Coincidental Creatures
Research Cluster Coincidental Creatures
Reimagining life’s points of intersection
Research Context
This research cluster looks at a two-way link. It is the link between art and living beings. The research studies this link by focussing on the part of coincidence.
By collaborating with individuals from various fields, the research aims to foster meaningful dialogues about the interplay between art, living beings and coincidences.
The research features two artworks, with additional pieces currently in development.
Table of Contents
Call for Collaboration
The research cluster welcomes interdisciplinary collaborators interested in open dialogues about coincidence, ethics, art and living beings.
If you wish to contribute to this ongoing research, please submit a letter of motivation outlining your interest and relevant experience.
You can find my contacts here.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Interdisciplinary projects can bring challenges, such as different timelines and communication styles. I believe these are often opportunities to create something unique. Indeed, it’s relevant to adapt our process so that our collaboration is as smooth and beneficial as possible.
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Access Research Cluster
You can read about the research in the text below on this page.
Alternatively, you can download the PDF brochure (8.9 MB) for the same content.
1. Introduction
This research looks at how artists’ personal paths link with broader global themes. I am aware that there could be diverse viewpoints on these themes.
For this reason, this research is open to diverse fields and people’s views.
The research revolves around many ideas which may hold diverse meanings for different people. I keep this in mind when working on these subjects.
Therefore, I see my story to be one of many possible viewpoints.
Sometimes, my attention could appear mainly on the creative side. It is because my field is art.
Some of my artworks use natural materials that break down over time.
Later, I introduced a new layer of complexity by combining natural and artificial materials.
This approach highlights the conflict posed by modern challenges arising from environmental and technological factors.
It reflects their complexity, encouraging a more nuanced conversation about the connections of life.
It can also raise social and environmental awareness by rethinking our connection with the environment. It can also boost environmental knowledge.
2. Purpose of This Text
In this text, I present an overview of the research. I am not providing a comprehensive overview of these subjects.
The relationship between living beings and contemporary art, and the theme of living beings’ ethics and art practice, is broad.
Among others, the following experts, who have made significant contributions to these fields but are not associated with this specific research, are, listed in alphabetical order: David Akenson[1], Steven Baker[2], Beata Batorowicz[3], Luca Bochicchio[4], Ellie Coleman[5], Tsung-huei Huang[6], Rebecca Scollen[7], Ana Teixeira Pinto[8], Davide Tolfo[9], and Karin Andersen[10].
The topic of the “coincidence” is broad.
This text briefly introduces the complex theme of coincidence.
I value dialogues on coincidence and the connection between ethics and art in living beings.
Please find my contacts through my contact page.
3. Into the Field of Living Beings
I study art at the art university, the Academy of Fine Arts.
Since the beginning, I have been interested in living beings. Living beings are the topic of the life sciences, as defined by the dictionary[11].
At that time, one of my favourite courses was a combination of art and science.
The course was about the human body[12]. I studied human bones and drew ideas from them.
My town also had a public collection of animal bones. I contacted the specialists who oversee the collection. They open the collection to me. They allow me to draw and study the specimens.
The specialists suggested a book about living beings with a backbone[13]. It provides a broader view. I noticed the point in common between some living beings.
I later broadened my art to include outdoor works.
I once planned an outdoor artwork in a rural area. I was in Germany. It was during an art program.
My idea was to find a way to make contact with living beings because of my interest in the life sciences.
4. The Altered Appearance of the Soil
In this rural area, there was a natural park. I needed to find a place in the park to create the outdoor artwork.
I chose a dip around a small pond.
I was slowly shaping the work. Then, one weekend, some guests arrived with a dog.
The dog started running around the art area and swimming in the small pond. Suddenly, the dog dug holes in the art area.
The dog’s digging changed the space.
Working outdoors, I stayed aware of possible changes.
However, this change was especially striking.
I let this change influence my work. I do not appropriate it.
I felt the creative development growing behind me. The dog’s action has made me feel even more like I am part of the community.
