»Von Ameisen und Sternkörpern« / »Of Ants and Star Polyhydra«
C-Prints, 40×40 / 60×60 / 100×100 cm, artist book
Scientists aim to gain knowledge and deepen our understanding of the world.
Just like science, photography offers a tool to explore the world. A tool considered non-judgmental and therefore close to a neutral scientific approach. Photography renders things visible – it shows what has occurred in front of the camera. French philosopher Roland Barthes phrased it for all time: that has been.
The work depicts the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, a complex built in the 1960s following ideas of the 1920s era of modernism. Its architectural concept intended the facilities to be designed perfectly for extensive and all-encompassing knowledge transfer. At the time it was celebrated as the »university of the future«.
Feeling like an explorer myself I examined the university grounds, using my camera as a scientific instrument. Starting outside I gradually worked my way in, passing lecture halls, libraries, and numerous laboratories and scientific areas, including the Botanical Garden constructed for research.
The work approaches the complexity of human knowledge and traces its visibility. Recurring geometric forms hint at the multi-layered interaction of natural and cultural spheres in scientific research.
The series is enriched by studio images of scientific models I encountered in various faculty archives. These models aim to visualize and impart knowledge gained so far.
Supported by Goethe-Institut Moscow