BINATIONAL ARTISTIC PhD-PROGRAM

Interactive Sensory Exhibition
Haus der Wissenschaft Bremen, 2022/23; Humboldt-University of Berlin, 2023/24
 

Cells are the smallest living units of all organisms. They represent a universal commonality not only among all humans but among all living things on this planet. But what image comes to mind when we think about cells? And how do scientific, educational, and artistic visualizations shape this image? 

The exhibition explores themes such as cell size, popular visualization concepts, cell shape, structure, dynamics, uniqueness, and diversity. Six interactive stations invite for material and sensoric exploration. 

Exhibition Website

DATES

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Biologie
24.04.2023 - 30.11.2024

Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften Berlin
17.06.2023 (Pop-Up Exhibition)

Haus der Wissenschaft Bremen
09.11.2022 - 18.02.2023

Curation / Concept / Scientific & Artistic Direction: Joosten Mueller
Graphic Design / Layout : Dalila Maganinho
Animation: Anika Falke
Narrator: Marvin Weiß
Photo Portfolio: Lukas Klose
Photo & Videography Website: Jimi Liu

 

Interactive Multimedia Installation
Documenting in Artistic Research
GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen, 3rd - 21st of April 2024 

The Glass Record questions whether the experience of artistic work can truly be documented. This installation features a transparent record with audio and visuals from the opening of the Reaktionsräume exhibition at GAK Bremen. As the record spins, a microphone with a spectrum analyzer captures the sound and transforms it into evolving visual projections, influenced by visitor interactions and environmental noise. This interplay blurs the boundaries between past and present, as well as between documentation and experience.

Photo: Stefan Upmeier zu Belzen
Record Production: Dr. Dub Vinyl Recording Service

Hybrid Pop-Up Exhibition
LNDW Lange Nacht der Wissenschaft Berlin, 2023
 

At Berlin's Long Night of Science, our pop-up exhibition brought a neglected former museum object back to life, making it remotely accessible through hybrid technology. Visitors explored a virtual "3D flight through the cell," interacted with 3D-printed fragments, and experienced a hologram of a cell model from the late 20th century.

The exhibition is part of the research project "Artifacts beyond Analog and Digital".

Curation / Concept / Scientific & Artistic Direction: Joosten Mueller
Graphic Design Concept : Dalila Maganinho
Educational Support: Paul Engelschalt, Humboldt-University of Berlin
Photo: Joosten Mueller

Research Project
University of the Arts Bremen, University Bremen, Humboldt-University of Berlin, 2022-2024
 

The primary focus of the research project "Artifacts beyond Analog and Digital" is the study of an object representing a secretory intestinal cell from the Übersee-Museum Bremen. The project aims to improve both physical and content-related access to the model by developing hybrid formats that allow for location-independent visibility and sensory exploration, while also recontextualizing its history.

Funded by: Bremen-Fonds „Gesellschaft und Individuum im digitalen Wandel".

Project Website

Principal Investigator:
Joosten Mueller
Hochschule für Künste Bremen & Universität Groningen

Scientific Supervision:
Prof. Dr. Manfred Radmacher
Universität Bremen

Educational Supervision:
Paul Engelschalt &
Prof. Dr. Annette Upmeier zu Belzen
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
 

Visualizing Knowledge Between Design and Natural Science
Teaching Concept
Integrated Design BA, University of the Arts Bremen, 2021/22 
 

In the workshop "STRUCTURES OF LIFE," 14 students from the Department of Design explored visualizing biological cell phenomena. They began by modeling their perceptions of cellular structures and then contextualized their ideas with common educational cell models. The students focused on two evolving concepts: first, that visual conceptions of cellular structures are often influenced by didactic, scientific, and artistic models rather than the underlying phenomenon itself, and second, that contemporary cell models typically depict cells as static entities rather than dynamic ones revealed by modern molecular biology. Working within this framework, participants created artistic-scientific educational artifacts in porcelain to visualize cells beyond standardized ideas, resulting in a collective assemblage of alternative cell models. These models, representing diverse designs, scales, structures, and functions, offer the opportunity for examination, comparison, and discussion.

Photo: Joosten Mueller

Research Exhibition
University of the Arts, MS Dauerwelle, 2022
 

Under the theme of "Showcasing Artistic Research between Theory and Practice," the exhibition "Halbe-Halbe" unveiled the initial outcomes of the Artistic PhD Program at HfK Bremen, in collaboration with GAK Bremen, at MS Dauerwelle. 

Joosten Mueller's research, featured at the exhibition, investigated the question of how we comprehend cells through educational, scientific, and artistic visualizations. The exhibition presented selected theoretical and material approaches from Mueller's research and design practice.

Exhibition:  Joosten Mueller
Graphic & Typography: Dalila Maganinho
Photo: Joosten Mueller

Zum Gestalten von Modell- und Visualisierungskonzepten in der Virologie 
Book, CLOU Cluster Letters of Understanding 3
Image, Knowledge, Gestaltung. An Interdisciplinary Laboratory, Humboldt University of Berlin, 2019
 

The cluster of excellence 'Image Knowledge Gestaltung: An Interdisciplinary Laboratory' at Humboldt University of Berlin published Joosten Mueller's Bachelor Thesis as part of the publication series 'CLOU: Cluster Letters of Understanding'. The book included a card stock model as well as an educational table.

A digital version of the publication is available here.

Author: Joosten Mueller
Cover Design / Layout & Typography: Dalila Maganinho
Photo: Lukas Klose

Master Exhibition
University of the Arts Bremen, 2016/17
 

The master's thesis explores the representability of virus structures, considering their geometric origins, with a focus on the picornavirus family (Picornaviridae) as a case study. It serves as an interface between science and design, highlighting the potential of design processes in interdisciplinary research. The thesis particularly emphasizes model-related teaching and learning processes, examining the challenges and limitations of models established since the 1960s, including questions about congruence between text and image and the inherent connection between theory and model-building.

Key questions addressed include: To what extent did theoretical model concepts influence early pioneers of virus research? What parallels exist between Buckminster Fuller's tensegrity, geodesic domes and virus structures?

The concept presented in the thesis consolidates various isolated visualization concepts, serving as an extended, cohesive (open access) model concept. It offers a cross-literature key to understanding and provides didactic tools to support a competence-based approach to modeling in teaching and research.

Photo: Lukas Klose

Workshop
Laboratory of Virus Research, University Bremen, 2018
 

In 2018, an experimental educational workshop concept focusing on modeling in science education, specifically as a form of practice- and design-based research, was developed and successfully executed with undergraduate biology students at the University of Bremen. This initiative was undertaken in collaboration with the Laboratory of Virus Research, led by Prof. Dr. A. Dotzauer. The workshop aimed to explore how design practices of modeling could enhance critical thinking and hypothesis formulation in a tangible manner. Students engaged in solving geometrical tasks in three dimensions, as well as engaging  in the methods of historical virologists to decipher the underlying mechanisms of constructing icosahedral virus structures.

The published documentation of the workshop is to be found here.

Photo: Lukas Klose