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artists-in-labs Edited by
Recomposing Art and Science Irène Hediger & Jill Scott
Publication: Image on cover generously Library of Congress DVD artists-in-labs program:
supplied by the artists Cataloging-in-Publication
Editors Director
Christina Della Giustina,
Irène Hediger, A CIP catalog record for this Marille Hahne, ZHdK
Jérémie Gindre, Yvonne
Jill Scott book has been applied for
Weber Producer
at the Library of Congress.
Zurich University of the Arts artists-in-labs program ZHdK
Image Credits
(ZHdK), Institute for Cultural
(inside the book): Coordinators
Studies in the Arts, Zurich,
Bibliographic information Karin Rizzi,
Switzerland Christina Della Giustina
published by the German Niklas Thamm
p 30, 31, 34, 38,
National Library
Production Assistants
WSL
Produced by The German National Harriet Hawkins,
p 40, 4a WSL,
artists-in-labs program Library lists this publication Natalie McRoy
(D. Nievergelt)
in the Deutsche National
p 40, 4b WSL Interviewers
bibliografie; detailed biblio-
(Mallaun Photography) Irène Hediger,
Graphic Design graphic data are available
p 42 WSL (A. Rigling) Jill Scott
Bonbon — Valeria Bonin, on the Internet at
Diego Bontognali mit Marie-France Bojanowski http://dnb.dnb.de. Camera
Deborah Meier, Zurich p 62, 64, 66, 68 Thomas Isler,
Christine Munz
Editing, Coordination Nicole Ottiger
This work is subject to copy-
Flurin Fischer p 89, 91, 95, 96, 98, 100, 101 Editor
right. All rights are reserved,
Annette Brütsch
Copy Editing Jérémie Gindre whether the whole or part
Loni Brönnimann p 132, 133, 135, 136, 138 of the material is concerned, Translation and Subtitles
Alexandra Carambellas p 138 (Sophie Jarlier) specifically the rights of Marille Hahne,
Mary Sherman translation, reprinting, re-use Annette Brütsch
Sandra Huber
Translations of illustrations, recitation, Online Edit And Authoring
p 157, 159, 161, 163
Staci von Boeckmann broadcasting, reproduction Annette Brütsch
p 165 (Felix Imhof)
(Hauser, Witzgall, Hediger) on microfilms or in other ways,
Irène Hediger and storage in databases. DVD Print
Adam Brasnahan (Mersch)
p 189, 192 For any kind of use, permission Digicon
Printing and binding of the copyright owner must
Steffen A. Schmidt
Holzhausen Druck GmbH, be obtained.
p 191, 193 All films are in english or
Austria
@Montreux Jazz have english subtitles.
p 194
This publication is also
Oliver “Olsen” Wolf
available as an e-book
p 223, 224, 226, 228, 229
ISBN 978-3-11-047459-6
p 229 (Thorsten Strohmeier)
Yvonne Weber
© 2016 Walter de Gruyter P 253, 255, 256, 261, 262
GmbH, Berlin/Boston p 258, 265 SLF (Ralph Feiner)
Printed on acid-free paper

produced from chlorine-free
pulp. TCF ∞
Printed in Austria
ISBN 978-3-11-047308-7
www.degruyter.com
7
Foreword
Sigrid Schade
11
Introduction
Irène Hediger and Jill Scott
17
Exploring the Unknown

Irène Hediger
27
Composing
you are variations: An Unusual and Extravagant
An On-Going Series of Events Interpretation of Our Data
Christina Della Giustina Forest Dynamics & Ecophysioloy Group,
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape
Research WSL, Birmensdorf, ETH Domain
45
Art-Science and (Re)Making Worlds:

Shaping Knowledge, Transforming Subjects,
Challenging Institutions
Harriet Hawkins
57
Embodying
Processing Brainwaves Other Ways to Approach Problems
into Pixels and Haptic Feedback: and Their Solutions
This Is Not A Quilt Native Systems Group, Institute of Computer Systems,
Marie-France Bojanowski Swiss Federal Institute of Technology — ETH Zurich
71
Creative Incubators
for a Common Culture
Jill Scott
87
Explaining the Edge

Thoughts on A Looping System Forth — Which Art
Self-Representation in Art Making and Research Always Will Be!
Nicole Ottiger Laboratory of Conitive Neuroscience,
Brain Mind Institute (BMI), School of Life Sciences,
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL
109
Art and Anthropology

Arnd Schneider
129
Neglecting
Adaption Conceptual Art and Its Links
Jérémie Gindre to What We Do
Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (SCAS),
Geneva Neuroscience Center (CIN),
Department of Neuroscience, University of Geneva
141
Overlapping Waves and New Knowledge

Difference, Diffraction, and the Dialog
between Art and Science
Susanne Witzgall
153
Dreaming
A Poet Goes to Work at Jumping Past the Barriers of Language
a Sleep Laboratory: Research Group Paul Franken, Center for Integrative
A Journal in Five Parts Genomics CIG, University of Lausanne
Sandra Huber
171
Inventive Experimentation: Weird Science,

Affectivity and Archives of the Future
Lisa Blackman
187
Rhythm Making
Heart Culture Our Everyday World Received
Steffen Schmidt an Additional, Literally Unheard
Dimension of Sound
The Cardio-Vascular Surgery Unit at the
University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV)
201
Biomediality and Art

Jens Hauser
221
Hovering
Telemonies — Walking The Bigger the Apparent “Distance”
Through the Eigenplot between the Disciplines, the Greater
Oliver “Olsen” Wolf the Surprises
The Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab),
Department of Informatics, University of Zurich
235
Aesthetic Difference:
On the “Wisdom” of the Arts
Dieter Mersch
251
Modeling
Recomposing Snow Approaching Snow from an Aesthetic
Yvonne Weber and a Pragmatic Perspective
WSL — Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF,
Davos, ETH Domain
DVD
8 Documentary Films
from the artists-in-labs program
Marille Hahne
Re-com-posing and Re-positioning Arts and Sciences
7
Prof. Dr. Sigrid Schade
Head of the Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts, ZHdK
The artists-in-labs program situated within the Institute for Cultural Stud-
ies in the Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts was founded in 2003
by Professor Dr. Jill Scott. In 2005 Irène Hediger joined as the program’s
co-director; and in 2014, Hediger became the director.
The artist-in-labs program continues to offer residencies to art-
ists in scientific laboratories and to accompany, support and supervise
the artists and scientists who take part in the program. It also documents
its activities and outcomes to refine its future programming and to share
its findings — through exhibitions, articles, books, catalogues, symposia
and other events — with the general public.1
As a result, over the past fifteen years the program has changed
its focus, procedures and funding structures several times to accommo-
date the needs and offerings of the laboratories, scientists and artists
involved (see www.artistsinlabs.ch).
The two preceeding volumes of the series artistsinlabs: Processes
of Inquiry (2006) and Networking in the Margins (2010) document and
reflect upon the discussions and collaborations between the artists and
scientists during their residencies. They also feature pertinent essays
to contextualize this research.2 One of the main insights that came out
of these studies was that real confrontation, juxtaposition, translation,
transfer and mutual acknowledgement between such diverse cultural
settings, frames of research, knowledge production and places for ena-
bling insight, need much more time than short term residencies usually
provide. So, during the last years the organizers extended the length of
the national residencies to 9 months. In three cases, the artists — Tif-
fany Holmes, Monika Codourey and Nicole Ottiger — were so inspired by

these longer engagements that they entered the PhD-program Z-Node3
(a cooperation with the University 1 For example in the con- Perell. J 2010, Think Art
of Plymouth), thus allowing them text of the Agora-project — Act Science, Zurich; and
State of the Art — Science Hediger, I & Schaschl, S
more time to pursue their research and Art in Practice in coop- (eds) 2015, Quantum of
eration with the University Disorder, Christoph Merian
in greater depth. In other cases, the of Geneva and others, fund- Verlag, Basel.
collaborations continued beyond ed by the Swiss National
Science Foundation from
2 Scott, J (ed.) 2006,
artistsinlabs: Processes of
their timeframe or were taken up 2013–2015 accessed 1
March 2016, www.zhdk.ch/
Inquiry, Springer, Vienna,
New York, and Scott, J (ed.)
again after the residency’s end. index.php?id=ics_popuplab;
in exhibition catalogues as
2010, artistsinlabs: Net-
working in the Margins,
The third volume in the series Shanshui — Both Ways with 3 accessed
Hediger, I (ed.) 2010, 山水 Springer, Vienna, New York,
1 January
artists-in-labs: Recomposing Art DVD, Zurich; Hediger, I & 2016, www.z-node.net
and Science focuses on eight projects, developed in 2011 and 2012, and
8
includes eight essays on “Art and Science” from the perspectives of phi-
losophy, cultural theory, human geography, social science and anthro-
pology. As the reports of the artists and scientists in this volume show,
a lack of a shared language was a major issue. In almost every instance
the participants questioned the translation and transfer of notions and
concepts of the other discipline.
Finding ways for the disciplines to communicate then has become
a major task at the beginning of and during the collaborations. This task
also has proven to be at least as time consuming as following the par-
ticipants’ transfer of knowledge about their technical devices and pro-
cesses. From the perspective of cultural analysis this comes as no sur-
prise. In fact, cultural and discourse analysis contributed to a seminal
deconstruction of the concept of the “Two Cultures and the Scientific
Revolution” (C.P. Snow) in the 1960s. Historical studies and discourse
analysis of the sciences have shown that the complementary construc-
tion of the “Two Cultures” was an ideology, which produced the con-
cept of objectivity, or neutrality of knowledge, as the exclusive purview
of the sciences. Even in the hard sciences, it is now widely acknow
ledged that research is both dependent on the specific methods, pro-
cedures, media and tools that scientists use, and that the subjective cul-
tural setting and framing affects their results. Therefore, knowledge or
“truth” is not found, it is made. Every knowledge production is situated
or unconsciously framed by disciplinary, spatial, social and economic
power structures, leading to the claim that knowledge is positivist. Actu-
ally, in the German language there is a difference between the terms
“Wissen” (knowledge) and “Erkenntnis” (the latter is not so easy to trans-
late but it encompasses such notions as insight, perception, cognition,
understanding etc.). Enabling “Erkenntnis” is a much more fragile formu-
lation, but it might be more appropriate, at least, for the kind of know
ledge-production art is responsible for! One of the first tasks of trans-
disciplinary research is to identify interests and power structures within
the borders of the disciplines and to be able to articulate these. We
can no longer speak of just one concept of art these days, particularly
when a lot of artists continue to produce self referential market-driven
art, while others see themselves as critical contributors to the relevant
questions of our day. Therefore, it is very important for any collabora-
tion that the participating artists reflect on their own concept of art as a
discipline with its own discursive practices. The assumption that artists
have more “freedom” compared to other disciplinary approaches has
9
to be questioned as well. From the perspective of cultural and histori
cal analysis, there is no doubt that art production also requires research,
which in some cases might be comparable to or made with the same
instruments or methodologies that one can find in academic research,
whether in the humanities or hard sciences. The same might be said
of artistic research. This includes the media it uses and the different
involvement of the viewer or participant. By de-composing, de-position-
ing and questioning these disciplines and their frames, the artists-in-
labs program lays the ground for the re-composing and re-positioning
of projects within new fields. Here scientists and artists might be able
to collaborate and cooperate beyond the hierarchies and boundaries
still effective today.
I would like to thank all the artists and scientists involved in the
projects described and documented, and Irène Hediger and Prof. Dr. Jill
Scott who both have been very engaged in promoting and reflecting on
this program and in the editing of this volume.

Recomposing Art and Science
11
This book and DVD documentation is based on the idea of “re-compo-

sition”. The concept of re-composing has post-production connotations
of reorganization and rearrangement, but it also means to restore com-
posure, to remain balanced and calm. Therefore, the title: Recompos-
ing Art and Science, calls for a reflective and deep investigation into the
processes of theory and practice in the arts and sciences.
Here, eight case studies reveal how different artists collabo-
rate within the disciplines of biology, environmental science and neu-
roscience. These come from the artists-in-labs program, where novel
forms of expression, interpretation and behavior were documented.
The results are as varied and unique as one can expect from such dif-
ferent learning environments. They are also indicative of how peo-
ple can learn about science in different ways than scientists do. They
range from designing augmented reality interfaces (Marie-France
Bojanowski), to composing sound art about the life forces of trees
(Christina Della Giustina), to comparing embodied cognition to dis-
connection in representation (Nicole Ottiger) and the combination of
health with the heartbeat (Steffen Schmidt). In some cases, the artists
added interpretations to existing experiments on perception (Jérémie
Gindre), or explored the physical challenges of levitation, fiction and
friction (Oliver Wolf). In other cases, poetics were applied to sleep pat-
terns (Sandra Huber) and data was visualized so differently that scien-
tists became re-fascinated about interpretations of their own research
(Yvonne Weber).
The scientific reports from each residency were just as diverse.
These range from computer systems analysis (Computer Systems Insti-
tute, Native Systems Group, ETH Zurich) to research into cognitive and
affective sciences (Geneva Neuroscience Center and Swiss Center for
Affective Sciences, University of Geneva) biomimicry in artificial intelli-
gence (The Artificial Intelligence Lab, Department of Informatics, Uni-
versity of Zurich). Other researchers write about their experiences with

artists in ecology, (The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and
Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf), the visualization of hazardous
natural materials like snow (Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research
SLF, Davos), the analysis and genetics of sleep (Centre for Integrative
Genomics, University of Lausanne) and the investigation of the causes
of heart diseases (Center for Cardio-Vascular Surgery, Lausanne Uni-
12
versity Hospital CHUV).

