Super Sight Revisited: : Images of Science and the Construction of Science
Short description
The postdoctoral project explores how knowledge and facts are constructed in the natural sciences and the role images play in conveying science. The study takes place at the Onsala Space Observatory and includes both contemporary research and historical material.
A key part of the project is the investigation of how technological developments enable different ways of approaching reality. Another central question is how images relate to the reality they depict. The project is conducted through artistic research and includes fieldwork at the observatory and archival studies.
The research project is a collaboration between HDK-Valand and the Hasselblad Foundation, in cooperation with researchers from the Department of Space, Earth and Environment at Chalmers University of Technology.
The postdoctoral project takes as their point of departure the photographs made by Berenice Abbott at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1950s. Abbott documented scientific phenomena like motion, magnetism, and light, viewing photography as a tool in the service of democracy to promote historical knowledge.
Super Sight Revisited: Images of Science and the Construction of Science takes visual and conceptual cues from Abbott's progressive work between the late 1930s and early 1960s. The research project reactivates the visual and ideological photographic discussions initiated by Abbott, exploring questions such as: How can collaboration between artists and scientists lead to new and significant knowledge? How can images meaningfully represent reality in an era of generative AI and post-truth?
Focusing on the Onsala Space Observatory, the project aims to visually map scientific practices and the production of knowledge specific to this location. In collaboration with researchers from the Department of Space, Earth, and Environment at Chalmers University of Technology, the project integrates historical images from archives, new visualisations based on research data, and documentary images of and from the observatory. It also examines the social and material conditions under which scientific facts are produced, including observations of researchers' meetings, research environments, instruments, data, and laboratory materials.