Learning from Scientific Visualisations: Knowledge Exchanges Between Science, Design and Art

The pragmatic turn in science clarified the constructive character of scientific exploration: Scientific knowledge is not inherent in reality, it is a social construction. This process is not only dependent on formula or discourse. It also implies pictures and (mental) images. The research project, of which this paper examines and comments first results, tried to document the possible educational influence of design and art on the construction of such images in scientific research. The paper will present selected visual and theoretical results of an interdisciplinary research project developed within an academic context. Contributing also to the emerging field of image studies at the intersection of art, design and sciences, this project involved a team of scientists, a designer, an artists and art and media theorists, and it aimed at assessing the diverse role that visual design and visual arts can play in changing scientists’ relationship with their visual production. Knowledge-Image-Learning in our case denotes the process of learning between disciplines (design – art – science) and the role of images in their different practices. The paper will therefore discuss the lab’s scientific visualizations co-designed with a designer and an art project developed with the same team of scientists by a visual artist. The data so-far collected, especially during the design part of the project, suggest that, not only the scientists collaboratively produced new, more effective images. During the collaborative process of making, they also acquired awareness of and aesthetic sensitivity towards the technical images they produce.