Through these texts the reader can trace how these artists have
been inspired by the research inside the science labs and simultaneously,
how the very physical presence and consequent inquiries by the artists
have affected the scientists and their research. We value the legacy of
these reflections as unique contributions to a more modern reframing of
science as well as art, and of the potentials to redesign our relationships
to existing systems. While some artists are more concerned about the
effects of science on society, others focus on the discoveries of poetic
metaphors or the ethical interpretations about the future. As social sci-
entists like Bruno Latour suggest, science and technology are cultural
resources because they are now part of the social fabric that surrounds
us. He claims that “we” humans are even starting to “see” or understand
that our species might constitute one big global experiment. This notion
may inevitably bring the public, scientists and cultural producers to the
same question: “What is democratic behavior in the Anthropocene?” 1
Such reflections in this book belong to a book-series in which we
have featured other case studies and contextual essays that open up
the art and science debate and help to shed light on the potentials of
collaboration from different fields of practice. Over the last 14 years
of our engagement we have certainly witnessed a diversity of artistic
approaches, and have come to the conclusion that it is very difficult to
compare such different experiences of the artists in the labs. We found
out that know-how transfer is dependent upon similar levels of reciproc-
ity, a shared experience between the known, the unknown and the learn-
ers. Artists now claim that crossing the boundaries of the science lab can
provide them with a unique frame of reference, where complex schema
of beliefs and values may be re-thought and re-questioned. This “refram-
ing” is also a re-compositional exercise because to “reframe” is to step
back from what is being taught and discovered and consider the frame as
a “lens” through which new realities are being created. Indeed, it is very
appealing for artists, theorists and the scientists to learn the facts but
challenge the assumptions of any visual frame of reference. Some poten-
tial elements of this re-composition may generate awe and wonder for
audiences, by revealing aspects of
science and its processes of inquiry, 1Recomposing
Latour, B ‘From Critique to Composition’ lecture in
the Humanities, September 18, 2015,
without demanding that the public Nau Hall Auditorium, University of Virginia, USA
newliteraryhistory.org/events_recomposing_the_
grapple with didactic categories of humanities.php
the scientific method. Artists with their knowledge of visual semiotics
13
have the freedom to be able to question the rules and regulations of sci-
ence by investigating freely. They may also choose to construct unique
conduits between visual culture, tacit knowledge and explicit evidence.
For the relativist and social science philosopher, Latour, artists
are very well trained to establish and correlate these different frames
of reference and to explore practical links between the applied research
of technical universities and the basic research of the humanities. Art-
ists like to interrogate the distribution of power and agency. They chal-
lenge our beliefs about how the world is organized. They pose very novel
trans-disciplinary questions here — ones that call for a reorganization of
the relationship between art and science. Perhaps this is why, in the last
twenty years, it is arts and humanities researchers who have often been
driving the interest to open up science to public scrutiny, which can do
more than inspire scientific researchers to explore new discourses cen-
tered on creativity and education. Latour also sees technology as a par-
adox — because technology now encompasses and encircles the earth,
even though there are still many parts of humanity that do not share this
universal belief. He concludes that this shift in reality cannot be handled
without a third representation — that of art or film because these medi-
ums might capture and reorganize changes in our thinking in much more
profound ways than theory or technology can 2.
Consequently, we collaborated with Marille Hahne from the
Department of Performing Arts and Film at the Zurich University of the
Arts, to produce documentary films based on interviews with partici-
pants of the artists-in-labs residencies. These films are complimented by
essays from writers in the fields of art history, philosophy, social science
and anthropology in order to look at the various aesthetic, epistemolog-
ical and ontological potentials of these investigations. In addition, con-
tributions by Irène Hediger, Jill Scott and Harriet Hawkins provide a con-
text for most of the case studies by the artists. Both Hediger and Scott
talk about the sharing of creativity in this context and claim that the facil-
itation of such programs are essential for the re-composing of a third
culture to help people think outside the constraints of their disciplines.

Hediger’s essay Exploring the Unknown explores the role of
“Nicht-Wissen” as a liberating element in such art and science exchanges
and how this state of mind often creates an unusual “space” for more
explorative collaborations to develop. S he examines the intersection of
mutual interest and how positivist 2 Ibid. Latour ‘From Critique to Composition’
differences between artists and scientists can become productive driv-
14
ers to expand disciplinary boundaries. These expansions are often helped

by long-term engagements, because (social) relationships with uncer-
tain outcomes always need a long time to develop. In Scott’s essay, Cre-
ative Incubators for a Common Culture, she investigates the idea of the
“incubator” in the life sciences, as a metaphor for the novel growth of a
set of common thematic discourses about the act of experiment build-
ing. She posits that such discussions might provide more “tacit” and
“affective” potentials for the sharing and communication and solving of
societal problems in the future.
The third contribution by Harriet Hawkins is a synopsis that came
from an analytical study of our program from another relatively new dis-
cipline: human geography. As part of a grant entitled Art-Science: Col-
laborations, Bodies and Environments, Hawkins conducted an interna-
tional, collaborative research project about art-science programs in the
US, UK, Europe and Australia. Based on a number of case studies, the
research team explored the institutional, political, epistemic and tech-
nological matrixes that allow these interfaces to emerge and that shape
their development and wider impact.3 She traced how participating art-
ists adapted to different surroundings and how the scientists hosted and
watched the artists’ creative processes unfold. As she accurately con-
cluded, in such exchanges knowledge is often shared in such an amaz-
ing variety of ways and different environmental contexts, that it is hard
to make any real comparisons between the projects.
While the most ambitious aim of creating new knowledge at the
interface of art and science would be to cause a paradigm shift that
helps researchers think differently, the other essays in this book fea-
ture examples of new knowledge that has actually been generated or
re-composed. They all ask if “true” collaborations are really possible
and call for a paradigm shift in the way we think about subjectivity and
objectivity (Kuhn 1962)4. These writers were asked to contextualize the
processes of experiment building at the interface of art and science
research and how this fusion might generate new levels of knowledge.
Today, many researchers acknowledge that there are many diffe
rent kinds of “truth” — not only those truths that are found in the “objective”
knowledge associated with the sciences and mathematics. As facilitators,
we realized that such comparisons 3 http://artscience.arizona.edu
of “truth” can also be found in the 4 Kuhn, T 1962, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
1962. Universty of Chicago Press (second edition 1970;
discipline of visual anthropology. abbreviated SSR)
Therefore, we asked Arnd Schneider to contribute an essay on the rela-
15
tionship between anthropology and art. By dealing with issues like agency
and relationality, mimesis and appropriation, materiality and phenome-
nology, visual anthropology and material culture as well as larger disci-
plinary fields, he argues for a recognition of the practice-led theoretical
engagement that might not only stretch the boundaries of both disci-
plines but contradict stereotyping. This inquiry is further explored by art
historian Susanne Witzgall. She suggests casting a critical view on the
generalizing and polarizing analysis and descriptions of artistic and sci-
entific research. Instead she calls for a positivist approach — a drop of
hierarchies and a very equal celebration and recognition of the differ-
ences between art and science.
The value of these differences are further highlighted by theo-
rist, Lisa Blackman, who scrutinizes psychology experiments and social
technology by exploring “proper” psychological experiments with their
definitions of evidence or “truth” and phenomenological experiments
with their labels of anomalies, paradoxes, puzzles and the paranormal.
She claims that the later set of experiments have a much closer rela-
tionship to media, artistic and theatrical practices. By using the exam-
ple of Gertrude Stein and automatic writing, she then explores “fiction-
which-functions-in-truth” and “haunted data” and why both artists and
scientists often like to experiment with impossible or improbable things.
Blackman agrees with social scientist Isabel Stengers, who advocates
“innovative propositions” and a celebration of difference as a way to
help open up the sciences to creativity, intervention and surprise. (1997
Stengers)5
Writer and philosopher, Dieter Mersch takes an even stronger
stance, arguing for a much deeper distinction between artistic and sci-
entific research. He believes that artistic thought is unique — that it is
not similar to propositional or discursive ways of thinking. Instead art
will always have its very own niche and conversational structure that
has graduated beyond the “linguistic turn”. This he claims is a trajectory
that insures art’s own survival and generates a particular kind of wisdom,
unlike any other. Alternatively, art historian Jens Hauser looks at the issue
from the position of bio artists, who not only employ methodologies and
tools from biotechnology, but also create and manipulate “lifeforms” as
an artistic medium. These artists question the evidence and substance
of biological forms used in the lab-
5 Stengers, I 1997, Power and Invention: Situating Science,
oratory environment, as well as the University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
aesthetics of “life-likeness”. This he calls “biomediality”: an “epistemo-
16
logical turn” that questions how knowledge is produced (which is very

different from the aestheticized images currently being produced by
scientists).
Many of these authors’ writings are reflective of the current
debate about “art as research”, a concept that is generating many crit-
ical opinions about the relationship between art and science. It seems
that the type of knowledge that can be shared between art and science
not only depends upon similar levels of reciprocity, but also on simi-
lar levels of respect. Additionally, some acknowledgment of the differ-
ences of each researcher’s experience, training and understanding of
their practice must also be taken into consideration. As the case stud-
ies in this book show, there is an enormous value in being able to actu-
ally inhabit the other’s processes of inquiry.
Consequently, we wish to thank the theorists, scientists and art-
ists who have contributed to this book and who all share our main aim:
to help people think about the boundaries between science and art in a
very expansive way.
References
Prof. Bruno Latour From Critique to Composition Recom-
posing the Humanities with Bruno Latour September 18,
2015, Nau Hall Auditorium | University of Virginia, USA
http://www.bruno-latour.fr
Ibid. Latour From Critique to Composition

Kuhn, T 1962, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 1962.
Universty of Chicago Press (second edition 1970; abbreviat-
ed SSR)
Scott, J 2005, Artistsinlabs: Processes of Inquiry Springer
Vienna New York
Scott, J 2008, Artistsinlabs: Networking in the Margins.
Springer Vienna New York
Irène Hediger is the head of
the artists-in-labs program
at the Institute for Cultural
Studies in the Arts (ICS),
Zurich University of the Arts
(ZHdK). She studied Busi-
ness Administration and
Management, holds a certif-
Exploring the
icate in Group Dynamics and
Organisation Development
(DAGG) and has a MAS in
Cultural Management from
the University of Basel.
She has curated numerous
exhibitions, performances
and accompanying pro-
grammes about issues related
to contemporary art, science
and technology, such as
Lucid Fields, Singapore
2008, Think Art — Act Science,
in Barcelona, San Francisco
and Salt Lake City 2010–
2011, “experimenta13 — Na-
tur Stadt Kunst”, Basel
2013, Quantum of Disorder
2015, (in)visible transitions
Unknown
2015 and r e<connecting
senses, Connecting Space /
ISEA Hong Kong 2016. She
specializes on long-term
inter- and transdisciplinary
creative practices and on how
artistic and scientific pro-
cesses can move out of the
lab or studio and into the
public realm. Her published
books include: Shanshui —
Both Ways, ZHdK, 2011,
Think Art — Act Science
(ed. Irène Hediger, Josep
Perello), Actar, Barcelona,
New York, 2010 and
Q uantum of Disorder (ed.
Irène Hediger, Sabine
Schaschl), Christoph Merian
Verlag, Basel, 2015.
She is also the deputy Equal
Opportunities and Diversity
representative at the Zurich
University of the Arts.
For more than a decade now the artists-in-labs program (ail program) has
18
been organizing and mentoring residencies for artists in scientific labora-

tories. The program strives to create opportunities for cultural and intel-
lectual exchange, activate new ways of thinking, broaden modes of per-
ception and expand existing disciplinary, institutional and sensual spaces.
When I joined the program as co-director in 2006, a pilot project 1 had
already provided a base for us to continue to develop and refine our exper-
tise at enabling and creating such encounters ever since.
Like entryways, corridors, stairwells and rooftops, the ail program
constitutes space for encounters with open-ended outcomes. It forms
what I like to call “in between spaces”, which — as a rule — have a structure
and role but also can offer new opportunities for unexpected exchange
and dialog. As such, these areas open up spheres of possibility and serve
as a path to and from defined (disciplinary) space. They are passageways
where new ideas and projects develop, and heated debates take place.
They provide spaces for contemplation, listening, speaking and encoun-
tering the arena of others in order to brood, plant, experiment and create.
However unique the appearance of these in-between spaces
may be, they share a central concept that will serve as the focus of
this essay — the concept of “Nicht-Wissen”. “Nicht-Wissen” is difficult
to render in English. Literally, it means “not-knowing”. What I want to
express is something more like a mental stance than a concrete entity;
more like a dynamic, productive relationship than a deficit to overcome;
more like a potential that enables something new to emerge. Artists
and scientists, alike, enter a place of “not-knowing” that is a motiva-
tion for, or better, a precondition of their experimental collaboration.
In assuming this state, they do not cast aside their roles as representa-
tives of their institutional, artistic and scientific disciplines. Much more,
they create the space of possibility in the field of tension arising from
the confrontation between their respective disciplinary knowledge (cf.
Rammert 2003, p. 488 and Glauser 2010, p. 13). The encounter makes
us aware how our work in highly specialized fields create very specific
mindsets. They challenge us to overcome these mental habits, to recog-
nize the over estimation of our knowledge, especially by those of us who
seek to define and defend the disciplinary boundaries of that knowledge.
As Gugerli and Sarasin write, “The bearers of knowledge know less and
less what they cannot know, the more successful their work in defining
Irène Hediger
their expertise” (Gugerli, Sarasin

