Dark Matters: an interrogation of thresholds of (im)perceptibility through theoretical cosmology, fine art and anthropology of science

这个项目将把理论宇宙学、美术和科学人类学结合在一起，探索人类知识和感知与不可感知领域之间的关系。这是一个极具创新性的项目，引入了跨学科研究的新形式。我们的目标是开发、测试和反思一种跨学科的方法，这种方法可以促进相互交流，并为每个学科激发新的见解，因为它适用于难以或可能不可能感知的事物。我们的出发点是纯粹的好奇心——95%的宇宙是由看不见的暗物质和暗能量组成的说法，在我们各自的学科中有着截然不同的吸引力。此外，我们的项目还受到一个更广泛的认识的推动，即对目前超越人类和技术感知模式的研究，对涉及理解地球和非地球过程的更广泛学科（大气和生物多样性科学只是两个科学例子）以及相关的科学政策接口具有严重的影响。虽然我们在地球的不可察觉的维度和遥远的宇宙中有共同的兴趣，但我们研究的创新在于它关注于理解学科差异，以及这些差异如何破坏和挑战我们每个人接近不可察觉的方式。人类感知到什么和感知不到什么之间的界限当然不是静态的。对于一个理论宇宙学家来说，当务之急是提供证据——最终揭示难以察觉的事物。对于艺术家来说，兴趣在于通过艺术实践来质疑可见与不可见之间的界限，从而对不可察觉的事物进行批判性和诗意的反思。对于人类学家来说，有一种不同的冲动，用不可察觉的范畴作为一种质疑和进一步推动人类经验和感性极限的方式。我们设计了一个由三部分组成的方法。第一阶段是三方讨论、相互观察和交流的阶段。我们将了解对方的询问方式；社会理论，绘图，理论物理，计算分析。我们的问题将包括；例如，我们所说的“不可察觉”是什么意思？我们每个人都用什么概念和材料来试图理解不可感知的东西？在我们对不可察觉的事物的理解和参与中，我们在哪些方面是一致的，在哪些方面是分歧的？第二阶段将允许对第一阶段的结果进行一段时间的提炼，以便开发一个由概念和图纸组成的工具包，从而更深入地挖掘学科之间的差异。我们的问题将包括；哪些概念和材料可以使我们进一步了解我们的不同之处？我们是否可以识别出我们每个人处理不可察觉事物的方式的转变，以及这种转变的证据是什么？在这个阶段，我们还将把对话扩展到更广泛的英国理论宇宙学家社区。在第三阶段，我们将通过一个由40名艺术家、理论宇宙学家和社会科学家/哲学家组成的更广泛的小组来测试和反思我们方法的可行性。该项目的产出将包括一部20分钟的研究过程影片，最后是研讨会的报道，一份总结每位研究人员对相互交流过程的批判性反思的报告，一份跨学科出版物，两份会议论文（艺术/科学人类学），一系列新的图纸和理论宇宙学家的三次公开演讲。

This project will bring together an unlikely alliance between theoretical cosmology, fine art and anthropology of science to explore the relationship between human knowledge and perception and the realm of the imperceptible. It is a highly innovative project introducing novel forms of interdisciplinary investigation. Our aim is to develop, test and reflect upon an interdisciplinary methodology that will enable mutual exchange and trigger fresh insight for each discipline as it works with things that are difficult or perhaps impossible to sense. Our starting point is one of pure curiosity - the claim that 95% of the universe is made up of invisible dark matter and dark energy is alluring in quite different ways to our respective disciplines. Further still, our project is also motivated by a broader realization that research into what lies presently beyond human and technological modes of sensing, has serious implications for a wider spectrum of disciplines involved in understanding earthly and non-earthly processes (atmospheric and biodiversity science are but two scientific examples) and for relevant science-policy interfaces. While we converge in our mutual interest in the imperceptible dimensions of the earth and the far-flung reaches of the cosmos, the innovation of our research lies in its focus upon understanding disciplinary differences and how these disrupt and challenge the ways each one of us approaches the imperceptible. The boundaries between what is and what is not sensed by humans is not of course static. For a theoretical cosmologist, the imperative is to produce evidence - to ultimately reveal the imperceptible. For the artist, the interest lies in interrogating thresholds between the seen and unseen through art practice to enable critical and poetic reflection on the imperceptible. For the anthropologist, there is a different urge to use the category of the imperceptible as a way of questioning and further pushing the limits of human experience and sensibility. We have designed a three-part methodology. Stage One is a period of three-way discussion, mutual observation and exchange. We will be made aware of each other's ways of enquiring; social theory, drawing, theoretical physics, computational analysis. Our questions will include; what, for example, do we each mean by the imperceptible? What concepts and materials do we each use to attempt to make sense of the imperceptible? Where do we coincide in our understanding and engagement with the imperceptible and where do we diverge? Stage Two will allow for a period of distillation of the results from Stage One in order to develop a toolkit made up of concepts and drawings with which to dig deeper into the differences between the disciplines. Our questions will include; what concepts and materials may enable us to further understand how and where we differ? Can we identify a shift in how each one of us approaches the imperceptible and what might be the evidence of this shift? At this stage we will also extend the conversation to include a broader community of UK theoretical cosmologists. In Stage Three we will test and reflect upon the viability of our methodology through a workshop with a wider group of forty artists, theoretical cosmologists and social scientists/philosophers. The outputs of the project will include a twenty minute film of the research process culminating in the coverage of the workshop, a report summarizing each researcher's critical reflections on the process of mutual exchange, an interdisciplinary publication, two conference papers (art/ anthropology of science), a new series of drawings and three public talks by the theoretical cosmologist.