situated ladders (excerpt)

Shaped by resonance, miscommunication and noise, the poliphonic live sculpture situated ladders (experpt) dissects the linguistic registers within which astrophysics’ knowledge is constrained. The installation is composed of an eterogeneous field of ladders, where 3 to 5 performers reframe textual fragments from scientific papers documenting experiments aimed at detecting neutrinos and dark matter.

The performance enacts the conditions under which scientific knowledge in Astro-Particle physics is translated between different regimes of language and interpretation. The work does not explain this process. It performs it.

Context and Research

This work was born from a personal research endavour contucted during the artistic research project within the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 1258 on Neutrinos and Dark Matter, developed between TUM, the Academy of Fine Arts Munich (AdBK), and Haus der Kunst.

The research aims to investigate the conditions under which scientific facts become not only visible, but also comprehensible and translatable to broader audiences. Rather than disputing the validity of scientific facts, the focus lies on elucidating the mechanisms that facilitate their accessibility and interpretation.

Within this major aim, a subgoal was that of developing a visual model to represent such conditions. Two visual models are then proposed, with the latter offering the most comprehensive representation so far. This preliminary analysis aims to outline points of convergence and divergence between scientific and artistic representations of knowledge, thereby contributing to a more holistic view of how both domains can communicate the same idea. To achieve these objectives, the project draws upon and integrates key concepts from the philosophy of science, science and technology studies (STS) and visual epistemology.

The three-dimensional visualisation model is then translated into a performative installation composed of a heterogeneous field of ladders — arranged within the model itself — and by performers who inhabit and vocalise this topology. Performers are neutral agents who become temporarily shaped by the epistemic position they occupy. The ladders are not used as tools for “ascent”, but as spatial markers of epistemic positions: they function as coordinates within a conceptual topology that maps how knowledge can be inter-semiotically represented. This specific version of situated ladders was made possible thanks to close conversations with: Haus der Kunst Director Andrea Lissoni; Adbk Prof. of Photography Class Armin Linke and the curator of Neutrinos and Dark Matter Exhibition, Katrin Bauer.

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Notes on Production

The work was premiered at Haus der Kunst in the prominent Südgalerie, usually reserved to renowed contemporary artists’ solo shows. Haus der Kunst was crucial in the developmenet of this work as all the ladders and lighting equipment were gathered from the museum itself. Nonetheless, the great dimensions and shape of the galerie necessarily influenced the scenography and its lighting design. Future replicas of this artwork may even take circular or frontal viewing forms always adapting to the hosting venue.