1 see Scott, J (ed.) 2006, Artistsinlabs: Processes of
2009, p. 8). Inquiry, Springer, Vienna, New York.
It should be noted as a rule “that every endeavor to acquire knowledge
19
must be understood in the first instance as an attempt to transform
“not-knowing” into knowing” (Gamper 2012, p. 12). Assuming this prin-
ciple is inherent to the creative activity of both the artist and the scien-
tist, it is in the encounter between the two disciplines that the negative
understanding of “not-knowing” (ibid, p.11) first becomes positive. It is
then that the playing field has the potential to be leveled and a trans-
formative, heterogeneous horizon between disciplinarily and institu-
tionally defined canons of knowledge and the concomitant dynamics of
power become possible (Proctor, Schiebinger 2008). As a result, the
focus shifts to “the relationship between knowledge and its bearers,”
and the “discursive status of knowledge becomes negotiable” (Gamper
2012 p. 11), so that “not-knowing” essentially becomes a “prerequisite for
moving epistemological processes forward” (Gamper 2012, p. 12). The
unknown, then, to borrow again from Gamper, appears “as a dynamic
conglomeration of objects and practices, whose irritating potential con-
stitutes a substantial force for fluctuations in the formations of knowl-
edge” (Gamper 2012, p. 14). It is precisely this tension between the
unknown and new knowledge that we seek to create through our activ-
ities at the artists-in-labs program.
Collaborative projects between artists and scientists make a sig-
nificant contribution to these developments and to new forms of knowl-
edge production. It has been and will continue to be these in-between
spaces in which the productive, mutual confrontation of knowledge and
the unknown takes place and which bring about heterogeneous and
hybrid forms of research, production, learning, art and science. I would
like here to offer some examples of the possibilities of the unknown in
the collaborative projects of the ail program. Just as it is for the art-
ists and scientists for whom we provide time and space to explore and
investigate, so, too, is it important for artists-in-labs’ managing board
to continually analyze its practices (and the knowledge generated by
them), create new in-between spaces, and promote and explore inno-
vative practice-based, intercultural and boundary-crossing methods of
knowledge production and transfer.
When artists and scientists collaborate, people from entirely dis-
tinct, clearly demarcated professional territories with different disci-

plinary requirements and fields of expertise come together. The two
parties are united by their mutual interest in new experiences and the
willingness to accept the difficulties inherent in the confrontation with
the unknown — to see things through each other’s eyes. They also share
20
the desire for new (social) relationships with uncertain outcomes, rela-
tionships in which the parties bring their own experiences and admit
the potential for expanding their knowledge base. Before the residency
begins, this desire is generally expressed in stereotypical projections
of each other’s discipline. These stereotypes serve as a kind of point of
orientation within the uncertainty of mutual “not-knowing”. Martin Seel
speaks, in this context, of a kind of service that “not-knowing” offers the
knowers. He distinguishes, here, between “contingent” “not-knowing”,
(which refers to relationships of which we either incidentally or through
some fault of our own have no knowledge) and “constitutive” “not-know-
ing” (which is connected as a whole with ideas and projections) (Seel
2009, p. 40).
“Not-knowing” in the encounter between artists and scientists
is something I would consider, in this sense, constitutive “not-know-
ing” — something that also “represents an indispensable condition of the
freedom to act” (Seel 2009, p. 47), acquire knowledge, and create “that
moment of possibility to be surprised and, as such, celebrates the varia-
bility of our selves” (ibid, pp. 47–48). In this space of “not-knowing”, the
participants are thrown back on their own willingness to step outside of
their disciplinary isolation and enter a space of uncertainty.
When artists and scientists encounter one another while in resi-
dency at the ail program, two discriminate social systems, “thought col-
lectives” — as defined by Ludwik Fleck — (Fehr 2005, p. 26) and institu-
tional contexts confront one another leading to a “dialectic of knowing
and “not-knowing”, of proximity and distance” (Schmitz 2004, p. VII)
which require the conscious consideration of both parties. In the (social)
process of collaboration, the most important working tools of artists
and scientists are communication and reflection. Even though I con-
sider these tools crucial for a successful collaboration, they are often
neglected by both parties at the beginning of the process.
International projects introduce another, particularly challenging
factor for collaboration — cultural exchange, which refers, as well, to dif-
ferent knowledge constructs. My point is well illustrated by the ail res-
idency of Swiss-French artist Aline Veillat at the Institute of Mountain
Hazards and Environment (IMHE) in Chengdu, China, in 2010. In addi-
tion to the everyday, fundamental challenges presented by such things
Irène Hediger
as language barriers, the artist was faced with the question of the differ-
ences between the scientific priorities and working hypotheses in China
and in Switzerland. The artist opened herself up to not only a new way of
21
working with different procedures, methods and hierarchies but also a
new way of perceiving her field of interest, the environment. She came
to realize that the environment in China is more commonly viewed as
contrary to human interests - even as a danger.
To familiarize herself with the lab’s research Veillat read the sci-
entists’ papers. She gathered French and English translations of Chinese
poetry to surmount the language barrier and understand the Chinese
concept of nature. These two activities were then brought together in
an installation that depicted a landscape layered with ancient artifacts
embedded in the sediment. The idea was that over time, the sediment
would erode (with climate change and industry), leaving behind only the
artifacts. In this space filled with “not-knowing”, she offered the scien-
tists a new way of perceiving nature.
In the same period, the Chinese photographer Aniu Chen (from
Shenzhen) came to Switzerland through the ail program to work with
the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)
in Dübendorf. During his stay, he set aside his accustomed medium and
began a survey distributing questionnaires to the scientists and then
processing their answers similar to the way one develops analog film.
(He took their handwritten answers and put them into wet petri dishes,
letting the ink take on a new form just as film in the darkroom is trans-
formed through chemical processes). This visual “distortion” mimicked
the way direct translation software programs altered his understanding
of the lab’s scientific texts, making the already difficult process of com-
munication even more challenging. However, it also became a blessing
in disguise. The attempt to find a common language became a central
part of the encounter on both sides and, thus, the resulting “not-know-
ing” (which was steady throughout the collaboration) became a motor
for new inquiries and artistic production.
The international residencies lead participants to discover hid-
den, personal “not-yet-knowing” through the confrontation with others
and develop new perspectives for their own (knowledge) culture. Their
embeddedness in a professional context enables both scientists and art-
ists’ more direct access to the deeper lying concerns of a particular soci-
ety. What at first glance may have been superficial and sometimes over-
whelming impressions, through the “disciplinary filters” can now appear
more complex, differentiated and surprisingly other. In the international
residencies the local context also takes on greater importance. What is
taken for granted in one location may actually offer surprising insights
22
to someone from another locale. International standards and conven-

tions, thus, often crumble in the face of regional and local priorities and
the meta-level of the disciplines is made more significant.
Whether in an international or Swiss context, freeing oneself
from delusion or self-delusion is a pivotal moment in the communication
process between artists and scientists. The more levels on which com-
munication and confrontation take place, the more (one’s own) expec-
tations and mutual reflection on the misunderstandings or failures of
understanding break down, the greater the surprise and more sustain-
ing the effects and influences on one’s own work. The deconstruction of
stereotypes is a prerequisite insofar as it enables participants to open
themselves up to the perspectives of others. “The necessary shift away
from a language that impairs mutual understanding is a continual pro-
cess [. . .] between scientists, poets and philosophers, even between
philosophers themselves” (Hampe 2009, p. 63) — and we might add
between scientists and artists, as well. In the array of common interests
and opposing methods, differences and misunderstandings can occur,
the unfamiliar and asymmetrical can raise new questions and discus-
sions, and, in turn, make new developments possible. As such, fascinat-
ing and sometimes heated debates are also part of these relationships,
just as the continual negotiation of position, language and meaning are.
I introduce the notion of “relationship” here, because the way in which
artists and scientists relate to one another in the course of their col-
laboration has a significant influence on the development and learning
process of each. As in any (professional/intercultural/romantic) rela-
tionship, the willingness to open up and listen to one another is a key
factor in its success. Building relationships is not about negating one’s
own certainty but, much more, about acknowledging the “both-and” of
various approaches in order to gain new experience and initiate a pro-
cess of discovery.
The interaction between different highly productive, knowl-
edge-generating disciplines during the residency forges paths to new
knowledge. Artist and author Jérémie Gindre described his state of mind
after his first months at the Geneva Neuroscience Center as “a real
pleasure to feel [himself] roughly out of context, but not lost”. In response
to his “not-knowing” vis-à-vis the fields of research at the Geneva Neu-
Irène Hediger
roscience Center, he began his residency with a process that might

best be compared to the geographical measuring of uncharted land.
He gathered general information (in scholarly articles and books) and
23
worked systematically to acquire fundamental disciplinary knowledge in
the context of the Centre for Affective Sciences (in lectures and pres-
entations of the Centre’s scientists) to get an overview of the broad
and multidisciplinary “new land” of the neurosciences. After numerous
exchanges with various specialists, he focused his work on neuropsy-
chology and emotions research.
As an artist and novelist, Gindre both creates and tells stories.
He regularly invited the scientists with whom he worked into his “ter-
rain of knowledge”. He used museums, galleries and his studio to “tickle”
the scientists out of their comfort zone. Discussions about how an art-
ist and novelist processes such topics as hallucinations, memory, spatial
neglect, prosopagnosia, mental imagery, dreams, word associations and
cerebral disorders took place regularly in his studio and at selected exhi-
bitions from that point on. I cannot help but draw a parallel here between
spatial neglect — i.e. one-sided spatial perception — and the truncated
disciplinary view. The change in perspective for both parties, the artists
in the laboratory and scientists in the atelier, expanded the perception
and, in turn, the insights of both. This expansion develops neither from
the melding of the disciplines nor from the adaptation of the one to the
other, but through a genuine extension of their respective space. The
residency created space and time to work with that moment in which
the shift away from one’s own (disciplinary) language becomes neces-
sary (Hampe 2009, p. 63) to meet one another beyond the hierarchi-
zations in the space of “not-knowing” and to develop new perspectives
out of this space.
During his ail residency with surgeons and researchers in the car-
diac surgery department of the University Hospital CHUV in Lausanne,
Steffen A. Schmidt stumbled upon “disappearing knowledge”: heart aus-
cultation. This form of diagnosis concerns listening to the body and is
only employed superficially today. While auscultation remains important
for outpatient care, it has been and continues to be largely replaced in
clinical medicine and in cardiological diagnostics, in particular, by imag-
ing processes and technologies.
As a musician and musicologist, Schmidt used his time in resi-
dence to (sound)track this “lost acoustic” phenomenon, exploiting the

auditory possibilities of various pieces of hospital equipment, in particu-
lar, the echocardiograph, and weaving the vast spectrum of sounds into
a soundscape. The live performance on the stage of the Montreux Jazz
Festival,2 featuring cardiological surgeon and echocardiograph special-
24
ist Prof. von Segesser, accompanied by the artist at the piano, literally
put this “forgotten knowledge” in the spotlight.
The experience so ignited Schmidt’s enthusiasm for the poten-
tial of acoustic procedures so that he acquired a digital stethoscope and
continues to this day to experiment with the “art of listening.” A tool that
has become part of the “not-knowing” of many physicians of a younger
generation working with state-of-the-art technologies now serves as
an instrument in the artistic, research practice of a musician. A belief in
the superiority of latest developments can clearly blind us to the value
of “forgotten” knowledge in our fields to which the view of specialists
from other disciplines can reawaken.
While the artist and philosopher Christina Della Giustina (who
collaborated with scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest,
Snow and Landscape Research WSL in the field of long-term climate
data) and the poet Sandra Huber (who conducted sleep research with a
EEG at the Center for Integrated Genomics CIG) explored entirely dif-
ferent fields of knowledge, they both worked extensively with scientific
data collected with sensors. Della Giustina works with sensors and trees;
Huber, with sensors and humans. In different ways, both researched the
language of science in their respective fields of activity. Semantics and
epistemology played as important a role in their laboratory research as
did the rhythms and cycles of nature. Both attempted to form a “whole”
from the various partial specialized knowledge of the scientists. The pro-
cess necessitated extensive dialogue and debate, as well as the willing-
ness of the scientists to move beyond the boundaries of their discipli-
nary knowledge, to confront their “not-knowing” vis-à-vis the process
of artistic production and, in part, to open themselves up to the critique
or lack of understanding from colleagues. The result was “a different,
more subjective dynamic of critical exchange and knowledge creation”
(Schirrmeister 2004, p. 12) in that “specialists” on both sides undertook
unfamiliar forms of interaction.
Della Giustina’s personal linguistic, poetic and visual records
established connections that enabled the WSL scientists to gain an over-
view of the “combined” knowledge of their specializations to achieve
a holistic understanding of the forest and its ecosystem and, in turn,
to identify gaps in their own knowledge. The scientists benefited from
Irène Hediger
the ability of art “to articulate what

2 As part of the event Art and Science on Stage, Montreux
cannot be sufficiently articulated Jazz Festival, 2012.
through propositional logic” (Seel 2009, p. 46). The scientists were
25
intrigued by the “network of connections,” “its density, opacity and
plurivalence” in Della Giustina’s work (Seel 2009, p. 46). In its inter-
play with the clearly defined rules of scientific research, the unobjecti-
fiable specificity of art becomes a process in which the unknown is not
the missing piece of the puzzle but a motor for the continual search for
something new. This is so, above all, because art offers its recipients the
opportunity “to define themselves from autonomous fragments through
undetermined processes of experience and understanding in a gener-
ally unforced situation” (Seel 2009, p. 46).
Both artists thus developed projects that produced new linguis-
tic/poetic and sound/musical compositions based on abstract scien-
tific data. Both lent data a (resonating) body that reflected the complex-
ity, density and (dis)proportionality of language and data, which built a
bridge to open up and provide access to new levels of understanding.
In closing, I would like to discuss one final aspect of “not-know-
ing” between the parties in our art-science collaborations. The artists-
in-labs residencies take place in rather exclusive contexts: When artists
work in scientific laboratories, the public is largely left out. The out-
comes of these residencies is something we consider new knowledge or,
as the title of this volume suggests, as “re-composed” knowledge. One
of the tasks of the ail program is to bring these processes and outcomes
out into the broader public sphere in order to stimulate new debates
and inspire new ideas. Exhibitions, publications, films, workshops, con-
certs and performances serve as a kind of “outreach” into the space
of “not-knowing” within the public sphere3. The exhibition Quantum of
Disorder, which took place at the Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich,
is a good example of this strategy. Physics and mathematics under-
lined the concept and making of many of the artworks in this co-curated
group show - a surprise for many visitors. The exhibit was accompanied
by scholarly lectures, tours guided by artists and scientists alike, as well
as a variety of forums for discussion that conveyed a new image of art
and its manifold relationships to science, society and technology. To
see the disciplines in unexpected relations created a lot of excitement
and desire for understanding. It is this intrigue of the “not-knowing” that
keeps the public curious, the artist’ studios creating, the laboratories
brooding, and all of our debates Art 3 Among them, the SNF-Agora project State of the
— Science and Art in Practice (2012 to 2015) and inclu
unending — yesterday, today and ded, among other events, a project week for secondary
school children and a sound and light installation in the New
tomorrow. Botanic Garden of the University of Zurich.
References
26
Fehr, J 2005, ‘Vielstimmigkeit und der wissenschaftliche

