Art vs. Science – the Battle for Middle Earth, I mean Bush Court.

Those studying either art or science are like different species. So detached are they, that I, as an artsy kind of student, had to even look up the word species on Wikipedia to ensure my biological classification of both Art and Science students was technically correct. Even the definition I found “A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring” suggested to me that I should stick to accepting dates only from those on ‘my’ side of Bush Court. Now coming from a household where all disciplines are well represented (Business, Pharmacy, Multimedia, Asian Studies, Nano-Science and Philosophy) you would think that I would be all into the ‘hand-holding, we are all the same on the inside’ hoohaa but my weekly foray to the dark side, otherwise known as the Science and Computing Building, starkly illustrates the differences that set us apart.

Each week I cross from the lush, pagoda-filled Social Science and Humanities side of the campus, with it familiar grassy knolls dotted with students lazily perusing their readers whilst sipping frappes, to the funny smelling building filled Science side of the campus, for one of my Foundation tutorials. As I step into the dark, cool and silent building, my anxiety levels rise as I worry that my lack of graphics calculator would distinguish me as an outsider. Whiteboards filled with equations line my passage to my class. The occasional open door reveals desks with sinks and people wearing lab coats, or a geeky master’s student, complete with pocket protector, busily preparing to teach a Physics class. I quicken my pace, eyes down, worried that at any moment, someone wearing safety goggles will pounce at me from one of these doors and demand that I must tell them the atomic weight of Bohrium, if I wish to proceed. This perverted version of Billy Goats Gruff has lead to me writing the periodic table on my left arm. You know, just in case.

I wonder if these science students feel the same way when they venture to ‘my’ side? Do they get worried that someone may ask them to name 4 influential artists of the 20th Century? Can there be love between Art and Science? Can an understanding that we all fear the other bridge the gulf that is Bush Court?

I say yes.