Jenny Brockmann

Nature of Knowledge – The Uncertain Structure

2020

“Nature of Knowledge - the Uncertain Structure” was a real-time experiment at the JRC (Joint Research Center of the European Commission) in Ispra, Italy, which generated data on the consequences of climate change and transferred them into a spatial installation in the form of a spiral [1] in the BOZAR Museum (Brussels, Belgium). A structure corresponding to the test structures in the ELSA laboratory was erected in a remote location, subjected to increasing stress during the exhibition period and finally permanently transformed. For this purpose, mechanical devices were used that simulate geological movements and atmospheric conditions at ELSA. The connected spiral transformed according to the data generated by the energy of the deforming structure. Random and intentional factors such as visitor movement or physical data such as temperature and pressure led to certain variables in the experiment, adding a random element to the overall uncertainty of the project and creating an integrated form of communication. This social interaction channel between observers and the element being tested referred to different opinions on the rate of climate change. This project was a collaboration with Pierre Pegon (Engineering), Diana Rembges (Biology) and Marcelo Masera (Electrical Engineering, Risk Management).

[1] The art historian and historian of science Hans-Jörg-Rheinberger writes in “The Aura of the Spiral” that we find the formal principle of the spiral as a natural form, especially in organic structures, but that the aesthetic interest in the spiral form has always been culturally influenced and as such has taken on many forms in human history. Today, the shape of the spiral is an important reference in both the arts and the sciences.

Jenny Brockmann: ‚Nature of Knowledge - the Uncertain Structure‘‚ 2019. Steel, acrylic glass, wood, controller, motors, sensors. Installation view, anechoic chamber VELA 9 laboratory, JRC of the European Commission, Ispra, Italy.