Umgang damit. Ansätze zu einer Fleck’schen Philologie’, in
R Egloff (ed.), Tatsache — Denkstil — Kontroverse: Ausein-
andersetzungen mit Ludwik Fleck, Collegium Helveticum
Heft 1, Collegium Helveticum, Zurich, pp. 25–37.
Gamper, M 2012, ‘Einleitung’, in M Bies, M Gamper (eds),
Literatur und Nicht-Wissen. Historische Konstellationen
1730–1930, diaphanes, Zurich.
Glauser, A 2010, ‘Formative Encounters: Laboratory Life
and Artistic Practice’, in J Scott (ed.), Artistsinlabs: Net-
working in the Margins, Springer, Vienna, New York.
Gugerli, D, Sarasin, P 2009, ‘Editorial’, in Nicht-Wissen,
Nach Feierabend, Zürcher Jahrbuch für Wissensgeschichte
5, pp. 7–9.
Hampe, M 2009, ‘Existentielle und wissenschaftliche Revo-
lutionen. Zur Differenz von Wissen und Nicht-Wissen’, in
Nicht-Wissen, Nach Feierabend, Zürcher Jahrbuch für Wis-
sensgeschichte 5, pp. 51–68.
Proctor, RN, Schiebinger, L 2008: Agnotology. The making
and unmaking of ignorance, Stanford, London.
Rammert, W 2003, ‘Zwei Paradoxien einer innovationsori-
entierten Wissenspolitik: Die Verknüpfung heterogenen und
die Verwertung impliziten Wissens’, in Soziale Welt, 54 (4),
pp. 483-508.
Schirrmeister, C 2004, Geheimnisse: Über die Ambivalenz
von Wissen und Nicht-Wissen, Deutscher Universitäts-
Verlag, Wiesbaden.
Schmitz, W 2004, ‘Geleitwort’, in C Schirrmeister,
G
eheimnisse: Über die Ambivalenz von Wissen und
Nicht-Wissen, Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden.
Seel, M 2009, ‘Vom Nachteil und Nutzen des Nicht-Wissens
für das Leben’, in Nicht-Wissen, Nach Feierabend, Zürcher
Jahrbuch für Wissensgeschichte 5, pp. 37–48.
Irène Hediger
Christina Della Giustina is to the site. Her work has been
27
currently a lecturer in Fine shown internationally at
Art at HKU University of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt,
Arts Utrecht and enrolled in Woburn Research Centre,
a practice-led PhD program Montreux Jazz Festival,
Composing
at Slade School of Fine Art, Netherlands Institute for
UCL, London. She studied Media Art NIMK, Gallery
Philosophy, Art History, and Soledad Senlle Amsterdam,
Linguistics at the University Shanghai Contemporary
of Zurich; and Fine Art and Art, the International Art
Political Theory at the Jan Triennial in Lublin, Botanical
van Eyck Academy Maas- Garden Zurich and Kunst
tricht. Her trans-disciplinary halle Zurich.
artistic practice includes
you are variations: An On-Going Series of Events

site-specific work with live
and/or interactive audio-,
video-, and light, performance,
composition, drawing and
writing. She focuses on trans-
lating the data from specific
sites into artistic notations
that are conceived to be
interpreted and experienced
in the form of a collective
enactment of the site. The
resulting performance re-
creates the site as sensory
event and calls for questions
that cross disciplines about
our ways of being with our-
selves and the world, and
that modify the “self” related
Forest Dynamics, Tree-Rings Peter Jakob (Databank Man-

& Long-Term Forest Ecosys- ager, Scientist), Terry Me-
tem Monitoring (LWF) groups nard (Microscopy, Techni-
of the Swiss Federal Institute cian), Daniel Nievergelt
for Forest, Snow and Land- (Tree-Ring Analysis, Techni-
scape Research WSL, Birmens cian), Andreas Rigling (Forest
dorf ZH. Ecology, Head Research
Unit), Marcus Schaub (Eco-
WSL is the Swiss federal physiology, Head of Research
research institute for forests, Group), Gustav Schneiter
snow and landscapes. We (Climate Monitoring, Techni-
are primarily concerned with cian), Fritz Hans Schwein-
the use and protection of gruber (Dendrochronology,
natural, cultural and urban Prof. Emeritus), Pierre Vol-
habitats in Switzerland, while lenweider (Ecophysiology,
also monitoring and exploring Scientist), Peter Waldner
landscapes and forests. An- (Biogeochemistry, Scientist).
other central focus is the
evaluation of how to handle
natural hazards and develop-
ing solutions for socially rele-
vant issues. We work closely
An Unusual and Extravagant
Interpretation of Our Data
with partners in the sciences,

industries and society but we
also create think tanks with
artists.1
Researchers involved in the

residency: Arnaud G iuggiola
(Ecophysiology, Scientist),
Madeleine Günthart-G oerg
(Ecophysiology, Scientist),
I came to the Swiss Federal Institute for For-
28
you are variations:

est, Snow and Landscape Research WSL to
study ecophysiological processes within trees
(that is, processes as seen by science) and the
Series of Events
creative processes within me that eventually
would lead to the aesthetic processes. What I
An On-Going mainly did during the residency was to study

the subjects, the language, and the different
methods that the institute is working with, and
to closely observe my reception, response and
reactions to them. The idea was to compare
these different processes, exploring the very
manner of connections and disconnections
between them, asking if evolving processes
inform, and/or reflect upon each other. Can
cultural and natural processes be brought into
relation? And what might be the adventure,
the difficulty, and the value of doing so?
Christina Della Giustina
How can we get in touch with a tree?

Is it possible to get to know trees, to hear them
and become familiar with them? How in-
tensely, under what conditions, and through
what forms of knowledge do we experience and
engage with “creation”, including ourselves?
These Reflexions and experiences come from Andreas

Rigling, Marcus Schaub and Peter Waldner who worked with
Christina at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and
Landscape Research WSL
and Extravagant
Andreas Rigling, Head of Research Forest Dynamics Unit

Interpretation
Before Christina came to

WSL, we had no clear expec-
of Our Data
An Unusual
tations. It was more curiosity

about the artist, her person-
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow
ality, motivation, background

and her expectations. The
and Landscape Research WSL
creative part of this collabo-

ration was clearly to be on the
side of the artist — hence the
role of us researchers was to
contribute data and scientific
How is it we ethically relate to the environ- a “landscape” wherein it becomes possible to
29
ment? 1 Entangled within this epistemological listen, from diverse perspectives, to sonic
probing is the question: what forms of inti- events generated by diverse trees simultane-
macies with the organic world 2 do our known ously, and/or alternately.
approaches distinguish, prevent, suggest, The impact and dynamics of environ-
envision, and enable? 3 Are there further mental changes and tree responses to climate
questions that speak to a common inquiry and environmental factors, as researched by
across disciplines concerning our ways of the unit, build an exceptionally rich platform
being with the world and with ourselves? The for further research in this project. Several
artwork, you are variations examines the en- Research Units’ projects relate directly to my
vironmental sensitivity of these forms of research and are of great interest for my work.

being. To be able to access the technical infrastructure,
In collaboration with the Forest Dynam- and to detect and record trees’ microclimate
ics Research Unit (WSL) I explored the stems, with ecophysiological methods like dendrom-
leaves and root systems of trees. In my earlier eters, sap flow sensors etc., with the aim to
attempts — Tree [Vol. 01–06] — I listened to turn the data effectively into artistic material
individual foliage trees one at the time by 1 “Ethically” is used here in or apprehension, an organ
means of an extended, amplified stethoscope. a etymological sense of ἦθος, of the body, a musical instru-
I started to wonder how trees acoustically ef- meaning “accustomed place”, ment, etc., “from” ἔργειν
“habitat”, as well as the ex- (ergein), “to work”; possible
fect their neighboring environment: I focused tended meaning of “habit”. translations: “what works”,
on several trees, a section of forest, and trees 2 “Organic”, etymology: “that which works.”
in relation to various locations within a land- from Latin organum, Ancient 3 Additionally, are there
Greek ὄργανον (organon), is actual possibilities to com-
scape. It is for me most intriguing to create a an instrument, implement or bine these different ways of
spatial and temporal, acoustic environment as tool, also an organ of sense knowing?
knowhow. We were supposed to be the artist’s counterparts in

the discussions. This clear division of roles changed over time,
however, and we gradually became more and more involved
in the conceptual framing of the art part. We formulated
a first working concept and decided to meet for monthly
brainstorming and exchange sessions. Christina’s work at
WSL focused on the sap flow
from the soil through the tree ted 1 In August, 2011 we crea 2012. He placed great em-
a think-tank with: Christina phasis on the multi-discipli-
Della Giustina, artist-in-lab narity of his research field in
stem to the leaves and finally at WSL, Dr. Andreas Rigling, order to gain a profound
Head of Research Unit Forest understanding of the influ-
to the atmosphere. In this Dynamics, Dr. Marcus
Schaub, Head of Ecophy
ences of environmental
changes on the processes
context she wrote, composed siology

Group, Prof. Dr. Fritz taking place in forests. His

Schweingruber, Emeritus, formidable skills, combined
or — rather — she built books Dendroecology, and Dr.
Matthias Dobbertin, former
with his distinct curiosity,
allowed him to continuously
on and from the wood of the Head of the Long-term
Forest Ecosystem Research
discover new connections
and relationships between
tree species Black Alder (Al- (LWF), all from the Swiss
Federal Research Institute
trees and their environment.
You Are Variations, Version
WSL. Matthias suddenly 01/01 [Pfynwald, April 2014]
nus Glutinosa), Hornbeam passed away on October 31, is dedicated to Matthias.
for a spatial and temporal light-a nd-sound- Under the title art + science lab: cat+ I
30
scape, was the most promising approach. created a trio of conversations and studio visits
The research tried to draw on the resources around the project, bringing together the sci-
of science and art practice to examine them as entific community and artist friends from
epistemological borderlands, and to experi- Zurich. The result of these meetings and con-
ment with suggestions of how encounters might versations are two artists’ books:4 Tree
be formed that enable us to meet differently, 9-2071 — Pinus sylvestris, 1919–2008 — , Pfyn-
to interact, and to know otherwise. The differ- wald, Valais, CH [Volume 01: Temperature];
ences in terminologies built just the tip of the and Tree 2-395 — Pinus sylve stris, 1915–
iceberg. But in probing the interface, the meet- 2009 — , Pfynwald, Valais, CH [Volume 02:
ing points, and the fault-lines of these different Energy]. 1
knowledge regimes, oscillating between the Tree 9-2071 documents my inquiry and
scientific and the aesthetic, we tried to set in outlines my questions to the scientific com-
motion relationships between these modes of munity at WSL. Tree 2-395 collects the ques-
exploration and understanding. In doing so, tions addressed to me by the scientific com-
we created the potential for something hybrid, munity at WSL. Both volumes are conceived
something else, something maybe new! to welcome and value our collective concerns,
1 Tree 8-2018; Tree 9-2071; Tree 2-395 (Pinus sylvestris)

which are the questions themselves. In giving Both books ask, what “temperatures”
31
each question the time and space to connect were decisive for the structure, growth
to brief scientific remarks, drawings of Pinus and evolvement of these trees? 6 What
sylvestris, my questions, and the questions of 4 Each of the pages in both climate variations over the
the scientists, an interwoven context is cre- volumes consists of three past centuries to millennia,
ated that reflects the residency’s timespan: layers: a) Questions displayed using ring width, maximum
according to the tree-ring latewood density, and other
unfolding as it did over a nine-month resi- chronology of Tree 9-2071’s parameters such as isotopes,
dency at the Research Institute, and living on and Tree 2-395’s density investigating methodologies
in the time the reader takes to be with these profile. b) Notes on the prin- relevant to tree-ring and
ciples of energy transforma global change research. The
books. In both books, the layout of the question processes boosted by group addresses socially,
tions on the page follows the tree-ring chro-

the water cycle through pine politically, and scientifically
nology of Tree 9-2071’s and Tree 2-395’s den- trees. c) Drawings from nature, relevant questions centred on
and drawings from illustra- the earth’s climate, exploring
sity profiles of their growth pattern, measured tions of Pinus sylvestris. various techniques to provide
by the tree-ring cell size, the maximum late- 5 The d endroclimatology understanding of past cli-
wood density and the ring width by means of research unit at the WSL mate variability supportive
quantifies the impacts of for validating global, as
X-ray radio densitometry and image environmental change on much as regional, climate
analysis.5 tree growth and reconstructs models.

