaposed with the ocean's eternity. But the artwork only appears timeless, in fact it has to be revamped frequently by milk infusions to stay alive and continue to be distinguished as a piece of art.

For more information on Wolfgang Laib's art with nature turn to his US Gallery's web site, Sperone Westwater, and to a small web based compendium on minimal and conceptual art.

Aside from that, keep in mind: data is nature!