Art exhibits.

The other view - works of art provoke new thoughts.

At phaeno, over 330 exciting interactive exhibits from the fields of science and technology invite visitors to let their curiosity run wild.

The works of art in particular, which make up around 10% of the exhibits, contribute to this. Created by renowned international artists and mostly specially developed for the phaeno exhibition, they appeal to all the senses with their extraordinary aesthetics.

These installations move in the field of tension between art and science and provoke questions that lead to new thoughts and discoveries.

"With art objects, you can discover the beauty and creativity that arises when scientific principles and artistic visions meet. Each artwork in our exhibition tells a different story and offers a new perspective on scientific concepts." ~ Davy Champion, curator at phaeno

This picture shows the phaeno from an unusual perspective. In fisheye format, the phaeno looks like a small planet in the centre of the picture and in a universe from the windows of the phaenos

Sisyphus.

The "Sisyphus" sculpture by Bruce Shapiro is a fascinating art installation that combines technology, design and philosophy in a unique way.

Two metal balls are pulled underneath a sand surface by two motorised magnets, pushing the sand aside as they move and creating patterns. But no matter how complicated the pattern appears, the two metal balls are always at the same distance from each other!

The movement of the balls is controlled by software that can produce any pattern as long as it consists of a continuous line.

The name "Sisyphus" refers to the figure from Greek mythology who was condemned to roll a boulder up a mountain only to see it roll down again and again. Similarly, the "Sisyphus" sculpture creates endless patterns in the sand that never reach an end goal. This continuous movement and change symbolises the cyclical nature of life and the eternal search for meaning and perfection.

The art exhibit inspires visitors to reflect on the connections between art, science and philosophy. They learn how technology can be used to create art and how artistic works can raise deep philosophical questions. This kind of interdisciplinary learning is exactly what science museums strive for.

BRUCE SHAPIRO. The artist lives in California (USA) and uses control mechanisms commonly used for the movement of machines and robots in his artworks.

 

A magnetic sphere makes beautiful patterns as it moves in the sand - like Mnadala's

Machine and Concrete.

There must be a trick to it! We can see the interconnected wheels, how quickly they turn at the right-hand edge of the exhibit. And at the other end: nothing happens, nothing at all! So little that the last wheel is set in concrete. Where has the movement gone? Has the connection to the other wheels simply been interrupted somewhere?

No, there's no trick, and all the wheels are connected. Consequently, the last of the 25 wheels is also interlocked with all the others. Admittedly via a very slow transmission: the double gear wheels have 120 teeth on the outside and 14 on the inside, so that the speed of the downstream wheel is only around a ninth (14:120) of that of the upstream wheel. This, in turn, is 9 times slower than its predecessor, and so on up to the first wheel, which rotates around its axis relatively quickly, once in 6.5 seconds.

Under the given conditions, the third wheel takes eight minutes, the tenth around 50 years! And the last wheel, after 24 gear ratios with a factor of 9, is so slow that it would take 600 trillion years to complete one revolution! By then, of course, the concrete would have long since disintegrated. Whether we perceive something as rigid or in motion is therefore obviously dependent on our own time.

ARTHUR GANSON. The artist is an engineer, poet and has worked as an "Artist in Residence" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston.

 

 

 

You can see many cogwheels that are connected to each other.

Recollections.

Recollections is an interactive work of art by Ed Tannenbaum. Stand in front of the large canvas on which your outlines and movements are reproduced in different modes and all colours.

The interactive exhibit is reminiscent of the way we meet people and form an image of others. Neurologists have discovered "mirror neurones" in this context. They allow us to empathise with others and show compassion and empathy. By "pretending" that we are in the other person's situation. Another essential element of this artistic mirroring is symmetry. Almost all phenomena in the universe are "mirror-like" in this way.

ED TANNENBAUM. The New York artist has acquired independent knowledge of electronics and electrical design through the construction of his objects.

Icy Bodies.

Lani's installation is all about dry ice. As soon as the piece of frozen carbon dioxide, cooled to around -80 degrees Celsius, becomes gaseous in water, it not only creates clouds of mist, but also extremely aesthetic figures on the surface.


Why do we perceive such a large number of phenomena in nature as "beautiful"? Is it because we ourselves have grown out of nature and recognise ourselves in its structures? Or are aesthetics an expression of abstract laws that apply independently of individual perception?

SHAWN LANI. The artist works at the "Exploratorium" - the science museum in San Francisco. NASA is also interested in "Icy Bodies", which can provide insights into the physics of icy comet tails.