“temperatures” were decisive for the structure, in search for connections, relationships, and
32
growth and evolvement of these works? Even meaning which were yet unknown. I was
though these “temperatures” differ greatly — the especially interested in the resulting constel-
one indicating climatic conditions in specific
6 The impacts of tempera- pseudoplatanus [Birmens-
ecosystems; the other referring to the “climate” ture on tree growth, and dorf, CH, June 2011] pro-
of the atelier in the WSL as scientific insti- the correlations of tree-ring vides visual and textual in-
tute — the central challenge to create pieces of structure chronologies, to- sight into the trees’ basic
gether with the temperatures anatomy and morphology,
art that work as gatherings for diverse bodies in Pfynwald over a period of the very geometry and ar-
and different minds remained. 89 years show that early chitecture that allows
From the beginning of the residency I summer temperature and tree-specific metabolic
date of snow melt were cycling. It was presented in
collected the documents, images and ideas I decisive factors for the tree the frame of libri di versi 03
was gathering. These were personal notes ring structure and seasonal at the Venice Biennale 2011;
which eventually became books. The first book growth of Tree 9–2071 and at the art manifestation
Tree 2–395 from 1919–1965, KadS in Amsterdam, NL, 18
is called Alnus glutinosa, Carpinus betulus, and and from about 1985 onwards September – 30 October,
Acer pseudoplatanus.7 It collects information on until 2008. In 1965, selective 2011; at the AkkuH Aktuele
the three species in the form of basic scientific trees were removed and Kunst Hengelo, NL,
the forest in Pfynwald was 22 April – 3 June 2012; at
facts on soil, roots, and their interactions; on thinned. In the cumulative the Museum zu Allerheili-
stem anatomy, morphology, and architecture;
growth chart you can observe a gen, Schaffhausen, CH,

and on leaves and their gas-exchange with the steep growing curve for these 10 March – 5 May 2013; in
years, indicating a growth the frame of time space
air. Daily thoughts and observations I made rate for Tree 9–2071 and silence light in punt-WG,
while working built additional layers. The ex- Tree 2–395 that is not affect- Amsterdam, NL, 20 Sep-
periment with this collection consists in the ed by the prevailing climatic tember –20 October; as
conditions of the Valais. well as at the Haus der Kul-
overlap and intertwining of images, data, and 7 The book Alnus glutino turen der Welt, Berlin, DE,
texts from different–although related–sources, sa, Carpinus betulus, Acer 24–30 August.
(Carpinus betulus), and Sycamore Maple (Acer pseudoplat-

anus). She created video installations visualizing the flow of the
water through the tree and as a final project composed a live
concert inspired by the four seasons of the tree water balance.
Peter Waldner, Biogeochemistry, Scientist
It quickly became clear that an artist’s mindset is much

more open and broader than the one of a scientist. There are
fewer restrictions in thinking and imagination is a central

element in the creative concept of an artist. As a result, the
discussions were very open and sometimes they developed

in unprecedented directions, which can be very interesting
and inspiring. Discussions among scientists seem to be
more vectored towards specific objectives, more focussed
and straightforward.
lations, the overlaps that occurred, and the abstract and evocative medium. My first sound
33
relating transitions. Trees are experts in experiment was to transpose young oak trees’
non-obstruction, and interpenetration. They root growth into minimal sound shifts: data
are made and fit for certain aspects to be de- on root lengths and root depths were related
termined and others not, allowing complex to pitch shifts of sine waves, while the roots’
orders to emerge by themselves and being car- environment was composed by sound clouds
ried out in(ter)dependently. Trees work with according to the physical soil composition.
the coexistence of dissimilar elements, a blend- This built a slightly vivid, sonic background
ing and transformation of these very diverse for the root-sound to grow into. It was the start
elements, meeting in several overlapping cy- of the on-going series you are variations. For
cles, each with its own centre: an ongoing cir- me, the process of getting to know microscopy,

cuit of processes with their own rules and tim- the use of dendro-chronological methods, and
ings. There are many central points, and each being introduced to data collecting and dis-
circle deserves attention, while no one circle tributing technologies as instrumental and
can be isolated and looked at alone. It was clear operative in the LWF Project was challenging,
that a follow-up edition in the form of a series constitutive, and especially rewarding. 2/3
of books will concentrate on conifers, especially The first time I directly collaborated
particular pine trees of the alpine region, in with Dr. Andreas Rigling, Head of the Forest
relation to dendro-climatological technologies Dynamics Research Unit, Swiss Federal Re-
developed and applied at the Institute. search Institute (WSL) was about a year later,
Parallel to the decision to concentrate in the preparations for the introduction to you
on and experiment with books as forms and are variations 04/01: tune of trees at Lake Le-
formats to accompany this research, I explored man — 4 songs from inside a tree. We held the
the potential of working with sound as an performance on July 18, 2013 at the Montreux
Communication across disciplines is always a challenge,

not only between arts and science. It took time, but we
eventually reached a high level of understanding. The most
important aspect was that the artist and the scientists really
wanted to understand each other as they sincerely believed
in the collaborative potentials. How did we do this? Very
simply put: We just did it! Christina jumped deeply into the
water of forest science and invested days in reading scien-
tific literature to gain an insight of the current “state of the
art” of science on the topic. She read numerous scientific
papers, had discussions with scientists and was introduced

in protocols, measuring methods and analytics by our tech-

nicians. Our results, graphs, microscopic photographs were
further developed and translated, then interpreted into the
arts-context — a difficult and time-consuming work.
34
2 Alnus glutinosa, Carpinus betulus, Acer pseudoplatanus

(three book sample pages)
Marcus Schaub, Ecophysiology, Head Research Group
We were the scientists, keen on understanding why certain

research was included in this process and why? Thus the
curiosity on both sides bridged gaps and helped overcome
difficulties in communication. We discussed emerging ques-
tions and cleared misunderstandings — which of course took
time and commitment on both sides for long discussions. The
different vocabulary was a handicap and an opportunity at
the same time. It was a handicap when sometimes exhausting

discussions ensued but it was an opportunity to explain one’s
work and own position, a process that always contributes

to the clarifying of one’s thoughts and sharpening of one’s
argumentation. By the end of the residency, however, com-
munication was not that difficult, as both sides were curious
as well as experienced in working across disciplinary borders.
Jazz Festival. Reflecting upon my working the Institute like soil science profiling, and
35
process at the Institute, I seemed to encompass various techniques from dendrochronology
the study of self-generating and self-organising and microscopy. This acquisition of an arsenal
processes. I especially tried to expand my un- of tools for composition in itself might describe
derstanding of self-organisation in physical one of the methodologies at stake: that is, not
terms involving energy, especially entropy to reduce oneself to one means, one perspec-
cycling, working towards the study of ecosys- tive, or one outcome, but rather to describe
tems as complex, integrated systems composed the same tree continuously, simultaneously
of interacting biotic and abiotic compo- and differently, again and again.
nents — that is, ecosystems as metabolisms Is this working method a force for en-
cycling energy and matter. The study follows hancing the sheer possibility of uncovering one

the basic experience that living organisms and or some of our blind spots? Or is it a way to
physical factors are intrinsically connected, exhaust oneself in order to create an entrance
building ecosystems that continuously trans- for spontaneity, immediacy, improvisation and
form energy. It needs purpose, dedication, and other means to wake up, trigger, and intensify
endurance to engage and relate, but it does our intuition and sensibilities? I don’t know. I
move things. am still wondering. On the other hand, visits
As a whole, looking back, this trans-dis- to the studio, and especially the programming
ciplinary (at times un-disciplinary) approach of the score, were spontaneously intriguing and
might be described as “composing” — inter- jointly interesting to most of the scientists.
weaving drawing, writing, rubbing (frottage), When I arrived at the Institute in March
grinding, installing, inviting, collecting, pro- 2011 a buoyant source precisely in the middle
gramming, recording, projecting etc., together of the refectory was shown to me — a chromi-
with the scientific methods I borrowed from um-nickel, steel-winged water fountain. For
Andreas Rigling, Forest Ecology, Head Research Unit
Us scientists who collaborated and discussed with Christina

realized that our measured data on climate, tree response, or
soil water content can be interpreted in a completely different
way than we are used to. We realized that also our scientific
interpretations of the data are also interpretations, similar to
what an artist creates. The point is not what interpretation is
correct or true, the point is to be aware that in our scientific
work, too, interpretation is omnipresent. It was surprising
to see that there are in fact many parallels in the working
methodology between our artist and us and that art also can
be hard analytical work.

When we take a closer look at the research process, the
first step is always to get an overview on the state of know
ledge: What is known, where are the open questions, gaps
9 months I gratefully drank from it every day. transforming ecophysiological processes into
36
Now, far away from this canteen, I still ask tangible events.
myself how artistic work can keep on contrib- In my diary I wrote:
uting to its flow. It must be an art in the form “this is not a straight line, this is the beginning of a circle,
of extraordinary generosity: an art of removing the beginning of an embrace.”
oneself and creating space for the other. “The My work might suggest the need to ex-
other” is not “the scientist”. “The other” is pand and transform our concept of science
“the tree”: an observer, a perceiver, an actor and art through looking at nature, not in an
and a transformer. assignment of nature to music, for example,
The direct and uninterrupted feed back but in an attempt to perceive nature in a com-
loop between the practical experiments and plex and interwoven continuum with culture.
the theoretical research during my residency Nature changes at the slightest move. The
at WSL was a fundamental force in the devel- concept “nature” is of modification, not of
opment of the work’s potential for insight and essence. These modifications are generative:
innovation. It allowed me to closely explore when a natural body grows, it is in movement.
the relationship between my making and It does not coincide with itself; it coincides
thinking, and that of others. with the transition, its own variation. In
Parallel to this first attempt to use LWF growth a body is in an immediate, unfolding
data as artistic material feeding sound com- relation to its own now-present potential
positions, we set up a think-tank within the to vary. The link to the title comes in here with
Forest Dynamics Research Unit of the WSL. the thereby added remark that what we
This entailed a mutual decision to cooperate conceive and feel of nature are variations in
closely and structurally in the continuation intensities: a process understood as nature
of artistic and scientific experiments in — culture continuum of variations, always as
of knowledge and what are the experiences within the com-

munity? Literature and internet research is always the start-
ing point of a longer process. Either you decide on the ques-
tion to be answered and collect the required data, or you
start with your data sets and reflect on questions that could
be answered with the available data. Once you have the
data you need to get a feeling, an overview and deep insight
about it before you start working with it. Then you do the
analysis, the interpretation, you decide on the storyline, and

how you want to present it. This is almost exactly the same
procedure in the arts, even though at first glance the two

communities seem to differ very much. Differences, how-
ever, seem to exist in the framing of the working process.
The scientist thinks and acts very focussed within the con-
ceptual framework of natural sciences with its conventions
co-evolvement in variations of transitions in genesis; from within a vision of change that
37
a continuous process of becoming. insists that what emerges does not conform or
A process, by nature, is relational. The correspond to anything outside itself, nor to
only autonomy is of unfolding relations, where its own condition of emergence. In other
the natural and the cultural feed-forward and words, you are variations suggests addressing
back into each other. It is our decision — sub- trees as beings, and not as traces, as beings
jectively and collectively, while not universally; that by their very nature are always in a state
intentionally and not necessarily perma- of becoming, always differentiating, and
nently — to listen to and enjoy data from na- emerging from these differences. you are var-
ture converted into an audio composition that iations does not reflect these beings, or this
might become sound as in music and art. In becoming, or these processes of formation. It

the proposed allocation of data to sound, both actually calls upon them. Getting inside these
values are abstract and deeply rooted in our sounds bears the potential to lead you inside
culture. The sound you hear is not the tree; it these trees, not to represent, reproduce, mirror
is affected and inspired by the tree. The trans- or echo the physical event, but to become the
position I worked on for 9 months is not a form actual embodiment of the event. In this sense
of representation, reflection or mirroring of the resonations of you are variations can be
these trees. Rather, it is a transmission — maybe seen as attempts to convert distance into in-
the very mode of operation of becoming itself, tensity. It is a qualitative transformation of
a self-propagating movement that seeds sev- distance into the immediacy of relation be-
eral further self-organizations. Each differing tween “tree” and “self”. 4
in nature from the last, but connected by its The conception of a musical score as a
shared generative impulse, and resulting in a generative system — that is a vivid and vital
creative uncertainty with emphasis on the self-organisation — needs to manifest itself in
and standards — the artist’s way of thinking and working is

also focussed but has many more degrees of freedom. That
openness in thinking can lead to unexpected insights and
results, which might be different from our scientific reality
but valuable in different contexts.
Imagine, for example the impact of artistic interpreta-
tion of our measured data on trees, forests and the environ-
ment being presented in an arts-exposition in a museum
in Schaffhausen. The exhibition included our data among
paintings and installations of artists and the visitors were
fascinated, not only by the artistic installation and inter-

pretation by Christina but also by our scientific data, our

scientific work. In another joint art and science project, we
had the opportunity to perform with children on the stage
of the Montreux Jazz Festival. In science, you hardly enter
38
3 you are variations, version 01 audio-video installation (data-driven) –

24 loud speakers, 2 audio interfaces, 2 laptops, 2 projectors
experience, that is the realm of events; events eanings”. It generates a circular flow of en-
m
39
that co-embody (or, as Donna Haraway sug- ergy and matter; nurturing reasons and op-
gests become “figures”: a proposition that portunities to come together to rehearse, play,
necessarily “collects up the people”8). Here and learn. It generates the events of the meet-
experiment and experience might be the very ings, relationships and exchanges. In my view
junction where science and art can meet: at a this emphasis on a more prolific, revelatory
pivot point where — I would like to sug- agency of and by the project itself suggest a
gest — artists hang out, delve, and feel at home. kind of “view from nowhere”: one that trans-
This is a space where complex coded pasts forms and thereby creates meaning. This is a
come alive in a new light called now: the light meaning that is constantly on the move,
of a self-inventing present: a meticulous, polyva- together with all its collective histories and

lent, experimental research of experience based on diverse senses of knowing.
generic nature.
The score is an act of organizing and 8 Haraway, DJ 2000, ollective inclusion in figures
c
arranging information (the data), it is com- Birth of the Kennel. Europe- larger than that to which
mitted to “making consequential meaning” an Graduate School. Lecture they explicitly refer.” see
by Donna Haraway. August also: Sehgal, M 2014,
[the data read by the periodic table] and the 2000. “… figures to be Diffractive Propositions:
composition is a proposition to co-construct those who collect up and Reading Alfred North
knowledge [the collaborative performance of reflect back the hopes of a Whitehead with Donna
people. Figures are about Haraway and Karen Barad,
the score, together with its simultaneous public collective yearning. Figura- p. 9; Parallax, 20:3,
reception]. The concept is generative and spec- tions somehow collect up 188–201, DOI: 10.1080/
ulative: it acquires meaning not by a supposed and give back the sense of 13534645.2014. 927625;
the possibility of fulfilment, accessed 26 October 2015,
capacity to mirror reality or to postulate any the possibility of damnation, <dx.doi.org/10.1080/
form of truth, but by generating “consequential or the possibility of a 13534645.2014.927625>
these stages other than to give a talk or a presentation. But

through this collaboration the main point was that we got
in contact with new stakeholder groups we normally do not
reach with our science. We talked about our climate change
impact research in front of the visitors of an internationally
known jazz festival, which is remarkable. This interpreta-
tion of our work is a healthy arts-science interface that cul-
minated in a very special live concert about trees undergo-
ing changes from climate change. This was an important
experience and definitely constituted virgin territory for us.
Andreas Rigling, Marcus Schaub and Peter Waldner
Christina’s works were highly valued. Many researchers,

including the heads of the institute, repeatedly visited her
installations, products and performances. For months, the
40
4 a) Measuring and crossdating of tree-ring series 5 Scaffolds on the research platform Pfynwald
with a semi-automated measuring system to research the crown architecture, phenology
(Lintab, D; accuracy 1/100 mm) and physiological processes, including gas exchange
b) Analyzing wood anatomy under a binocular and photosynthesis
6 Phytosynthesis measurements in pine needles with a chamber for coniferous trees (LI-COR, USA)
Let us try to name it, just for now; a sketchy, you are variations
41
temporary record. Let us call it “con-science”. hey, but who are you?
Can “con-science” become a form of “intense you, yes …
knowledge”, with amazement, curiosity, and do you hear me?
experiment as its siblings, and experience as could you do me a favour?
the actual embodiment by and through which could you keep on listening?
the event (of “co-knowing”) appears? keep listening while looking at the trees?
Or asked otherwise: how do we sensitize do you see them?
ourselves to this world? When are we open, can you hear them?
respective how do we open ourselves to new
connections, what is actually necessary for

such a meeting to be primate, mammal, ani-
mal, a life form and energy itself? This is not
an attempt to becoming “other”, but on the
contrary — in relating? And if so, how can we
learn to relate? How can I relate to you, for
example? Here language is understood as a
voice; here the words and sentences become a
voice with grain, and tone, and inflection; a
voice that pauses and repeats itself; a voice that
transcends my inside as much as yours; a voice
that creates us as collectivity; a voice, perhaps,
with a sliding relationship between the eye and
the ear.
art project was constantly discussed during coffee breaks

at the cantina. Hence, the very goal of the ail program has
been reached; to stimulating interactions and collaborations
between scientists and artists who were both forced to reflect
on their own work form the experience. The final highlight
was at the institute’s Christmas party, where many people
saw Christina’s work and attended the live musical perfor-
mance that was inspired by the four seasons of a pine tree
growing in a dry inner-Alpine valley. The majority of the
institute’s staff was interested, and even fascinated by this
unique performance in a greenhouse, next to experimental

set-ups with young trees.

