Wednesday, 16 December, 2015
Art project "Origin of life"
Art meets science: Artist Judith Egger and Biophysicist Dieter Braun work together on an art project about the origin of life.
Art meets science: The artist Julia Egger visits Professor Dieter Braun in his lab.
The beginning of life as art performance or installation: For this project idea on the interface of art and science, the recognized artist Judith Egger and 
Dieter Braun, professor for system biophysics at LMU Munich, received the award "zwei:eins". The award is worth 10.000 EUR and was awarded for the first time for an art project that will cooperate with a non-art area or a scientific discipline.
The conceptual part of the project will start now. Judith Egger sees a clear advantage in having drafted only a rough outline for the award so far: "Everything is open. I never performed a project together with a scientist before. Dieter Braun never did with an artist. The exciting thing is the experimental character of this work."
Dieter Braun investigates the origin of life and the evolution of biomolecules at LMU Munich. His knowledge will contribute to the artistic work. From the cooperation with Egger he hopes to gain new stimuli for his scientific work: "The outside perspective on my research is very inspiring, since it can bring completely unexpected ideas."
The discussions between artist and scientist already reveal first similarities. Braun's and Egger's terminology are quite close: Egger calls her art works "experiments" and "experimental set-ups", which also forms the basis for Braun's research. During the discussion, she refers to the topic life repeatedly: "Mý work is about vitality and living force. A living force that makes things alive or lets them decline."
Egger and Braun now have one year for bringing their project to life. The result will be presented at the next "zwei:eins" award ceremony.