Quantum Jungle

With the interactive artwork Quantum Jungle by Robin Baumgarten you can playfully experience the properties of the quantum world. The wall is filled with metal springs and thousands of LEDs. Depending on how you touch the metal springs, light effects become visible.

Robin Baumgarten studied computer science and completed a master's degree in advanced computing in London. He is intensively involved with computer games and AI. He started developing games for mobile phones over 10 years ago.

Read more about the art exhibit and the artist in the interview!

Quantum Jungle by Robin Baumgarten.

Odyssey of the Spheres.

A ball machine can be anything - from a pinball machine to a lottery machine. However, it always has something to do with something that doesn't seem to fit a machine at all - playfulness instead of fixed rules, chance instead of a logical sequence.

The artist Rhoads has now created a playful monument to the "ball machine" in his installation. In science, too, a more "playful" view of the world that no longer provides for rules is increasingly gaining ground. It is not only in quantum physics that chance has found its way into the field, where only the probability of an elementary particle being in a certain place can be determined.

GEORGE RHOADS. The Chicago-born painter and sculptor is also one of the first American origami masters.

Tornado.

If you want to stand out, especially in art, you have to make a fuss. There is more to this than banal metaphor. Because artists also have to destroy. To rebel against the all too calm, unmoving and stable. Which also includes firmly held opinions and points of view.

Nevertheless, the dynamic of the vortex is fuelled by the clash of opposites - be it cold and hot air masses, as in a tornado, or opposing camps in art. In short: where there is no contradiction and conflict, there is no art. In Ned Kahn's installation, opposites also keep the vortex going - albeit hidden. A fan in the ceiling is driven by an electric motor that rotates through repulsive magnetic fields.

The fact that the vortex in art, as in nature, always revolves around itself is also part of the picture. Just as fashion seems to return to its previous point after some time before leaving it again. But it is not just circling, but also climbing - so that one looks down from a higher level to a lower one - modern realism, for example, is different from that of classical Greek art.

NED KAHN. With his "Tornado", Ned Kahn has artistically staged the forces of nature, as he did in "Pulsating Magma". The artist lives in Northern California. In his works, he deals with the forces of nature with echoes of the creation myths of the peoples and the interplay of the classical elements of fire, earth, air and water.

Secret Life.

This is a dream come true: as if lifted by a ghostly hand, pale creatures and old newspapers reach towards the ceiling of the room and form a vortex of figures and paper. The images on the newspaper displays also change - spookily, Harry Potter sends its regards. Yet it is only a well-staged storm of strobe lights that brings the room so magically to life.

All the objects are actually fixed in place, but depending on when and how the flash of light catches them, it creates an impression of movement beyond our everyday experience. But is there really a clear difference between the dream world and everyday experience? What if our everyday experience were just one of many stagings, depending on which components of the scenario come to the fore?

Such questions from the field of epistemology were not only asked by philosophers from Socrates to Nietzsche. The physicist Julian Barbour, for example, believes that we can "objectively" do without time. It only arises because we make decisions one after the other, which always exist in parallel as possibilities in our universe - like dolls in a dark room.

GREGORY BARSAMIAN. The artist studied philosophy. He is interested in Karl Jung's dream analysis as well as Nietzsche's belief that in a world without absolute truth, artists are the ones who can invent their own world.

Superplexus Circles.

How can you learn to control complex processes? In Superplexus by Michael McGinnis, visitors can steer the small ball through the confusing labyrinth of wooden tracks.

What is not easy even on this small model is an almost unsolvable problem on a global scale. The interactions between the most diverse events in the world are almost limitless and complex.

It is not only politicians who are powerless in the face of the potentially negative consequences of global dependencies. Even scientists are usually far too entangled in specialisms to keep an eye on the bigger picture. And when it comes to forecasting global climate change alone, for example, even the most modern supercomputers are often overwhelmed. Perhaps a realisation that is also immediately obvious when trying out the superplexus will help:

Namely, that even on a small scale, similar interactions between forces and influences often occur as on a large, even global scale. Weather caprices and climate changes in Germany, for example, reveal similar patterns to those seen worldwide. So that even the specialist retains a little sense of what is globally necessary.

MICHAEL MCGINNIS. The artist also offers superplexus objects made of plastic - as sophisticated children's toys.

Science x Art

Heidersberger's timeless black and white photographs give our IDEENFORUM a new vibrancy and encourage us to be curious and observe nature and the environment with alert eyes.

Heidersberger mural

Discover even more art exhibits in our exhibition.

Our exhibitions

all exhibitions
Climate Permanent exhibition
Art Permanent exhibition
Life Permanent exhibition
Kapla 01. May 24 — 05. January 25
Worlds of mirrors 01. May 24 — 05. January 25