Exactitude and Uncertainty

'Exactitude and Uncertainty', a paper that reflects on the nature of research as a form of exploration and the artist’s book as a means to embody this activity.

It focuses on a book project by the author, based on his ongoing research at CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva). Subjective response and reflection are fundamental to how one makes sense of the world and these form key strategies for assimilating and using the material generated. One of the book’s aims is to explore—from the viewpoint of a non-scientific artist—the human dimension to science and its status as both an ideal realm and a tangible practice. Perhaps above all, the intention is to look for those transient, poignant and often-humorous responses that people have to the ‘machine’ and its make up.

This was included in a limited edition case-bound publication of keynote and peer-reviewed papers, proceedings and documentation of exhibitions and project events at the Impact 8 International Printmaking Conference – hosted by Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee in August 2013. The conference theme – ‘Borders & Crossings: the artist as explorer’ highlights the experimental nature of the meeting, both as an academic platform and as a celebration of inter-disciplinarity and exploration through the medium of print.