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Art as Knowledge

To what extent can science and the arts work together to generate something like knowledge and why is this interaction still under difficult and also unequal conditions?

Even if hardly anyone seriously discusses anymore whether, alongside the sciences, the arts likewise generate a kind of knowledge, the possibility of collaboration between the two still faces difficult and, moreover, unequal conditions. In the “knowledge society” of today – not least in the interest of policymakers and business leaders – scientific knowledge is routinely accorded a higher value than “artistic knowledge.” This, together with the ideological primacy of technical rationalism and alleged objectivity, barely leaves a niche for “artistic research.”

Artistic interventions in the practice of science, meanwhile, are hardly ever permitted, always citing the “purity” of scientific method. Yet more than just recently, studies have shown that the sciences are, in fact, never “pure.” Scientists’ everyday deeds and thoughts are always receptive to the non-scientific and methodically blemished. Moreover, the discourse of knowledge in its entanglements with power has long been criticized, especially in the relationship of the Global North and South. In recent years, terms of situated and partial knowledge have increasingly been put in place with a critical eye against allegedly universal dispositives of knowledge. This all also goes hand in hand with reflection over the possible potential in the plurality and hybridity of various forms of knowledge.

Composite image showing on the left two technical drawings - a top-down plan and side elevation - of a triangular-frame tricycle with three wheels. On the top right, two men stand by a bicycle-pulled wooden cart loaded with red gas cylinders. On the bottom right, a two-tier rack filled with parked bicycles.
Image: Markus Heinsdorff

2026: Cycling instead of driving | Art and science in dialogue

How do we want to live in our cities in the future? How can we rethink mobility, public space and community life – in the face of climate change, social shifts and environmental challenges?

In the workshop "Bikes Instead of Cars", organised by Die Junge Akademie in collaboration with Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences, art, architecture, science and movement come together. Together with students, utopian mobile objects for the city of the future will be designed and built on a 1:1 scale. The starting point is the bicycle as a simple, resource-efficient and, at the same time, adaptable means of transport. It becomes a vehicle for new ideas for a liveable city: what could move through the city with us? What mobile spaces, tools, meeting places or infrastructure will we need in future? And who actually owns public space?

The workshop combines creative experimentation, hands-on building and academic perspectives on the city, climate and society. Participants include the artist Markus Heinsdorff and members of Die Junge Akademie Benedikt Hartl (architecture), Sarah Klosterkamp (Human Geography) and Senem Gökçe Oğultekin (Choreography).

Over the course of two days, experimental vehicles and mobile architectural structures will be created – somewhere between art objects, social infrastructure and visions of the future – as concrete proposals for a city conceived less in terms of the car and more in terms of people, communal living and ecological conditions.

Registrations can be made with Benedikt Hartl: benedikt.hartl@hs-kl.de

2017/2018: Project „Vr-Audio“

In the “VR Audio” project, Miriam Akkermann and Christian Stein are developing a prototype for an acoustic virtual reality game that explores the relationship between room acoustics and spatial visuality. Their goal is to find out whether it’s possible to render an environment using VR technology and 360° audio that is so realistic that it can be used to improve conscious hearing.

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