During the course of the experiment the line between
art and science changed in the sense that it became clear
that both disciplines, arts and science, have very similar
42
The research platform Pfynwald, Valais. 7 Ecophysiological sensors are installed to measure
In a long-term irrigation experiment tree response stem- and soil respiration, soil water content
to varying water availability is tested. and soil temperature, air temperature and humidity
(University of Edinborough, GB).
8 Tree growth (Natkon, CH) and sap flow in the stem 9 Photosynthesis in needles (LI-COR, USA)
working approaches. Getting familiar with a new topic re-
43
quires a lot of reading and reflection, the current state of
knowledge, and already existing experiences. In the next
phase you need to find your niche, the focus of your planned
contribution — this is normally a difficult process, a hard
time with a lot of self-doubt. Our central work is to imple-
ment the ideas, to work on the data, to analyse and synthe-
size, which is normally liberating, exciting and satisfying.
The last phase is highly decisive for the final success of each
project. In the case of the arts, this phase is more open, more
possibilities and uncertainties exist in terms of how to shape
and implement the final product — be it an exposition, a per-
formance or a concert. In science this step is more straight-
forward as usually the primary product is a publication. For
publications, you have to decide who the target audience
should be and subsequently which would be the best jour-
nal. In case of applied research you need to decide on how
to communicate your research results to your stakeholders.
An important precondition of a successful collaboration
is to be open, interested and curious on working at this in-
terface. You need to be committed and ready to invest time
even if there might not be an immediate and direct scien-
tific benefit. Christina’s strong interest to understand the
functioning of the trees prior to starting the creative work,
created many opportunities to review our scientists’ current
knowledge, it stimulated efforts to gain an overall view on
the understanding of the functioning of forest ecosystems
and to identify important gaps in knowledge.
Our collaboration with the artist continues, as there will

be more follow-up performances and concerts. In addition,

we received funding from the Swiss National Science Foun-
dation SNF for an AGORA project, to organize and per-
form with Christina and other musicians, at the regional
Pfyn-Finges Nature Park. This project was based on a study
44
week in the primary school in Susten, in the Canton Va

lais. During one week at the end of April 2015, we worked
with students and teachers on climate change impacts on
forests and how to translate this scientific knowhow into an
art performance. At the end of that week, there was a joint
concert. This project was certainly a challenge for all of us,
but it offered new possibilities to work and communicate at
the interface of art, science and the broader public — we re-
ally valued this experience.
The unusual and extravagant interpretation of our data
by the artist sensitized us about the need to explore the im-
pact and future communication of our scientific research.
For us transdisciplinarity describes the communication
at the interface between science and implementation, the
knowhow-exchange with stakeholders and with the public.
In this sense our collaboration with the artist was more of
an interdisciplinary collaboration, and at the beginning it
was not clear whether transdisciplinary aspects would also
be included. This changed towards the end of the project,
with our joint art-science performance at the Montreux Jazz
Festival, the arts exposition in a museum in Schaffhausen
and it culminated in our project week in the primary school
of Susten also in 2015. These activities lie clearly within the
focus of transdisciplinarity, with the aim of communicating
arts and science to the broader public.
Harriet Hawkins is a Reader
in Geography at Royal Hollo-
way, University of London.
She works on the geographies
of art works and art worlds.
Most recently she has inves-
tigated questions of interdis-
ciplinarity and collaboration,
between artists and scientists
or between artists and ge-
Challenging Institutions
and (Re)Making Worlds:
ographers. Recently, she has
focused on issues of art,
Transforming Subjects,
science and global environ-
mental change, based on
collaborations with interna-
tional artists and arts organ-
isations. Her research has
been funded by the National
Shaping Knowledge,
Science Foundations of the
US and China, The Arts and
Humanities Research Council
and the Leverhulme Trust
(UK). She has published two
monographs and over 50
papers/book chapters and
writes regularly in the fields
of Science and Nature. She
has also commissioned new
art works and collaborated
as a curator on a series of
artists books and participa-
tory art works (Arts Council
England, Iniva and Tate Local).
She is currently collaborating
on a radiophonic piece on
“sounding environmental loss”
commissioned by Liquid Ar-
chitecture and the Australian
Broadcasting C orporation.
She also worked at the Uni-
Art-Science
versities of Exeter, Bristol and

Aberystwyth (UK) and the
University of Arizona (USA) on
projects funded by the Arts
and Humanities Research
Council (UK) and the Nation-
al Science Foundation (USA).
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
[1091] Cortés, Cartas, 196. Ixtlilxochitl assumes that the submission is tendered
through his namesake, as prince of Tezcuco, the only capital of the tripartite
empire loyal to the Spaniards. Hor. Crueldades, 17-18.
[1092] Also one old Spaniard, believes Bernal Diaz, who relates his own sufferings
minutely, and how he followed some mounted scouts in search of water, which he
found, bringing a supply to Cortés. Hist. Verdad., 133. Vetancurt names this
watering-place Topilejo, now San Miguel. Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 155. Chimalpain
mentions Quauhxômolco, just before. Hist. Conq., ii. 40.
[1093] See Native Races, ii., 345.
[1094] Lorenzana, in Cortés, Hist. N. Esp., 225.
[1095] Six, says Cortés.
[1096] Bernal Diaz states that a soldier named Olea was the main instrument in
saving Cortés, Hist. Verdad., 133; but Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 311, gives the credit
to the Tlascaltec lord Chichimecatl, and Chimalpain to a noble named Ocelotzin.
Hist. Conq., ii. 41. Cortés says: ‘Un indio de los de Tlascaltecal,’ Cartas, 199, who
could not be found the next day, and Cortés accordingly attributed the aid, writes
Herrera, to St Peter, dec. iii. lib. i. cap. viii.
[1097] Followed by other bodies. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 134; Torquemada, i.
537.
[1098] Cortés leaves the impression that the foremost division of six horse
defeated the foe. Both Gomara and Herrera are confused, and Prescott and
others are led into several mistakes.
[1099] Bernal Diaz names two of them.
[1100] He even willed that his bones should there be entombed, a request which
was not carried out.
[1101] ‘No eran cosas de hombres humanos ... que ayan hecho ningunos vasallos
tan grandes servicios a su Rey ... y dello harian relacion a su Magestad.’ Bernal
Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 135.
[1102] At the junctions of the causeways which led from the different shores to the
southern avenue of Mexico. The place is also known as Acachinanco.
[1103] Bernal Diaz states that Cortés was preparing an ambuscade with ten horse
and four equerries when he fell into one himself and lost the two, whom he names.
Alarmed at his delay, Alvarado went back to look for him. loc. cit. This is less likely
than the version of Cortés.
[1104] Nobles they are termed, and Herrera doubles the number.
[1105] Prescott and others intimate that they passed between the lakes, from
Quauhtitlan to Acolman, but Cortés mentions Zilotepec, which may be identical
with Citlaltepec, as mentioned by Herrera, or Xilotzinco, about two leagues
eastward, as given by Ixtlilxochitl. Bernal Diaz also appears to indicate the
northern route.
[1106] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 129.
[1107] Bernal Diaz assumes that more than one captain-general was to be
appointed. ‘Para boluerse a Cuba, y deshazer a Cortes,’ is all the explanation
given by Gomara, Hist. Mex., 178.
[1108] Such are in substance the words used by Cortés in his relation to the
emperor. ‘E cómo yo vi que se me habia revelado tan gran traicion, dí gracias á
nuestro Señor, porque en aquello consistia el remedio.’ Cartas, 269.
[1109] So Cortés intimates, while Herrera states that Villafañe hastened to devour
the paper. His throat being pressed, about half of it was rescued. dec. iii. lib. i. cap.
i. He further says that Sandoval was sent to make the arrest; but Bernal Diaz
asserts that Cortés went in person, which is likely under the circumstances, and
took from Villafañe’s breast the paper. Finding thereon so many names of quality
he caused it to be rumored that the man had eaten it, or part of it. Hist. Verdad.,
136-7. Clavigero assumes that the culprit revealed the names, and that Cortés
preferred not to believe him. Storia Mess., iii. 191. Torture failed to extort any
names from him, writes Torquemada, i. 528, and those on the list he declared to
be merely of men whom he intended to sound.
[1110] ‘Un alcalde y yo lo condenamos á muerte.’ Cortés, Cartas, 269.
[1111] Bernal Diaz states that he frightened many by having them arrested and
threatened with trial; probably those seized with Villafañe. Oviedo, iii. 515,
mentions Escudero as executed for plotting; but this is doubtful. As for Verdugo,
he became regidor of Mexico, and in 1529 alcalde. He afterward joined Guzman’s
expedition and settled at Tonalá in Jalisco. Razon, in Cortés, Residencia, i. 363.
[1112] This was Cortés’ own idea, says Bernal Diaz, and he appealed to us to
guard him. Hist. Verdad., 137. Quiñones was succeeded by Francisco de Tenesas
[Terrazas]. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 313.
CHAPTER XXXII.
INVESTMENT OF MEXICO.
May-June, 1521.
Phases of Heroism—The Brigantines upon the Lake—Division of Forces

between Alvarado, Sandoval, and Olid—Desertion, Capture, and
Execution of Xicotencatl—Departure of the Troops from Tezcuco—
Naval Battle—Possession Taken of the Causeways—At One Point
Cortés unexpectedly Gains Entrance to the City—But is Driven out.
The ideal heroic character is to be viewed from two standpoints:

