"In Vitro". The "Laboratory" as Metaphor and Medium

Vortrag | Lecture
in the framework of the conference | im Rahmen der Tagung
"Technological and Aesthetic (Trans)Formations of Society" TU Darmstadt, Oct 12-14, 2005 | 12.10.-14.10.2005

The contribution takes its starting point from the recent trend or boom of the "laboratory"that can be observed in different fields of contemporary culture: "Labs" are being announced, presented, promoted and discussed almost everywhere, and this is not only the case where references are made to scientific work and/or scientific discourse in the narrow sense. Rather, quite a lot of these references seem to draw to the metaphorical potential of the term, especially in the cultural field, the media and the fine arts. But what exactly does "laboratory" represent within this framework? How is "laboratory" represented and communicated – and what radius of meaning is created by the way of this transfer?
By following the thread of these questions, the aim is to (re-)construct the contours of a "metaphorology" of the "laboratory".
A closer view on different examples from various fields of cultural activity will allow to analyze some basic functions of the phenomenon. Further insight can be gained by embedding the results into the framework of a broader historical perspective.

The main focus of the lecture will be laid on artistic work that shows characteristic oscillations of "term", "idea" and "image", "tropus" and "metaphor": Installations in which the "laboratory" – as an issue of the work itself as well as a vehicle of an aesthetic "mise-en-scène" – merges with the "studio".
The selection will not only allow further exploration of the tension field between technological and aesthetical functions that produces a problematic surplus of meaning – also in those pieces intended as critical reflections. At the same time, systematic conclusions can be drawn to the radius of the "laboratory" as metaphor and medium being effective within the field of sciences as well.

tags: art & science, art & society, art history, artists' myths, bild & imagination, biosciences, biowissenschaften, communication, cultural history, history of science, image & imagination, institutionen, institutions, knowledge cultures, kommunikation, kulturgeschichte, kunst & gesellschaft, kunst & naturwissenschaften, kunst & wissenschaft, kunstgeschichte, künstlermythen, ort, orte & räume, perception, place, raum, repräsentation, representation, science, space, spaces & places, subject & authorship, subjekt & autorschaft, topologien, topologies, vermittlung, wahrnehmung, wissenschaft, wissenschaftsgeschichte, wissenskulturen