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The Leonardo Story

Leonardo: Where Art, Science and Technology Converge

The journal Leonardo was founded in 1968 in Paris by kinetic artist and astronautical pioneer Frank Malina. Malina saw the need for a journal that would serve as an international channel of communication between artists, with emphasis on the writings of artists who use science and developing technologies in their work. Today, Leonardo is the leading journal for readers interested in the application of contemporary science and technology to the arts and music.

In addition to peer-reviewed articles by artists, Leonardo includes discussions of new concepts, materials and techniques, and covers subjects of general artistic interest. Leonardo publishes regular issues covering a variety of topics as well as special issues and special sections on specific topics of interest to the art, science and technology community. Topics covered in special sections and issues have included: Artificial Life and Art; Art and Social Consciousness; Brazilian Electronic Art; Art and Biology; The Cultural Roots of Globalization; Art and Mathematics and Live Art and Science on the Internet.

Leonardo's Beginnings

Frank Malina, founder of Leonardo, was an American scientist. After receiving his Ph.D from the California Institute of Technology in 1936, Malina directed the WAC Corporal program that put the first rocket beyond the Earth's atmosphere. He co-founded and was the second director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), co-founded the Aerojet General Corporation and was an active participant in rocket-science development in the period leading up to and during World War II.

Invited to join the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in 1947 by Julian Huxley, Malina moved to Paris as the director of the organization's science programs. The separation between science and the humanities was the subject of intense debate during the post-war period, particularly after the publication of C.P. Snow's Two Cultures in 1959. The concept that there was and should be a natural relationship between science and art fascinated Malina, eventually influencing him to synthesize his scientific experience with his long-standing artistic sensibilities. As an artist, Malina moved from traditional media to mesh, string and canvas constructions and finally to experiments with light, which led to his development of systems for kinetic painting.

In his work as a scientist and engineer, Malina had access to an abundance of scholarly periodicals that enabled peers in any given field to stay abreast of each other's work and to monitor important news developments. There was no equivalent publication for artists, so he decided to start one. The concept was simple -- a publication by serious artists with subject integrity secured by the same kind of peer review of articles that is common in scientific journals. Malina felt that the demystification of modern art could, in part, be accomplished by the free exchange of information regarding artistic disciplines.

The Leonardo Legacy

Following Frank Malina's death in 1981, Leonardo was moved to California by his son, Roger F. Malina, then an astronomer at the University of California at Berkeley. With the support of founding board members Frank Oppenheimer and Robert Maxwell, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST) was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1982. Leonardo/ISAST was created to address the rapidly expanding needs of the art, science and technology community, by participating in conferences, symposia, festivals and lecture series and starting an artists’ awards program, in addition to its various publishing activities.

Under the editorship of Roger Malina, Leonardo grew to a bimonthly journal, and its companion volume, Leonardo Music Journal (LMJ), began publication, focusing on sound arts and accompanied by an audio compact disc (CD). To further its role as an international networking center for artists and others interested in the use of new media in contemporary artistic expression, Leonardo/ISAST expanded its publication program to include the peer-reviewed web journal Leonardo Electronic Almanac, the Leonardo On-Line web site, the Leonardo Reviews Project and the Leonardo Book Series (published by the MIT Press), all of which address artists’ use of technology in twenty-first-century life.

Working groups and special projects developed from the interests of the individuals and organizations that comprise the Leonardo Network. Addressing a broad range of topics at the intersection of art, science and technology, current projects include the Space and the Arts Workshop series, the Leonardo Educators and Students Program, the YASMIN discussion list for artists working around the Mediterranean Rim, and the Scientists Working Group. Leonardo Network members and working groups participate in a number of conferences, symposia and festivals around the world annually, including the College Art Association Conference, ISEA, the ACM Siggraph Convention and the ACM Multimedia Festival, among others. Students make up a growing presence in the Leonardo community and participate in a number of projects designed to encourage development of their practices. The LABS Database Project, where MFA, MA and PhD students can publish their thesis abstracts and a student internship program, and the Leonardo Education Forum are vital parts of the Leonardo Educators and Students Program.

The Leonardo/ISAST Vision

Science and technology dominate our current landscape, emerging with an intensity and velocity never before experienced. This intense intellectual creativity should be integrated with the humanizing activity of creating art to bring balance to how we experience our current existence and imagine our futures. Over the course of history, art has been both an organizing and integrating role with our emotional and intellectual lives. Art serves as a means of presenting, questioning, understanding and creating order out of chaos and change. Imagination often leads the way of discovery in science. Innovation of art, science and technology will allow for new ideas that may be important economically and socially. Leonardo/ ISAST serves as the organization that nurtures and fosters this alliance between the arts and sciences, proactively bringing these social networks together leading to greater creativity and social change in both areas.

Leonardo/ISAST is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The activities of Leonardo/ISAST are suppor-ted by grants and donations from organizations and individuals. Donations are tax-deductible in the U.S.