artistic theme
Dual Description
Also: dual-description, dualism, art-science, parallel interpretation, dual reading, science-art, artist-scientist
Jonty Hurwitz's practice of giving every artwork two parallel, equally authoritative readings — one artistic, one scientific — reflecting his dual identity as artist and scientist.
Definition
A dual description presents a single subject through two distinct but simultaneously valid interpretive frameworks — for example an artistic and a scientific account of the same object — neither subordinate to the other.
Discussion
Dual description refers to the practice of affording an artwork two parallel, equally authoritative readings, typically one artistic and one scientific. This conceptual framework is central to the work of Jonty Hurwitz, reflecting his dual identity as both an artist and a scientist. The approach insists that both the aesthetic and the empirical lenses are equally valid ways of understanding the artwork.
