學術研究 • ACADEMIC RESEARCH 58 澳大新語 • 2025 UMAGAZINE 31 「學術研究」為投稿欄目，內容僅代表作者個人意見。 Academic Research is a contribution column. The views expressed are solely those of the author(s). Michael Whittle 是澳門大學人文學院藝術與設計系當代藝術副教授。他的跨學科研究主要探究科學與藝術在視覺化實踐 中的交匯。他起初學習生物化學，後轉為學習美術，這一雙重學術背景影響了他對視覺思維工具的研究。他在英國倫敦皇 家藝術學院取得雕塑碩士學位，並以日本文部省研究學者身份在京都藝術大學獲得雕塑博士學位，其博士論文聚焦於當 代藝術實踐中的圖解思維。 Michael Whittle is an associate professor of contemporary art in the Department of Arts and Design, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Macau. His interdisciplinary research explores the intersection of scientific and artistic visualisation practices. Prof Whittle was originally trained as a biochemist before transitioning to fine art. This dual background informs his approach to visual thinking tools. Prof Whittle holds an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art in London, and a PhD in Sculpture as a Japanese Monbusho Research Scholar at Kyoto City University of Arts, where his dissertation focused on diagrammatic thinking in contemporary art practice. artistic practice, and were demonstrated in an exhibition I curated, ‘A Cabinet of Curiosities: A Wunderkammer for the 21st Century’ held in Hong Kong. The exhibition brought together 40 international artists and scientists, many of whom explore how diagrams shape our understanding of complex phenomena. Several works also demonstrated how diagrammatic approaches can work in combination. My art installation Perpetual Motion was on display at the Hong Kong exhibition. It includes a specially designed carpet that merges notational and embodied diagrams by transforming Nobel laureates May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser’s research on grid cells into an intricate geometric pattern. Visitors could physically traverse the installation and experience complex scientific concepts through their bodies. We also arranged for a contemporary dance performance to be staged on this carpet, adding a deeper layer of meaning as the dancers’ movements across the space echoed the neural activity occurring within their own minds, weaving together a dynamic fusion of scientific understanding and bodily experience. On the other hand, Shawn Pakhin Tang’s art installation Inertia similarly balances scientific precision with artistic interpretation. He removed the hour and minute hands from a clock and replaced the second hands with compass needles, creating a mesmerising visualisation of magnetic fields and temporal cycles. Alternating between chaos and synchronisation, the installation offers both an accurate representation of physical principles and a poetic meditation on time and connection. Bridging Past and Future: Outcomes and Implications The examination of the four diagrammatic approaches and their applications in the exhibition setting reveals a fundamental truth: the boundaries between scientific and artistic diagramming are far more permeable than traditionally acknowledged. This finding has important implications for the future of visual thinking. Digital technologies have not only transformed the way we create diagrams, but also expanded what they can represent. Interactive visualisations allow us to explore multidimensional datasets, while augmented reality enables us to overlay diagrammatic information onto the physical world. As we face increasingly complex global challenges, from climate change to artificial intelligence governance, the integration of these approaches becomes critical. Modern diagram-makers must bridge not only scientific precision and artistic insight, but also human cognition and machine learning, local action and global systems, past wisdom and future possibilities. In this way, diagrams continue the journey that began on cave walls—helping us not only to see and understand our world in new ways, but also to imagine and shape its future.
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