We Embedded Artists Into Complex Science Meetings — Here’s What They Produced

In this Q&A, illustrators Alex Eben Meyer and Jun Cen talk about the process of working alongside physicists and mathematicians.

An illustration by Jun Cen inspired by the research being done by the Simons Collaboration on Extreme Electrodynamics of Compact Sources. Artwork by Jun Cen

Science and art, while often contrasted, share much in common. Both involve curiosity, false starts, failure, iteration, breakthroughs and, ultimately, discovery. This commonality is a guiding tenet of the Simons Foundation’s Science, Society & Culture division. It informs the work of our researcher engagement program, an initiative that works to connect members of the Simons Foundation’s scientific community with public engagement opportunities. Our focus is not solely on the “finished product” but on the process itself: We believe in the power of simply providing space for interaction.

Inspired by our recognition of the power of art and science, we recently launched an experiment. We enlisted two illustrators, Alex Eben Meyer and Jun Cen, to work with our Simons Collaborations in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences program to create illustrations inspired by the collaboration’s research. These collaborations bring together groups of outstanding scientists to address topics of fundamental scientific importance.

We identified two collaborations to start with. One was the Simons Collaboration on the Localization of Waves, a collaboration in which mathematicians and physicists work on understanding and manipulating the behavior of waves in disordered media or complex geometry, with a particular focus on localization phenomena. The second was the Simons Collaboration on Extreme Electrodynamics of Compact Sources, which explores classical and quantum electrodynamics under the extreme conditions in compact astrophysical objects such as neutron stars and black holes.

If this research sounds complex and difficult to grasp, you’re not alone — our illustrators felt the same way. We invited Meyer and Cen to attend their assigned collaboration’s annual meeting, which brings together scientists from all over the world. Meyer attended Localization of Waves, and Cen attended Extreme Electrodynamics of Compact Sources.

At those meetings, the illustrators explored the connections between art and science and thought up ways of illustrating the research. They had lunch and ad hoc conversations with the attendees, created some sketches and walked away with inspiration. Importantly, the goal was not to communicate the complex concepts in their totality or even to produce something educational. Instead, the hope was to celebrate the dialogue that has always existed between science and art and, in doing so, inspire a sense of intrigue in the casual observer.

We’re thrilled to unveil these illustrations here. And recently, Science, Society & Culture Program Director John Tracey spoke with Meyer and Cen about their experience. The transcript below has been edited for clarity and brevity.

An illustration of various waves shaped to look like the petals of a flower.
Alex Eben Meyer made this illustration after spending time with researchers from the Simons Collaboration on the Localization of Waves. Artwork by Alex Eben Meyer

Tracey: Thank you both for doing this. To start, tell us about your work and your relationship to science.

Meyer: I’ve been an illustrator for 20 years now. My work has always spanned a huge variety of topics, from politics to lifestyle to kids’ books. I’ve done more mature-leaning things. I always get a rush and enjoy the variety of everything. I feel like science has always been a piece that pops up, particularly in illustration work. That’s always been one of the more interesting areas because it exists in reality, but then there’s also the interpretation of it. I don’t have a huge scientific background, but it has always been a part of me just being a curious person and always enjoying this investigation into the world. When doing illustration or art, there is also an investigation into the world visually. It’s interesting when these two things mend together. Right now, the science pieces tend to be the most interesting to me. It’s great when an article or story comes along that’s something that’s both interesting and that I haven’t heard about. I feel like I’m at the forefront, and I can kind of jump in and be like, “Oh, look at me! I’m a researcher,” in a way.

Cen: I have a very similar career path as Alex. I’ve been in the industry for more than 10 years, and the subject matter of my work is also very wide, from politics to design to literature. But over the years, the assignments related to science really define my style because, as you can see, my style is very futuristic and has many science fiction references. So, I think those projects really shaped my style. Because of that, more clients have approached me to illustrate ideas about science. Sometimes it’s really grand. I remember one time I was asked by A24 to conceptualize one of the parallel universe theories for Everything Everywhere All At Once. There are more projects like that coming in, and I appreciate the challenge because it’s always about very grand ideas.

Tracey: Speaking of challenges, the collaborations we asked you to explore and interpret deal with science that would come across as “dense” to many. What were your expectations going into the process?

Meyer: When I went into the meeting, I knew it would be heavy, and I was looking forward to it. I thought, “I’ll walk in, and I don’t expect to understand all this. These are astrophysicists and physicists and mathematicians at presumably really high levels.” I basically walked in and understood when they introduced their names and their CV, and after that, it turned into a different language. It was fascinating because it was so high level. I was trying to understand it, and it was so past anything that I had any experience in. There was that moment of “this is a mess. I’m just not understanding anything.” But the people I met were very genuine and interesting. I talked to a few of them, who also agreed, even though they were mathematicians and physicists, that they had no idea what was going on with some of the speakers because the speakers were at a different level. So, it was very interesting to watch both the reactions and the human quality of these mathematicians and physicists explaining what they were doing because there’s so much complication to it, but there was still this human quality in how they presented themselves and who they are as people.