It was the community of living beings around me. I became more aware of how this community was growing.
I followed the change in the soil and added hundreds of coconut pellets. These pellets help new seeds grow and change shape when they get wet.
I used water from the pond where the dog was swimming to expand the pellets.
I praised the dog’s actions as a sign of new life coming from our actions.
The dog’s arrival met my intention to connect artistically with living beings.
It seems to me as a coincidence.
5. Coincidences
5.1 A Dictionary Definition of Coincidence
Following dictionary definitions[14][15][16], a coincidence is an event that involves two or more events. These events happen at the same time and seem to be connected.
5.2 Experts’ Thoughts on Coincidence
Experts propose different ways of defining coincidence.
For example, Lüthy and Palmerino suggest that to understand what words like chance, lucky, or coincidence mean, we need to know what type of explanation they’re trying to reject[17].
Griffiths and Tenenbaum propose a definition of coincidence supported by a mathematical framework[18]. They conclude that coincidences can uncover evidence that goes against what we expect and is relevant for making discoveries in science and day-to-day life[19].
5.3 Coincidence and Living Beings
One can indeed find multiple experts’ points of view[20].
However, the present research focuses on the relationship between coincidence and living beings.
6. Flying Over the Windowsill
I finished the artwork at the natural park. Then, I searched for new ways to link with living beings.
One morning, I was in my studio creating a new artwork for a theatre.
Suddenly, some birds flew over.
They left some branches on my windowsill.
Their action moved me to continue this natural gesture.
I wove the branches into my work, enriching my focus on diverging. According to the dictionary, to diverge means to move in different directions from the same starting point[21]. It happens when ideas, people, and influences take distinct paths.
In this work, actions branch out like branches.
The work features an original X-ray image of a bird. I found it and repurposed it.
The work also includes a natural fiber.
Indeed, this fiber created a new link with live beings. It happened during another art program.
This time, the link was with ants.
7. Ants Wake Up at Seven in the Morning
I spent several days in a large field in a rural area.
I worked on an artwork early in the morning.
I was creating a net. The net was around a discovered concrete block.
One day, I realised something was happening around seven o’clock.
The ants came. They walked across the net, up and down. They started to do it every morning around the same time.
8. Parallel Lines of Research
From my viewpoint, this event does not involve coincidence.
The idea of coincidence is a crucial point in my research.
However, this event still runs parallel to the research.
The interplay between living beings appears as a two-way exchange.
In previous works, I followed the actions of dogs and birds. In this work, the ants followed my action.
It seems these events work like a dialogue.
9. Exchanges of Coincidence
These events emphasize a key research issue.
It is the interplay between art and living beings.
Events like the coincidences appear to boost the interplay. Indeed, these events link art and living beings.
Finally, this research invites us to look at the ways living beings connect to each other.
Through art and research, we can enhance creatures’ exchanges of coincidence.
10. Related Artworks
Discover the related artwork that highlights the Coincidental Creatures research.
This section will be updated regularly.
Artwork Coincidence, this artwork involved an unexpected interaction with a canine’s presence
Before starting my environmental artwork, I planned to collaborate with animals.
Ethical Statement: This artwork features untouched dog-dug holes, celebrating natural animal behaviors without appropriating them.
Learn more about this artwork, “Coincidence.”
Artwork Diverging Waves
Diverging is the opposite of converging. It happens when ideas, people and waves take different paths and things begin to differentiate.
Ethical Statement: This artwork arises from a respectful collaboration with nature, inspired by branches left by a bird on my windowsill. The x-ray, a found object, serves as a reminder of the natural world, honoring its contributions without appropriation.
Timestamp and Documentation Note
This project has been timestamped and documented as part of my collaborative and creative research process. Timestamping is a digital method that verifies and records a file’s creation date, ensuring the work’s originality.