the effect of heroism on the hero, and on the world. A very bad
person may do mankind a great service. An evil-minded man, while
sinking his soul yet deeper in corruption, may bring benefactions
upon society. But even a fairly good man cannot increase his innate
nobleness of character while doing injury to his fellows.
I do not know that the claim of good man was ever advanced for
Hernan Cortés, except, indeed, by that strange fanaticism which,
dazzled by one object, fails to see other objects, or the terrible
means for their attainment. He and his followers formed a sad
mixture of good and evil, in which the latter predominated, if judged
by the moral standard which they had formed for themselves as
soldiers of the cross. The grossest injustice, the most horrible
wickedness constituted part of their moral ideal, so that while fighting
for the highest morality they were the most immoral of men. Long
after the conquest was consummated, under the ministrations of
men of piety and ability, it would seem that the weapons used by
these conquerors, who at times justified murder as the highest
morality, were still instinct with blood, even as the cornel-wood spear
with which the king of Thrace transfixed the unhappy Polydorus
springs into life instinct with the blood of Priam’s slaughtered son.
Cortés was not an idealist after the manner of Columbus. Both
were full of egoism; the spiritual-mindedness of both was essentially
selfish. They would both dictate terms to God and their king, that for
so much service they must have so much reward. Both were full of
the follies of their day; but Columbus displayed a grave, unconscious
folly, while Cortés consciously indulged in all the follies of lust and
cruelty that prudence admitted or his aim demanded. Cortés
abandoned himself to ambition; Columbus to brooding thought. The
insanity of reckless adventure was not the insanity of Columbus, who
nevertheless was as mad as any lunatic in his own way.
Commanding energy and practical daring were as conspicuous in
Cortés as in Columbus; but it happened that the aims of Columbus
were of greater import to the race than those of Cortés.
How alike, and yet how different, these men! Cortés was
impetuous and extravagant; Columbus calm, calculating, and
prudent. One was full of joyous activity, the simple exercise of which
was his greatest pleasure; obligations of every sort sat lightly on him;
the other was but an instrument in the hands of providence. Both
were ambitious, both excessively religious; but Cortés, in the main,
made religion subservient to advancement, as before noted, while
mundane glories to Columbus were hollow indeed beside his
heavenly aspirations. Both were exceedingly great men; both
became eminent by a selfish adventure of self; but Columbus saw
the New World through the glorious haze of immortality, while Cortés
viewed Mexico under the lightly woven covering of personal
ambition.
Cortés was an Antony rather than a Cæsar, nor did he lack that
one great gift of Antony’s, subordination, as we have seen. He was
not so greatly in love with himself, stood not so greatly in awe of
himself, as Cæsar; he was possessed of finer perceptions and
feelings, and with consummate versatility could drop himself out of
his plans as occasion required. Nor was Cortés without imagination
and the æsthetic sense, though of a grosser and sensual kind; but it
is not in great men that we are to look for the swelling harmonies of
nature.
A turning-point was now reached in the campaign. The
brigantines were completed, and the siege could begin. The day for
the entry of the vessels into the lake was a gala day, inaugurated
with the communion and festive with the concourse of gayly attired
spectators.[1113] After prayer and a discourse the flags with name
and royal arms were hoisted on each vessel,[1114] amid salvos and
cheers, and the dams being broken, the gallant fleet floated down
the canal to the placid lake.
While the mute bunting was thus proclaiming Spanish
supremacy over these inland waters, a Te Deum, in which joined a
thousand voices, echoed aloud the gratitude of every heart. Each
vessel was placed in charge of a captain[1115] with twenty-four
Spaniards, of whom about six were cross-bowmen and
arquebusiers, some artillerists to manage the bronze gun, and
twelve rowers, six to each side. The boats were evidently half-
decked.[1116]
Active preparations were now made to begin the siege.
Tlascaltecs, Huexotzincas, Cholultecs, Chalcans, and other allies
were summoned to send in contingents by Whitsunday, the latter to
assemble at Chalco, and the Tlascaltecs at Tezcuco. Though but ten
days’ notice was given, the last named presented themselves in the
camp before the appointed time to the number of over fifty thousand,
which was increased by later reënforcement.[1117]
As they approached Tezcuco under the guidance of Ojeda, and
commanded notably by Chichimecatl and Xicotencatl junior, they
spread out in one long serpentine file, bristling with iztli points and
brilliant with shields and armor covered with variegated devices and
flowing plumage, while at intervals waved high the banners of the
different corps. Cortés went forth to meet them with grand
demonstrations, and as they marched past loud vivas[1118] rent the
air.
On the 28th of April Cortés had mustered his forces and found
that, with the several reënforcements lately arrived, there were
present over nine hundred Spaniards, of whom eighty-six were
horsemen and one hundred and eighteen cross-bowmen and
arquebusiers;[1119] the rest being armed with swords and shields and
the more formidable pikes. They were well protected with cotton
armor, many having cuirasses and corselets, and small weapons
were not wanting. The artillery consisted of three heavy iron guns,
fifteen smaller pieces of bronze, mostly distributed among the
vessels, with ten quintals of powder and a quantity of shot, while
some fifty thousand arrows had been furnished by the Tezcucan
towns, all fitted according to pattern with copper tips.[1120]
Not only had the Spaniards, particularly the new recruits, been
well exercised in cavalry movements, target practice, fencing, and
pike drill, but the allies had been trained to a certain extent in
European tactics. For efficiency and good conduct this army rose far
above any yet mustered in the Indies. In the usual speech before the
ranks, Cortés pointed out how God had favored them with constant
victories and with reënforcements which had nearly doubled their
number and resources. They might indeed be hopeful, for holy was
their cause. Full of confidence they could march against the only
stronghold yet opposed to them, avenge their slaughtered comrades,
and win riches and glory for themselves.
On Whitmonday, the 20th of May, an apportionment of the troops
was made to Alvarado, Olid, and Sandoval, who led the cavalry in
person, but directed the movements of the infantry through captains,
and of the allies through native chiefs. Each received from twenty-
four to thirty horsemen, and one hundred and fifty infantry, divided
into two or three battalions, with a proportionate number of
arquebusiers, cross-bowmen, guns, and ammunition, besides from
twenty to forty thousand allies. To Sandoval was given the smallest
number of horse and the largest number of allies, those gathered at
Chalco having orders to await him, while Alvarado received a full half
of the Tlascaltec force, with whom the Tonatiuh was a great favorite.
To this leader Tlacopan was assigned for head-quarters; to Olid,
Coyuhuacan; and Sandoval received orders to complete the
destruction of Iztapalapan, and then to advance through
Coyuhuacan and along one of the southern causeways, and there to
select his head-quarters, under the protection of the brigantines.
These appointments and orders underwent several changes during
the siege. For himself Cortés selected the management of the fleet,
whereon so much depended during the opening of the siege, and in
addition to its ships’ companies of three hundred men he was
supported by several thousand allies, chiefly Tezcucans under
Ixtlilxochitl, who attended in a large number of canoes. This selection
hardly pleased the army, which considered their operations the most
important and dangerous, and therefore in need of Cortés’
supervision. But he evidently never intended to remain with the fleet
except at the beginning.[1121]
The following day the allied forces apportioned to Alvarado and
Olid were ordered to march in advance, for greater convenience, to
the border of Tezcuco province and there await the Spaniards. Not
many hours after their departure a messenger appeared with the
announcement that Xicotencatl, the companion general of
Chichimecatl, had disappeared. Inquiries revealed that shortly before
his cousin Piltecuhtli had been severely and wantonly struck by a
soldier during a quarrel over some carriers. In order to save the
soldier from the wrath of Cortés, Ojeda, the Spanish inspecting
officer over the allied forces, smoothed the matter and sent the
injured nobleman home. It was claimed by some that this outrage
had so wounded Xicotencatl that he followed his cousin. Others
assumed that both chiefs were in love with the same woman, and
that Xicotencatl could not bear to leave his rival alone in the field. But
the true reason lay no doubt in his dislike to fight for the Spaniards,
whom he had never ceased to oppose, openly and in secret, as
invaders bent on the enslavement of the whole country. This idea, if
faint at first, had become more fixed with every fresh blow against
his personal ambition, such as the first series of defeats which
plucked from him his just renown; the equal or perhaps superior
position assigned in the native army to Chichimecatl, of whom he
appears to have been deeply jealous;[1122] and the prospect of a
wearisome and unprofitable campaign, wherein he must be content
to figure as a subordinate, not only of Alvarado, but subject perhaps
to the orders of petty Spanish officers. All this became too galling to
his proud spirit, and with a few followers he turned toward his
mountain home.
It would never do to countenance desertion, and by so prominent
a man, at the very opening of a campaign; and Cortés immediately
sent a number of troopers in pursuit, with instructions to represent to
the chief the gravity of his offence, which cast a heavy stain on
Tlascaltec honor, and to persuade him to return. They speedily
overtook him, only to meet with insolence. He would not go back; if
his people had listened to him they would not now be tools and
servants of a horde of foreigners. With this reply the troops were
forced to return. “This cacique is incorrigible,” exclaimed Cortés,
“and will ever be a traitor and counsellor to evil. I have had enough
of him!” The troopers were at once sent back, accompanied by an
alguacil and some trusty Tlascaltec nobles, with orders to arrest the
fugitive and bring him to Tezcuco. In a letter to the republican lords,
Cortés at the same time complained of the desertion and its grave
influence, and declared that according to Spanish law the penalty
was death. They replied that the same punishment obtained in
Tlascala; and not only do they appear to have actively aided in
surrendering the culprit, but they declared all his property, including
wives and slaves, confiscated to the crown, against which he had
sinned.[1123] Indeed, the arrogance of the young chief does not
seem to have endeared him to the other rulers. Instantly on his
arrival he was sentenced and hanged on a very high gallows, while
the crier and interpreter announced his crime.
The execution of so prominent a chief, heir to one of the rulers
among his best allies, was an act which few besides Cortés would
have ventured on; but he saw the necessity for a firm observance of
discipline, and was not deceived in the salutary effect which it had on
the allies.[1124] There were not many Tlascaltecs left in Tezcuco, or a
serious demonstration might have occurred; as it was, the mantle
and maxtli of the deceased were secured, and an eager contest
ensued for them as relics. Axayacatzin Xicotencatl had achieved
fame before the advent of the Spaniards.[1125]
Alvarado and Olid had set out from Tezcuco for Tlacopan with
their Spanish forces on the 22d of May,[1126] taking the same route
by which Cortés had returned from the Xochimilco campaign, and
though longer than that north of Tezcuco Lake, yet it was easier and
safer. On approaching Acolman, Olid sent a party in advance to
secure quarters, and when Alvarado arrived he found every house
bearing the green bough on the roof, which indicated occupancy.
This raised a tumult between the parties, and even the captains
would have come to blows but for the interference of friends.
Informed of the trouble, Cortés took steps to reconcile them,
although the two leaders never renewed their former intimacy.
On the evening of the fourth day they reached Tlacopan, which
was deserted, as were all the towns along the route.[1127] Late as
was the hour, forages and reconnoissances were made, involving a
skirmish with the Mexicans. The following day, Sunday, Olid
proceeded to Chapultepec to cut the aqueduct which supplied the
city, a task which involved another encounter wherein a score of
Mexicans fell. Meanwhile the canals were filled and other obstacles
removed which might impede a free advance, and foraging tours
were made. The Mexicans continued to harass the operations with
repeated sallies, and finally Alvarado, with characteristic rashness,
pursued them until his troops were well advanced between the
houses and bridges. The Mexicans, who had retreated on purpose,
now rolled back upon his front and flanks. The roofs, hitherto
deserted, teemed with slingers and archers, who showered their
missiles with terrible effect, while from the lanes and openings
between the houses sprang numbers who assailed the cramped
soldiers with their long lances, swords, and clubs, and leaped back
into their holes and canoes and behind breastworks whenever they
were pressed. The allies were ordered back, and the Spaniards
slowly retreated, with a loss of eight killed and fifty wounded, glad to
be relieved from their strait.
Olid was highly incensed with Alvarado for his rashness, and
regardless of all remonstrance he seized the pretext to hasten the
departure to his own camp at Coyuhuacan. He established his head-
quarters on Corpus Christi day, the 30th of May, and from this date,
accordingly, Clavigero and many others date the beginning of the
siege. The causeway leading thence to Mexico was broken, and he
sought for several days to cover the breaches and gain a footing
upon it, but without success. The Mexican warriors displayed great
spirit, and their leaders are to be blamed for not energetically
assuming the offensive and attacking the two camps.
The Mexicans had not quite understood the drift of Cortés’ delay
and preliminary manœuvres. When they found two camps
established, the aqueduct destroyed, and earnest preparations in
progress for investment, their eyes were opened; but they were then
too bewildered to act with promptness and precision. The chronicles
relate that Quauhtemotzin held a grand council to consider the
situation, and to sound the spirit of the people for peace or war, so
that there might be no faltering when necessity came. A number
indeed of the elder and wiser lords, particularly of the Montezuma
faction, spoke of the formidable enginery and strength of the
Spaniards, and their host of allies, and expressed fears of failure.
With the occupation of all the surrounding territory, and the influx of
people from abroad, the food supply might fall short, and famine and
sickness ensue. But the young men and the warriors, as might be
expected, would listen to no counsellor whose words implied
cowardice; they were enthusiastic for resistance, and formed too
numerous a party to allow the entertaining of peace proposals.
Quauhtemotzin cautiously refrained from committing himself,[1128]
but reminded the assembly that the oracles of their gods and heroic
ancestors had above all to be listened to in so important a matter as
the preservation of the homes and sacred temples intrusted to their
care. He knew well what answer would come from the priests, whose
possessions, wealth, and honors depended on the exclusion of
invaders, aiming above all at the overthrow of their religion. “My
people shall not fear the enemy,” spake the war-god Huitzilopochtli,
“for the allied hosts will not persevere long in the siege, and I will
scatter the Castilians now as hitherto.” This utterance suited many
views, and the declaration for war was solemnized by sacrifices of
human beings, including the four Spaniards lately captured.[1129]
Renewed efforts were made to fortify and supply the city, and
canoes were collected to aid in the defence. With insolent
assurance, derived from the oracles, corps of warriors would
advance close to the Spanish camps and vent their feelings with
insults and menaces, “Men of evil, you shall pay for your madness!
Behold, the gods have already feasted on your bodies!” they cried,
flinging in among the horrified soldiers pieces of their sacrificed
comrades. “Our snakes shall drink your blood, and our tigers devour
your flesh, though they are already satiated therewith. And you,
infamous Tlascaltecs, slaves and traitors! you shall atone for your
misdeeds; you shall die a bad death, and furnish flesh for our
banquets! Behold!” And therewith they threw in disjointed pieces of
dusky human bodies. “We shall not rest till your land is desolated,
and not a man or woman left to perpetuate your vile race.”
Unabashed by this tirade the Tlascaltecs told them not to threaten
like women, but to act like men. Still it were better for them to yield
unless they wished to be destroyed.
Cortés had been delayed till the fleet should be fully prepared.
On the 31st of May, following Corpus Christi day, he was able to
despatch Sandoval, who, reënforced by some forty thousand allies
awaiting him on the Chalco border, marched against Iztapalapan.
Although severely crippled by Cortés’ expedition, this town still
figured as a stronghold of too great importance to be left in the rear.
Advised of the movement, the Mexicans hurried by road and water to
aid in covering the retreat of the inhabitants. Suddenly smoke
columns were observed in different parts of the lake, and cries of
alarm ran through the town. Yet more and more hurriedly the people
fled, and while one body of warriors retired along the causeway to
Mexico, others departed in canoes. The Spanish forces pressed
onward in close pursuit, and slaughter, pillage, and torch
accompanied them. The chief cause of the panic was the
appearance of the brigantines, which had set sail shortly after
Sandoval’s departure, attended by a large number of Tezcucan
canoes[1130] whose object was to coöperate against Iztapalapan. On
approaching it the vessels passed close to a steep rocky isle, the
Tepepulco, since known as El Peñol del Marqués,[1131] occupied by
a large number of fugitives who shouted defiance, and showered
stones and arrows. Finding that Sandoval required no aid, Cortés
resolved to inflict a lesson on the insolent islanders. The Mexicans
appeared confident in the impregnable strength of the rock, and
gave so warm a reception to the hundred and fifty men with whom
Cortés began to climb it, that fully a score were wounded at the
onset. The brigantines turned their guns upon them, however, and
under this cover the soldiers speedily gained the summit, there to
wreak bloody vengeance. Not a man was spared, only the women
and children. “It was a beautiful victory!” exclaims Cortés.
While they were pillaging, a large fleet of canoes, five hundred at
the lowest estimate,[1132] was seen to approach from the direction of
Mexico, bristling with iztli points, which found a gleaming reflection in
the smooth waters of the lake. Cortés ordered an immediate return
to the brigantines, and rowed them forward into an extended line. He
had longed for an opportunity like this, to meet a formidable fleet
upon which the brigantines might inflict a lesson severe enough to
open the eyes of the enemy to their invincible power; for “in them lay
the key of war,” as he expressed it. Unfortunately the wind was so
light as barely to flap the sails. The hostile fleet had already drawn
up in good order just beyond range, evidently puzzled at the passive
attitude of the monster vessels, yet shouting defiance.[1133] Cortés
stood chafing with impatience, for without wind his greatest
advantage would be lost, and his position even become precarious.
Just then the waters rippled and a breeze came from abaft which
speedily freshened. “Ah, God favors us!” he cried, and with a grateful
gaze toward heaven he gave orders to advance under full sail. As
they came close to the enemy a blinding volley was sent pouring in
upon them from the whole line, from guns, arquebuses, and cross-
bows, and while the natives were trying to recover from their
confusion, from out the smoke burst the ponderous bows, crashing
into the lines of canoes, overturning, breaking, and sinking. In the
vessels’ wake were wrecks and struggling bodies, while the few
canoes which had escaped by passing between the ships struggled
to escape the Tezcucan boats in the rear. At the first encounter the
canoes in the farther lines turned in hot haste for home, as did a vast
number of others which had ventured forth, partly with
reënforcements, partly with spectators. But the clumsy-looking
vessels sped faster, pursuing their career of destruction for three
leagues, into the very canals of the city, whence they turned back to
pick up captives. The victory exceeded the wildest hopes of the
Spaniards, as Cortés admits, for not only did the Aztecs lose a great
number of their foremost warriors and their best canoes, but they
surrendered forever to the formidable craft sovereignty over the lake
waters, and with it the hope of assistance from trans-lacustrine allies.
Encouraged by this success, Olid advised Alvarado, and both
hastened to take advantage of the panic to advance along the
causeways and effect considerable execution, impelled as they were
with emulation and fresh courage.[1134] Olid had advanced close to
Fort Xoloc, which with its stout battlemented walls and towers
guarded the junction of the southern causeways, when the
brigantines approached it from the eastern side. It was already after
vespers; nevertheless Cortés landed to coöperate with his lieutenant
and pursue the advantage gained. A breach was made in the wall
with one of the heavy guns, and under cover of the fleet’s artillery the
place was soon carried. Cortés had intended to make Coyuhuacan
his head-quarters, but such were the obvious advantages of Xoloc,
in strength and in position, for it lay but half a league from Mexico
and was connected in the rear with the mainland by three
causeways, that he at once decided to establish his camp there,
making it also his naval station.
Enraged rather than discouraged by the several defeats,
Quauhtemotzin ordered a night attack on Xoloc, contrary to native
custom. They approached both by sea and land, but owing to their
noise they were observed, and driven back by the artillery. The fort
was not very strong on the northern side, and the force within was
small; but in the morning half of Olid’s troops came to reënforce him,
together with fifty of Sandoval’s infantry. The addition was opportune,
for the Mexicans were advancing in swarms along the causeway as
well as by water, this time on the inner side of the road where the
vessels could not reach them. The heavy guns soon cleared a space
on the roadway, but as the soldiers pursued they suffered severely
from the canoes, which not only showered missiles but afforded
retreat for the sallying parties. Orders were accordingly given to cut a
passage through the embankment, so that the four brigantines might
enter to clear the inner basin. By this means the Spaniards were
able to advance to the very entrance of the city and inflict some
damage, while the remaining vessels explored the waters beyond,
and drove back canoes and fired buildings in the suburbs.
Sandoval at the same time advanced along the causeway from
Iztapalapan to Coyuhuacan. It was a league and a half in length, and
a quarter of a league from shore it passed through an island town,
which was captured and burned. Advised of this, Quauhtemotzin
directed a fleet to cut the causeway and entrap the Spaniards; but
before long two of the vessels were able to relieve Sandoval, who
thereupon left a portion of his troops, including the allies, at
Coyuhuacan, and joined his chief with the remainder. Nearly a week
was occupied in strengthening Fort Xoloc, arranging the camp, and
bringing in supplies, during which time desultory skirmishings were
maintained, wherein Sandoval among others received wounds. The
brigantines roamed incessantly and inflicted great damage, entering
on one occasion for a long distance a canal which led into the
suburbs.[1135] Canoes no longer ventured abroad when a sail was in
sight, and the Mexicans began to protect the water approaches and
channels with stakes.
In order to complete the investment of the city it was only
necessary to occupy the northern causeway to Tepeyacac, along
which the besieged maintained a steady intercourse with the
mainland. Advised of this neglect by Alvarado, the general ordered
Sandoval to form a camp at that town[1136] with one hundred and
forty Spaniards, of whom twenty-three were horsemen, and a full
proportion of allies. Alvarado had half as many more infantry and a
few more cavalry, while two hundred infantry were quartered at
Xoloc, supported besides by a cavalry force in the rear, and by Olid’s
party, with whom remained the largest proportion of allies, now over
eighty thousand, according to Cortés’ own statement. The fort could
not hold them, and they accordingly encamped at Coyuhuacan,
which lay more convenient for supplies, and must be occupied to
watch the hostile shore and lake towns clustered in this quarter. The
brigantines carried at least two hundred and fifty men.[1137]
Everything being prepared, Cortés ordered a simultaneous
attack from all the camps, so as to divide the attention of the
Mexicans and gain all possible advantage. He himself advanced
along the Iztapalapan causeway with the greater part of his infantry,
attended by several cavaliers on foot, and by over eighty thousand
allies, while a vessel skirted the road on either side. There was more
than one breach in the road, behind which were posted large forces
of warriors protected by intrenchments of earth and masonry.
Without the vessels it would have cost much time and many lives
to cross; but the well-directed fire from the guns and arquebuses on
the flanks and rear of the enemy soon wrought disorder, which
enabled the sallying parties to obtain a foothold. Meanwhile a
number of infantry had swum across the channel and aided to drive
the Mexicans beyond the next breach. The same manœuvre was
repeated at this and the other chasms, till the army found itself at the
very entrance of the city, protected by a wider channel than the
preceding, with more extensive fortifications, commanded by a
temple tower. This with its swarms of slingers and archers made the
capture difficult, and the Mexicans also showed more determination;
but the guns and fusillade could not be resisted, and soon the
Spaniards stood within the city for the first time since the memorable
Noche Triste. Revenge seemed already secured, and the lost
treasures almost within the invaders’ grasp. Cortés, however, did not
permit himself to be carried away by a momentary success. He saw
the main street beyond thronged with warriors fiercely bent on
resistance, streets as far as the distant temple of the war-god
bordered with buildings, each a fortress in itself, while many a
barricaded channel blocked the way.
A large force of allies had been left to fill the chasm and level the
ground as the army advanced, using for this purpose the captured
intrenchments and buildings, or even material from the causeway
itself. This work was under the direction of Diego Hernandez, a man
of herculean strength, who could throw a stone with a force and
precision, it was said, approximating those of cannon.[1138] This
filling of the chasms enabled the horses to be brought forward, and
they now led the charge against the dense masses of natives, after
the arquebuses had effected the preliminary clearing. Cortés had not
underestimated the annoyance to be encountered from the archers
and slingers covering the roofs on either side; but the operations of
the cavalry left the many arquebusiers and cross-bowmen at liberty
to cover the points of approach through which the allies in particular
poured in countless numbers with sidearms and fire-brands. The
progress so far had surpassed all anticipation; but now the
Spaniards came to a canal from which the retreating Mexicans
removed the few planks remaining of the bridge, leaving a solitary
beam. Here the warriors were massed in greater confidence, free as
they were from the attack of vessels and sheltered by strong
intrenchments, while the adjoining roofs, equally protected by the
canals, teemed with missile-throwers. The soldiers tried again and
again to cross the chasm, only to be driven back with injury. The
volleys from cross-bows and fire-arms could effect but little damage
against the well sheltered warriors, while their arrows and stones
came in rattling showers. Finally two cannon were brought forward.
This changed the issue, for a breach was speedily made in the
intrenchments, and now the small-arms were able to coöperate with
great execution.
After a delay of two hours the soldiers were across; and while
the allies filled the canal they again pursued their advance along the
avenue, though suffering considerably from the roof missiles. They
now came to the last channel in the street, close to the main plaza,
wherein stood the famous temple of Huitzilopochtli.
The advance of the Spaniards had been so unexpected and
rapid that the Mexicans had not thought of fortifying this canal, and
little difficulty was met in crossing. But beyond, the plaza was filled
with files of defenders, determined to save their deities and that
sacred ground. Greatly frightened, the priests cried out to them:
“Behold! it was here upon this spot you fought these beings infernal
before, and drove them forth in shameful flight; the gods will help you
again!” Even the Spanish soldiers were impressed by the words and
gestures of the frantic devotees, and noted their effect in the
gleaming eyes and pressed lips of the warriors, and they paused.
But presently a gun was brought forward and directed against the
packed throng. This effected a backward movement. “There is no
time for rest or fear!” shouted Cortés, as with shield in hand he
rushed forward. With a thundering Santiago the soldiers followed.
The charge was irresistible, and already startled by the mowing
cannon-balls the Mexicans took refuge within the temple enclosure
and in the by-streets.
The Spaniards followed the crowd within the sacred grounds,
slashing and thrusting. It seemed a repetition of Alvarado’s
massacre, and the war-god, thirsting for blood, might now have his
fill. In a few moments not a warrior was left round the temple, only
prostrate bodies. Then the soldiers prepared to ascend the pyramid
to hurl down the idol and its defenders. But the deity was aroused.
The sombre notes of the sacred drum struck their fearful appeal on
every heart, “Rouse ye to your imperilled hearths and temples!” It
was but now the Mexicans observed that the death-dealing
horsemen were not present, for the last channel had not yet been
filled to afford a crossing. This lent them courage, and on the foe
they quickly rushed from lanes and houses, while down from the
temple-top came a doubly inspired avalanche. The shock was
overwhelming. The Spaniards were forced to retire, partly in
disorder. Cortés made frantic efforts to stay the flight, and at the gate
a momentary rally was made by a few; but what availed that handful
against the torrent sweeping onward, headed by the renowned band
of Quauhtin? Perforce they must yield and join the troops which were
in such hasty flight from the plaza that they even abandoned the
cannon. Cortés was on foot in the crowd, and his voice was drowned
in the tumult. He could but follow with the wild current, which
threatened to lead into another disaster. Just then cries of alarm
burst from the crowds on the roofs, and there was a lull in the
shower of stones and darts, and the pressure of pursuers relaxed.
The next moment the ears of the wandering Spaniards caught the
clatter of hoofs.
The cavalry had come up; a revulsion set in. They were but a
few,[1139] but enough to bring back to the minds of the Mexicans
their original and ever present fear of the monsters, for they knew
not how many might be coming down upon them.
The infantry followed the horsemen with inspiring cheers, and
bore unresisted onward, for the late bravery of the foe was now
turned to cowardice. Before long the Spaniards had penetrated
through the plaza and occupied once more the temple court. Once
more their looks were upward toward the summit of the lofty pyramid
consecrated during their former occupation to the holy virgin; and
while the main portion of the troops fought the now rallying
Mexicans, a sturdy handful undertook the capture of the sanctuary. A
dozen chiefs held possession, but naught could stay the fury of the
soldiers, and in a few moments the last defender had yielded his
spirit in defense of his faith.
The Spaniards looked in vain for any trace of their own altar and
symbols, round which they had so oft congregated in prayer. In their
stead rose a new idol glittering with ornaments and hideous with
devices, while fresh stains of blood spread horror over all. The gleam
of gold proved all absorbing, however, and hastily the jewels and the
golden mask were torn away, and then the head of the idol was
struck off and sent clattering below.[1140]
There was time for nothing more, for on finding so few horsemen
present, the Quauhtin knights had again made an effective rally,
pressing the troops closely. Fortunately a larger force of cavalry
came up again to turn the tide of battle and inflict a severe lesson. As
it was late by this time, there remained no choice but that of
returning to camp. This movement gave fresh confidence to the
Mexicans, who followed in swarms, harassing from roofs and lanes,
on front and flanks, rushing forward with renewed fury after every
charge by the cavalry which covered the rear. But for the horses the
soldiers would have suffered severely; as it was, the retreat
proceeded in good order, and as many houses as possible were
fired with a view to make the next entry safer. On approaching the
causeway the canoe crews, composed of selected warriors, fell on
the flanks and created no little confusion before they were driven

