Sky-mimesis, a path from nanotechnology to visual arts: A review of art applications of aerogels

Interdisciplinary research between science and art is becoming more active, because it stimulates the both fields with far different viewpoints. In the field of aerogels, exceptionally low-density porous materials, the authors have been promoting interdisciplinary research based on a unifying aesthetic idea. Since typical silica aerogels consist of nano-scaled colloidal skeletons and mesopores, they show high light transmittance and slight scattering that allows aerogels to be impressive bluish piece of the sky. With various techniques such as molding, inclusion, and surface machining/patterning, a number of artworks has been expressed with the material silica aerogel interpreting aerogels to the sky through fruitful collaborations between an artist and scientists including the present co-authors. In the present paper, we discuss the interactions between human and materials in visual arts and photography, and show how the aerogels are expended as the materia prima for the artworks of the first author. We will emphasize how the synergy between artists and scientists drove and stimulated the both fields through collaborative works.