“I'm not interested in how people move, but what moves them” – this sentence by dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch is a central guiding principle for me.

 

From my youth, social justice, women's and human rights, and environmental protection have played a significant role for me. My work develops contemporary formats to inspire experiences with science and new technologies, incorporating spaces for artistic practice and reflection in the humanities. Through this approach, I want to enable a diverse audience to build an emotional and positive relationship with science and technology while avoiding uncritical optimism. We need a post-disciplinary avant-garde that feeds on the integration of natural and social sciences, technology and art, reaching for utopias thereby achieving social realities - shunning dystopias and technological promises of salvation.

 

Art holds a prominent role in this context: for me, it provides an emotional anchor in our intricate, rapidly changing world. Artists also act as essential navigators in an uncertain future. Art helps to sound out innovative technologies, new applications, and potentially problematic societal developments. However, scientists also use creative or artistic practices, which are yet to be frequently incorporated into the organizational identity and workflows.

 

Therefore, artiscient projects that integrate science and art and which offer opportunities for intergenerational exchange are all the more critical for me. Such transdisciplinary projects are increasingly in demand - as valuable contributions to knowledge production to respond to social challenges and crises in increasingly uncertain times in a creative and sensory way. Collaborating with scientists and artists, I devise innovative approaches that make socially pertinent issues in science and technology accessible to a broad audience. I create short films, interactive exhibits, and large-scale and 3D installations. The outcomes are showcased at renowned exhibitions and festivals in Germany and abroad, including the German Museum of Technology in Berlin, the Ars Electronica Center and Festival in Linz, the UCLA Art Sci Center, SIGGRAPH Asia in Tokyo, the Media Art Nexus in Singapore and the Raw Science Film Festival in the USA.

 

I develope STEAM and storytelling workshops and oversee an international residency program for creative professionals at a research institution. This program, including participatory STEAM courses for students that meld science, art, and technology, fostering multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge exchange.

 

I studied biology and comparative religion in Bremen. I am trained as a cognitive behavioral coach and have run my own business. I wrote my interdisciplinary diploma thesis on ritualization and female genital mutilation, covering aspects of behavioral biology and religious and cultural theory. I also studied the neurobiology of teaching and learning, interspecies communication, and the physical and acoustic behaviors of short-finned pilot whales. The insights gained from this research have been incorporated into the development of protective strategies for the animals. In collaboration with a software architect and dance performers, I created motion-sensitive software that allows dancers to enhance their physical appearance. This innovation led to an interactive exhibition encompassing photography, film, and performance art.

 

Currently, I work as Head of Science Communication at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS in Bremen. I also advise artists, organizations, institutions, and companies.