Cen: My experience was similar. When I walked into the meeting, I felt completely without context because they were not introducing general ideas about black holes. It was more specific research. So, I was a bit lost. But I was very fascinated by the graphs, the visuals of simulations and the waves. These elements really inspire visual artists. After I went home, I started reading introductory books. One of them is Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution. I had some basic ideas of the theories and connected them with some of the ideas I heard about during the meeting, especially those about the waves of the black holes. But I had this general idea of the waves, and that really inspired me to illustrate my work.

Tracey: There are a lot of obvious challenges when it comes to engaging with science this complex. But as artists, do you find that there’s also opportunity in being “out of your comfort zone,” so to speak?

Meyer: Sort of [laughs]. When I’m working on a project, I like putting myself in that place of the people who are in it. It’s like a polymorph idea where I’m jumping in and trying to see it through their eyes but also through my own eyes. And I get a fun ego drive of, “I’m going to come up with an idea that’s never been seen before.” There are plenty of times it’s definitely been seen before. But there is that excitement of being like, “I’m going to resolve these mysteries in a way that’s never been looked at before because I see it differently.” And again, there’s both a naivete and an ego with that. So, it’s fun to strive for that, especially with material that isn’t so immediately obvious.

Cen: One of the liberties of being an artist is that you don’t have to be an expert about a certain subject matter to create art. It’s all about your imagination. I was always fascinated by the scene in, for example, 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the protagonist goes into the wormhole and the filmmakers are using drops of ink in the water to create those effects. Those are very imaginative and inspiring for me. I think that also inspired me to create visually striking images that represent the ideas of science.

Tracey: Was there something specific you heard at the meeting or read about in your own research that you latched onto and thought, OK, this is a possible direction for my piece?

Cen: I was mostly inspired by the simulations of the disks and the jets of a black hole. Those are very fascinating to me because there are two different forms of waves, and they are both very visually striking. Having something like that in outer space is already a very creative form for me. That really inspires me.

Meyer: For me, I was doing waveforms, and it was this idea that these waveforms existed everywhere and at every size, and they kept going down into the infinitesimal situations and quantum sizes. It was the fact that they are this natural thing, the idea that all of this existed in nature, even though it’s mathematical. Looking back on how I got to where I ended, I went with more of a naturalistic piece. But it was that idea that science is everywhere. I remember one speaker had this wonderful explanation in which she was talking about fractals, and that moment was very interesting to me. She said, “OK, I’m drawing this fractal.” And then, sometime later, she just goes, “OK, I’m bored,” and just stopped midway through. It ties back to this idea that there is this human quality and natural side to doing this research. There was something about that that resonated with me, that there was a humor in all of this. It didn’t immediately lead to where I was, but looking back, I can see how that connected to where I ended up.

Tracey: What was the most surprising part of this process for you?

Cen: The whole thing was surprising because there’s never a project where I have to go to a scientific meeting first and then generate ideas. Usually, it’s very straightforward. I just do some readings, summarize some of the ideas and then go to the concept. For this one, the whole experience was very surprising — in a good way.

Meyer: I don’t know about surprising, but one of the moments that I really enjoyed was talking to some of the people who were in attendance. We’re sitting there eating and having a back and forth, and as interesting and confounding as what was being discussed was for me, as I was explaining my reasoning for being there, came that same reaction from them. Seeing my work and how I was sketching and coming up with ideas, and how different it was to them. It was entertaining to observe these scientists think, “This artist is here trying to translate this or trying to understand it but from a wholly different perspective.”

Tracey: Any parting thoughts?

Meyer: Just to say how entertaining it was to have the back-and-forth. Thinking back to the dinner, when all the artists and physicists were getting together, I had this perfect moment looking at the name cards, and they said things like, “illustrator, artist, astrophysicist, quantum physicist.” That immediate reaction of, “Oh, some of these things seem so far apart.” I enjoyed the experience of being in that world and providing my perspective, coming from a totally different direction to this.

Cen: I just really enjoyed how this experience provoked other conversations in my own life. I remember meeting Alex, and we had a very long conversation about the work. We met a new friend who was also interested in quantum physics. Her approach is more about how these theories are related to some of the Eastern philosophies. So, it’s expanding the conversation in a much different direction, which is always very interesting.

Tracey: Thanks again to you both.

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