ART + SCIENCE Week: Geometry: Linda Alterwitz

ART + SCIENCE Week: Geometry: Linda Alterwitz by Aline SmithsonSeptember 18, 2017

©Linda Alterwitz, “Untitled Number 1” from the series Signatures of Heat

I’m always excited for Art & Science Editor, Linda Alterwitz’s, twice yearly weeks of projects that combine the scientific with photographic art. This week Linda focuses on Geometry, with a line-up of fascinating explorations and ways of seeing the world. She states, “The theme of this week’s Art + Science is GEOMETRY. Although the six artists to be featured use different methods to interpret shapes and measured spaces, each artist shares a humanistic approach to art, one that strives to understand how we fit into a bigger picture.”

But today, we are sharing Linda’s newest project, Signatures of Heat, where she uses Thermal technology to create portraits of incandescence. By using a technology that allows for a window into the unseen world of temperature in living things, her project celebrates life from the inside out and reveals that our interiors all have a commonality that connects us. It’s a profound way of understanding our shared humanity.

©Linda Alterwitz, “Untitled Number 2” from the series Signatures of Heat

Visual artist Linda Alterwitz investigates the boundaries between art and science. She incorporates scientific images within her photographs that are derived from cutting edge technology. By combining creative and scientific elements within each frame, she explores visual perception to provoke a feeling of curiosity and wonderment.

Inspired by experimentation with diverse materials and processes, Alterwitz incorporates both traditional and new media techniques. Guided by current technology, her creative process often incorporates images derived from X-rays, CT, PET, sonogram, or MRI diagnostic imaging, informational grids sourced from the results of medical or thermal imaging tests.

She has exhibited her work in both traditional exhibition and site-specific installations in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Spain, Israel and Poland. Alterwitz lives and works in Las Vegas, Nevada.

©Linda Alterwitz, “Untitled Number 3” from the series Signatures of Heat

PROJECT THERMAL: Signatures of Heat

Science unites us, and technology enables us to envision these connections. Through my continued investigations using thermal technology, I search out the threads that connect science with contemporary culture, revealing a human experience that summons the unexpected.

From having a fever in one’s body to the effects of global warming, temperature pervades our lives. In my on-going PROJECT THERMAL, temperature is digitally recorded through photography utilizing state of the art thermal imaging. The imagery radiates a surreal quality, creating photographs that appear both scientific and ethereal.

As an extension of PROJECT THERMAL, I present a new series of photographs entitled SIGNATURES OF HEAT. Thermal technology is used for surveillance and detection of chemical, biological, radiation, nuclear and explosive materials. In contrast to the scientific functions, the images featured in SIGNATURES OF HEAT expose a right-brained, dreamlike energy that animates living beings. Radiating from humans and animals are the biological commonalities that unite us – breath, sweat, inflammation and the warm circulation of blood. Glowing white, unique patterns fade and reappear on skin, reacting to internal and external stimuli. Hidden from view are the physical characteristics that socially divide us. Pigmentation, including skin color, tattoos, and hair color ceases to exist. Marks and wrinkles on skin disappear, blurring the lines of age and gender.

SIGNATURES OF HEAT reaches beyond the visible, shedding light on the universal connectivity of all matter including living beings and the environment. It is my hope that this work kindles curiosity that extends beyond the boundaries of experience, thought, and aesthetics.