The image above is of one of the ingenious contraptions build by engineer/artist Theo Jensen from The Netherlands. I first became aware of Jensen upon seeing a video of an ad featured in a post written by my brother Jim and my nephew Max on their blog -site, Techimoto. I’d suggest that you go to this site to read the article and see the video before reading on. In the video, Jensen says that the boundaries between engineering and art exist only in our minds. This sound like something a Zen Master would say and is something to be pondered by those who think their interest in science or technology somehow precludes them from being artistic or creative.

All of this came to mind this morning as I read a front page article in the Sunday Los Angles Times (May 11, 2008) devoted to climate researcher Veerabhadran Ramanathan. In 1980, this gentleman co-wrote one of the first scientific articles that said the effects of global warming would be evident by 2000. Since then Ramanathan has toured the globe to conduct experiments and advise world leaders about climate change. He was one of the authors of the 2007 landmark report on global warming for The United Nations. Now he wants to change the world in ways to counteract this warming trend but is finding that world-changing is not easy. His efforts remind me of the artists Cristo and Jeanne-Claude’s efforts to launch The Gates project in New York City.

At age 63, he is still active in research, but is devoting more time and energy to trying to help do something about the climate shifts that he predicted and has documented. His passion is being channeled into what he calls “Project Surya” (surya is Sanskrit for sun). This is an effort to give 3500 solar and other “clean energy” cooking devices to a rural area in the Himalayas where families cook and heat their homes using fires burning dung, wood and other high-polluting materials. After monitoring current levels of pollution, he hopes to see whether switching to “clean energy devices” has a measurable effect on the environment.

The problem is, Ramanathan has not been able to secure the funding necessary to pull off this project from the usual agencies and organizations that should be interested in providing help. Refusing to give up on his dream, he is currently talking to a local business man who is introducing him to philanthropists and to a group of MBA students trying to create a business plan for him. Following his vision, this scientist has had to extend himself beyond the familiar world of labs and government agencies to connect with all sorts of people to make this and other projects work.

A quote in the article from one of Ramanathan’s colleagues got me thinking about how the boundaries between art and science are rather porous. Speaking of Ramanathan’s efforts to fund this monumental project, the college said, “That is an art—the unselfish part of him. This brought to mind the video I had seen several weeks ago about the 25 year effort of artists Cristo and Jeanne-Claude to install 7500 fabric covered gates along 23 miles of sidewalks in Central Park. You can see the first 10 minutes of the video by clinking HERE. Much of this documentary follows the long and discouraging efforts on the part of the artists to convince the powers that be in New York City to allow them to temporarily install, at their own expense, the gates along most of the sidewalks in Central Park.

Prior to viewing the video, I, like others, saw the gates as a rather frivolous project and probably a waste of money. However, viewing what the artists went through to realize their dream and how the city folk responded, I was thoroughly impressed and inspired. While perhaps The Gates is an extreme example, large scale projects that require the artist to search for funding and negotiate bureaucratic and legal restraints is becoming more common today. As with much of what we call performance and conceptual art, the artistry involves skills that are far removed from those needed in the studio. So, I think it fitting that Ramanathan’s college suggests that he is an artist, even though most people, and probably even Ramanathan himself, might not agree.

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