Agnes Meyer-Brandis: Cloud Core Scanner – IN THE TROPOSPHERE LAB

Clouds, their formation and their substance, have long been a much-discussed topic in art and science. For artist Agnes Meyer-Brandis, it was thus a unique opportunity to be invited by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to participate in one of its zero-g flights, which are primarily reserved for scientific purposes, and to work under conditions of temporary weightlessness on her art project “Cloud Core Scanner.” Now, On January 14, 2010, opens the exhibition "Cloud-Core-Scanner - IN THE TROPOSPHERE LAB" in the Ernst Schering Foundation. The exhibition is accompanied by a four-part academic lecture program in the field of aerosol research.

Her current installation IN THE TROPOSPHERE LAB provides insights into the material produced under conditions distant from earth. The exhibition tells of the formation of clouds and shows conditions and combinations of art and science during zero gravity. With the exhibition by Agnes Meyer-Brandis, the project space of the Ernst Schering Foundation once again presents a contemporary art project that stimulates interdisciplinary debate and builds bridges to scientific research. The lab as a gravimetric document of the “Cloud Core Scanner” experiment shows a world alternating between controlled and bound-less states – artistic research in search of the reality level of constructions of the matter that surrounds us.

By supporting projects in frontier areas and at the interfaces of traditional disciplines, the Ernst Schering Foundation wants to pave the way for new ideas and thoughts by bringing together artists and scientists. To this end, we have organized a lecture program in conjunction with the “Cloud Core Scanner” project and invite you to use the discussion as a background for discussions with scientists working in aerosol (cloud) research.

Agnes Meyer-Brandis studied mineralogy in Aachen and sculpture in Maastricht and Düsseldorf. The young Cologne-based artist who works at the interface of art and science has shown her work at international exhibitions and festivals and has received numerous fellowships and awards.

During the exhibition, the Sophiensaele in Berlin-Mitte present Agnes Meyer-Brandis’ “MAKING CLOUDS, or ON THE ABSENCE OF WEIGHT – A Contemporary Traveling Movie Show” on February 5 and 6, 2010. A combination of film, performance and lecture, the traveling movie show unites contemporary art with quite surreal forms of science such as nanotechnology, fluid dynamics research or meteorology. The central metaphor for the filmed and real processes is the theory of cloud formation. The audience experiences the reality in the movie and the trick in reality.

Exhibition

Curator: Carsten Seiffarth (Berlin)

Exhibition Opening: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 7 p.m.
Exhibition Duration: January 15, 2010 – February 27, 2010
Opening Hours: Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Free Admission

Ernst Schering Foundation
Unter den Linden 32-34
10117 Berlin 

Science Lecture Program

Lectures start at 6:30 p.m. and take place in the exhibition space.

January 20, 2010
Aerosols and Cloud Formation
Dr. Frank Stratmann, Group Leader Clouds, Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig

January 28, 2010
Atmospheric Aerosol Particles
PD Dr. Martin Ebert, Environmental Mineralogy, Institute of Applied Geosciences, Technical University of Darmstadt

February 18, 2010
The Influence of Aerosols on Climate Change
Dr. Johannes Quaas, Head of Junior Research Group Cloud-Climate Interactions, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg

February 25, 2010
Cosmic “Aerosols” and Planet Formation
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Blum, Head of Research Group Planet Formation, Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics, Technical University of Braunschweig 

Traveling Movie Show by Agnes Meyer-Brandis

MAKING CLOUDS, or ON THE ABSENCE OF WEIGHT
February 5, 2010, 6 p.m. (première), and February 6, 2010, 6:30 p.m.
Admission 5 Euro

Sophiensaele - Virchowsaal
Sophienstrasse 18
10178 Berlin

We thank all partners and funders of the project: DOCK e.V., Hauptstadtkulturfonds, transmediale.10, TSI Trust Science Innovation

Photos: Roman März (1-6), (c) Agnes Meyer-Brandis, VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2010 (each)

For additional information about the exhibition, please contact us under
tel. +49.30.20 62 29 60 or see:

www.ffur.de/tropos
www.ffur.de/wanderkino
www.dock-berlin.de
www.sophiensaele.com