The Art of Science

The review copy of this book arrived with a paper-clip clinging fortuitously to its cover - it has a magnet inside it. It also has a rhythmic paper sculpture, 3-D glasses, a pinhole camera and an 'electronic maze game' (battery not supplied). And that is just about it. The idea is to show that much of the artistic effect that artists achieve has a basis in scientific principles. Nice though it is to know about what principles lie behind a Bridget Riley or a Mondrian, surely the real achievement is that of complete and mysterious illusion. The successful deus ex machina is the one whose mechanics do not show. Fragile and not particularly inspiring, this is a most expensive collection of conceits.