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Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, and the Science Museum’s Head of Collections, Dr Tilly Blyth, conclude their series exploring how art and science have inspired each other. As science has become more theoretical and conceptual, how can art explore scientific thinking in areas that exceed the limits of what we can conceive?

From photomicrographs of Einstein’s chalkboard used during his lecture on the Theory of Relativity , to blowing up a shed and suspending its charred remains around a lightbulb, inspired by the scientific concept of Cold Dark Matter, the imaginative art installations of artist Cornelia Parker are testament to the way artists can suggest ways of thinking about scientific ideas that in themselves seem abstract and complex.

As Ian and Tilly conclude - from the revelatory light at the centre of Joseph Wright’s Enlightenment painting of the orrery (in Episode 1) to Cornelia Parker’s central cosmological light on what is yet to be known, the ongoing dialogue between science and art is proof they are part of the same rich culture, driven by a curiosity, a creativity and an imagination that is common to both.

Producer Adrian Washbourne

Produced in Partnership with The Science Museum