Notes
- Coleman, E.; Scollen, R.; Batorowicz, B.; Akenson, D. Artistic Freedom or Animal Cruelty? Contemporary Visual Art Practice That Involves Live and Deceased Animals. Animals 2021, 11, 812. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030812 back to the text
- Steve Baker, The Postmodern Animal (London: Reaktion Books, 2000). back to the text
- Coleman, E.; Scollen, R.; Batorowicz, B.; Akenson, D. Artistic Freedom or Animal Cruelty? Contemporary Visual Art Practice That Involves Live and Deceased Animals. Animals 2021, 11, 812. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030812 back to the text
- Karin Andersen and Luca Bochicchio, “The Presence of Animals in Contemporary Art as a Sign of Cultural Change,” Forma: Revista d’Humanitats 6 (December 2012): 12-23. back to the text
- Coleman, E.; Scollen, R.; Batorowicz, B.; Akenson, D. Artistic Freedom or Animal Cruelty? Contemporary Visual Art Practice That Involves Live and Deceased Animals. Animals 2021, 11, 812. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030812 back to the text
- Tsung-huei Huang, “On the Use of Animals in Contemporary Art: Damien Hirst’s ‘Abject Art’ as a Point of Departure,” Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies 41, no. 1 (March 2015): 87-118, https://doi.org/10.6240/concentric.lit.2015.41.1.05. back to the text
- Coleman, E.; Scollen, R.; Batorowicz, B.; Akenson, D. Artistic Freedom or Animal Cruelty? Contemporary Visual Art Practice That Involves Live and Deceased Animals. Animals 2021, 11, 812. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030812 back to the text
- Ana Teixeira Pinto, “The Post-Human Animal: What’s Behind the Proliferation of Animals in Recent Artworks?” Frieze d/e, no. 19 (May 2015), https://www.frieze.com/article/post-human-animal, accessed October 28, 2024. back to the text
- Davide Tolfo, “Exploring the Role of Non-Human Animals in Contemporary Art: As Objects, Matter, and Collaborators,” in Building Common Ground: Ecological Art Practices and Human-Nonhuman Knowledges, ed. Emiliano Guaraldo, The Future Contemporary 2 (Venice: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2023), 5, https://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-756-2/002. back to the text
- Karin Andersen and Luca Bochicchio, “The Presence of Animals in Contemporary Art as a Sign of Cultural Change,” Forma: Revista d’Humanitats 6 (December 2012): 12-23. back to the text
- Cambridge University Press, “Life Science,” Cambridge Dictionary, accessed October 19, 2024, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/life-science. back to the text
- The course was called “Anatomia Artistica,”which could be translated as “Artistic Anatomy,” “Figure Drawing,” “Anatomy for Artists,” or “Human Anatomy for Artists.” back to the text
- Milton Hildebrand, Analysis of Vertebrate Structure (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1974). back to the text
- Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “coincidence,” accessed October 23, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coincidence. back to the text
- Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “occurrence,” accessed October 24, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/occurrence. back to the text
- Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “event,” accessed October 24, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/event. back to the text
- Christoph H. Lüthy and Carla Rita Palmerino, “Conceptual and Historical Reflections on Chance (and Related Concepts),” in The Challenge of Chance: A Multidisciplinary Approach from Science and the Humanities, eds. Klaas Landsman and Ellen van Wolde (Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2016), 42. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26300-7 back to the text
- Thomas L. Griffiths and Joshua B. Tenenbaum, “From Mere Coincidences to Meaningful Discoveries,” Cognition 103, no. 2 (2007): 180-226, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2006.03.004 back to the text
- Ibidem, 220. back to the text
- For another expert perspective on the nature of coincidence, see Michiel van Elk, Karl Friston, and Harold Bekkering, “The Experience of Coincidence: An Integrated Psychological and Neurocognitive Perspective,” in The Challenge of Chance: A Multidisciplinary Approach from Science and the Humanities, eds. Klaas Landsman and Ellen van Wolde (Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2016), 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26300-7. back to the text
- Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “diverge,” accessed October 27, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diverge. back to the text