Creation
All too often, science and design are seen as two separate, if not opposing, entities. Yet such similar aspects play a role: creativity, originality and skill.
But even Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations, for example of plankton organisms and jellyfish, which the physician, zoologist and philosopher drew from the middle/end of the 19th century, were criticised for being too ‘artistic’. This leads to the question of how art and science define themselves. While science can be explained somewhat more simply – the creation of well-founded and organised knowledge – the term ‘art’ defies definition: Art comes from skill – but how much skill must be assumed? Art is a work with a statement – but what about l’art pour l’art, and why can works be interpreted so differently? Art is beautiful – but isn’t beauty in the eye of the (culturally integrated) beholder? Art is what makes us human – but what about AI-generated works?
At the Centre for Media Culture, we try to engage artistically with scientific topics and work scientifically on art. This begins with term papers in which students create artistic works with an interest in knowledge and/or communication and submit them together with a textual elaboration. We also organise exhibitions, both for student work and with renowned artists and excursions, participate in artistic and intercultural projects such as ‘you+me’ and promote discourse with artists and curators worldwide.
