Scientists of our time

During the last year, I tried to make a series of experimental drawings, sitting in labs of the NCCR and trying to draw all what I saw there. Analyzing what I actually did, I have found a lot of interesting parallels of interaction between Art (drawing and painting in my case) and Science in the past.

The tradition of portraying a scientist as a marginal and misanthrope was lasting very long in the Western culture. Alchemists were a permanent topic of Flemish artists -Bruegel the elder, his contemporaries and followers regularly used this story in paintings and drawings. The interest of artists in science is quite understandable - the Flemings invented oil painting and constantly improved this technique.The production of varnishes and paints was directly related to experiments and research by scientists.

With the birth of cinematography, the German directors-expressionists took up the topic of scary results of scientific experiments: "Golem", "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", "Metropolis".

In the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century, science became the object of almost religious worship. Scientific knowledge was deified. In the 60ties came the concept of "scientific communism". The idealized image of the soviet scientists had to pave the way for a happy communist future. The Soviet Union had a scientific boom, and required qualified specialists. So engineers and scientists became the central figures of Soviet ideology. The image of a scientist was widely cultivated in the Soviet Art. The discourse of Soviet intellectuals revolves around confrontation, the conflict between "physicists and lyricists", "technology or humanities." They were wondering who should have the leading role in building a new, progressive society.

In the series of drawings made in the NCCR, I tried to reflect the spirit of our times (Zeitgeist) observing scientists in molecular laboratories. Trying to capture the maximum of details, not always knowing what they are doing exactly, I tried to focus on their personalities and also to figure out who are the scientists of our times. How do they look, what is their everyday life. What means the image of the scientist in the European, and particularly Swiss society.

Poster show

On the occasion of the beginning of the cooperation with argovia philharmonic, posters designed by young scientists from this NCCR and from the "Zürcher Hochschule der Künste" (ZHdK) were shown. You can see them here.

Contact for Art of Molecule

Ralf Stutzki, Head Ethics

More about Ethics in the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering

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