Reflections on Communicating Science through Art

If science can inspire art, can art inspire interest and learning about science? There is widespread experimentation in using the arts as tools for communicating science in science museums and other settings. When the arts work well in communicating important aspects of science, they can be powerful tools. Three artworks are discussed: Particle Fever, a film in development about particle physicists and the hunt for the mysterious Higgs Boson; The Great Immensity, a National Science Foundation-supported musical about climate change: and Guardians, a ballet co-produced by and performed in an aquarium. These three art-and-science hybrids have given this writer some understanding of at least one way to sift the successful from the unsuccessful ventures.