Israeli photographer Eran Gilat is also a professor of neuroscience. Inspired by his research on the mechanisms underlying epilepsy and a long lasting confrontation with biological tissues, he turned his attention to still life photography of biological specimens. In this series, Life Science, Gilat acquired specimens from natural history facilities, and created scenes with atypical tools and paraphernalia, occasionally also with an element of erotica. With a dark atmosphere and suggestions of violence through the casually clinical placement of cutting instruments, the animals at once appear both strangely serene and at the mercy of scientific man.

In exploring the often conflicting ideas of art and science, Gilat says, “The major difference [between the two] I believe is the response methodology. In science, the rules are reductionists ones, kind of straight forward, you are expected to take advantage of the state-of-the-art technology in your expertise, and statistically to convince the crowd that no artifacts were involved. The impacts of art in most cases are subjective ones, […] broad and open to discussion and interpretation. If I may quote Moshe Gershuni who stated, that one painting of Vermeer contains more information on humanity than half a century (or so) of scientific research.”

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