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Recomposing Art and Science artists in

labs Irene Hediger (Editor)

The Art of Dauntless 1st Edition Phoenix Labs

Art Subjects Making Artists in the American University

Art and Artists of Twentieth Century China Michael

Art Schools and Place Geographies of Emerging Artists

The Science of Health Disparities Research 1st Edition

Computer Science Theory and Applications 17th

Advances in Cosmology Science Art Philosophy Marilena

Graph Based Modelling in Science Technology and Art

Printed on acid-free paper

Exploring the Unknown

Art-Science and (Re)Making Worlds:

Explaining the Edge

Art and Anthropology

Overlapping Waves and New Knowledge

Inventive Experimentation: Weird Science,

Biomediality and Art

Re-com-posing and Re-positioning Arts and Sciences

Re-com-posing and Re-positioning Arts and Sciences

This book and DVD documentation is based on the idea of “re-compo-

versity of Zurich). Other researchers write about their experiences with

versity Hospital CHUV).

culture to help people think outside the constraints of their disciplines.

ers to expand disciplinary boundaries. These expansions are often helped

logical turn” that questions how knowledge is produced (which is very

Ibid. Latour From Critique to Composition

been organizing and mentoring residencies for artists in scientific labora-

their expertise” (Gugerli, Sarasin

tinct, clearly demarcated professional territories with different disci-

to someone from another locale. International standards and conven-

roscience Center, he began his residency with a process that might

dence to (sound)track this “lost acoustic” phenomenon, exploiting the

the ability of art “to articulate what

Fehr, J 2005, ‘Vielstimmigkeit und der wissenschaftliche

you are variations: An On-Going Series of Events

Forest Dynamics, Tree-Rings Peter Jakob (Data­bank Man-

with partners in the sciences,

Researchers involved in the

you are variations:

An On-Going mainly did during the residency was to study

How can we get in touch with a tree?­

These Reflexions and experiences come from Andreas

Andreas Rigling, Head of Research Forest Dynamics Unit

Before Christina came to

tations. It was more curiosity

ality, motivation, background

creative part of this collabo-

you are variations: An On-Going Series of Events

knowhow. We were supposed to be the artist’s counterparts in

context she wrote, composed siology

Group, Prof. Dr. Fritz taking place in forests. His

1 Tree 8-2018; Tree 9-2071; Tree 2-395 (Pinus sylvestris)

you are variations: An On-Going Series of Events

An Unusual and Extravagant

growth chart you can observe a gen, Schaffhausen, CH, ­

(Carpinus betulus), and Sycamore Maple (Acer pseudoplat-

It quickly became clear that an artist’s mindset is much

Forest Dynamics, Tree-Rings Peter Jakob (Databank Man-

How can we get in touch with a tree?

growth chart you can observe a gen, Schaffhausen, CH,

week in the primary school in Susten, in the Canton Va