Teamwork is everything. Not only in space research. Thinking outside the box, different perspectives and interdisciplinary collaboration in international teams are essential ingredients for success. When science and art go hand in hand, they have great potential to drive diversity and creativity and thus also innovation.
"Science and art cross boundaries easily and thoghtfully", says Christiane Helling.
"Science and art cross boundaries easily and thoughtfully," says IWF Director Christiane Helling. The scientific questions and results of IWF’s researchers inspired artists to video and sound installations shown in the mobile pavilion as part of SHOWING STYRIA under the title “Atmospheres. Art, Climate and Space Research”.
AtmosphEres. Art, Climate and Space research
A wonderful example of modern science communication is MISSION POSSIBLE!, an exhibition to mark IWF’s 50th anniversary, which was realized in interdisciplinary collaboration with FRida & freD – The Graz Children's Museum. The centrepiece of the exhibition was a 30-metre-long comic drawn by Chris Scheuer, telling the story of developing of a space mission and giving insight into the work at the IWF. A miniature version of the comic, still 6 meters long, adorns the atrium of the institute.
Students of the Modellschule Graz created portraits of all IWF directors and linked them to the respective research areas. The exhibition “Young Art Meets Space Research @ IWF” was shown at the institute from 28 June to 12 September 2022. This special kind of " ancestral gallery", which still can be admired online, also testifies to the charm of the science-art axis.