# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Imagine this: it's the Gilded Age, you're at a swanky dinner party at the new Palace Hotel in San Francisco, and renowned chef de cuisine, Jules Harder rolls out of the kitchen with an ornate gelatin that has scallops, anchovies, capers, olives and hard boiled eggs suspended in it, topped with a whole lobster impaled with a mini sword.

Would you try it?

Believe it or not, savory aspic jellies made with chicken feet, whole fish, lamb hearts, and other ingredients that would surprise us, were not only common throughout different periods of history, they were popular, and even considered a luxury.

So how did aspics go from being a fancy feast proudly presented at dinner parties to a questionable dish that might get you banned from your neighborhood potluck?

Let's dig in.

Aspics are most commonly made from extracting collagen from the bones and skin of animals to make a gelatin.

It's like when you're roasting meat and you make a gravy from the pan drippings When the gravy cools it turns into this gelatinous substance.

The earliest known reference to an aspic is in a 10th century Arabic cookbook called the Kitab al- Tabikh, meaning The Book of Dishes.

The qaris, as it was called, was a fish gelatin filled with vegetables, spices, the fish tongue and lips, and was tinged gold with saffron.

From there, the dish moved to Europe fairly quickly.

In its most basic form, the ingredients for aspics were accessible to most people, even the peasant class.

Boiling down bones and joints of animals, parts that might have been discarded was not only resourceful, it was also packed with protein and was a great way to preserve meat and vegetables.

But by the beginning of the Renaissance, aspics became a way for the ruling class to differentiate themselves from the commoners.

Chefs serving the royal court began upping their game, turning aspics into works of art by clarifying the gelatin and adding color.

They were culinary feats with convoluted, multi-step recipes that were labor intensive and could only be achieved by chefs who had the skill and finesse to make them.

And some even required an entire culinary staff to create.

Elaborate molded aspics were even more of a flex because they needed to set in cooler temperatures, meaning the elites who were able to present tall, gelatinous structures, had access to some form of refrigeration.

From the 14th century, when King Henry the Eighth served his favorite spice infused wine aspic, through the 19th century, when they became the pinnacle of French haute cuisine, the ability to serve aspics became a status symbol.

They were exciting, visually stunning, and sometimes even confusing, making them a popular form of entertainment at banquets across Europe, and in the latter part of aspics heyday, the United States.

The reality of gelatin is that it was always accessible and easy to make, but the beautifully ornate gelatin on the tables of the upper class gave the impression that aspics were exclusive.

That perception began to change when powdered gelatin entered the scene in the mid-19th century.

To understand the rise and fall of aspics, it's best to understand the cycle of fashion trends.

Ken Albala, a professor of history at the University of the Pacific and author of the book The Great Gelatin Revival, theorizes that fashion, whether it be food, art or clothing, happens in stages.

He says that it starts when something is reserved for the upper class, where the exclusivity of the trend sets them apart.

But over time, people of "middling rank" start to mimic those trends, and as it becomes more common or even vulgar, according to, can the wealthy move on to the next thing that will maintain their distinction from the common folk.

And that happened to aspics during the 20th century.

The advent of powdered gelatin was the beginning of the end.

Jell-O, which started in 1895, was the biggest player on the scene.

During the early 1900s.

the product was a hit for the middle class because it was seen as more convenient, more affordable, and cleaner than boiling up old bones.

Jell-O molds and recipe booklets were even distributed to immigrants at Ellis Island, bringing the product into more homes.

According to Ken Albala it's not the convenience factor that made Jell-O super popular, but rather the fact that Jell-O's introduction to the market coincided with cultural shifts happening in America.

The beginning of the 20th century was a time of unbridled imagination.

The new millennium brought with it technological leaps and bounds, making futuristic things really trendy.

Despite the fact that forms of instant gelatin already existed, people were really enamored by the idea of opening up a package, adding water, and whipping up unnaturally bright and colorful aspics in a jiffy.

It was quite the novelty.

Aspics boomed in the mid-century.

There was nothing more middle class fancy than a Jell-O salad filled with ham, vegetables, hard boiled eggs, tuna, and even hot dogs floating in a vibrantly colored non-Newtonian fluid.

Which, by the way, a non-Newtonian fluid is simply neither a liquid nor a solid.

As it became more commonplace and started dipping into the waters of vulgarity, aspics fell out of favor with the upper class.

The highbrow culinary genre that they had used for centuries to assert their social dominance collapsed.

By the 1980s, aspics were like, so totally over.

But fashion trends are cyclical, and just like bell bottoms, dresses with fringe and puffy sleeves, trends do make comebacks.

Everything old is new again!

Aspics, though a culinary curiosity, may be making a triumphant return.

Aspics have been spotted on menus across the country, as well as in home kitchens, where cooks share their creations in social media groups like "Show Me Your Aspics" and "Aspics with threatening auras" Social media has helped spark so many trends over the years.

And since aspics straddle the line between horror and amazement with intense visuals, perhaps it's time for a comeback.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Delishtory | Why Was Jello Salad Ever A Thing? | Season 2 | Episode 5

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There's nothing more retro than a jello salad, right?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The polarizing format is due for a come-up, according to Ken Albala's new book, "The Great Gelatin Revival"

"I predict that we are on the threshold of a new aspic-forward aesthetic," writes the food historian and University of the Pacific professor Ken Albala in The Great Gelatin Revival, out January 10 from University of Illinois Press. Though Albala finished writing the book before the pandemic, he encountered those now-common publishing delays. Reading his words in 2023, as jelly jiggles its way back into American affection, Albala's prediction feels more like a manifestation.

No doubt, aspics - those vintage delicacies studded with vegetables and congealed meats - remain niche, but jelly? Jelly is having a moment. Shiny, colorful jellies were front and center in holiday ads for Bombas and the Marc Jacobs Daisy fragrance. The wobbling work of Nünchi, the LA-based jelly cake art project led by Lexie Park, has appeared alongside the biggest names: brands like Nike, Skims, Hendrick's Gin, Bottega Veneta, Apple, and even singer Olivia Rodrigo. Moving beyond the aesthetic, Epicurious and the New York Times attempted to actually put jellies back on holiday tables, and grown-up Jell-O shots constituted one of last year's biggest drink trends, according to Punch. Looking ahead, a soon-to-be-launched brand called Oddball promises "plant-based jelly snacks with 2 ingredients only."

This gelatin revival is long in the works, at least in the West. Since 2007, the British duo Sam Bompas and Harry Parr have spearheaded the niche of elaborate and immersive jelly art, despite receiving early feedback that artisanal jelly was "ludicrous." Also influential is the Facebook group Show Me Your Aspics, started in 2016; today, that group has 46,000 members. (The offshoot Facebook group Aspics with threatening auras offers photos of grotesque gelatins, like hot dogs suspended in jellied hot dog water).

Around 2019, with Show Me Your Aspics as inspiration, Albala started making and posting creations like a jelly lobster, jellied pho tartare, jelly with lutefisk and clams in an abalone shell, and a relatively tame spiced wine jelly, eventually becoming an "aspic influencer," as Salon once put it. The Great Gelatin Revival is a mix of recipes from Albala's kitchen experiments and historical exploration of gelatin in American kitchens and imaginations. "Periods that embrace the jiggle are always followed by periods of disgust sometimes so intense and visceral that entire generations lose the skill to make them," Albala writes. Ultimately, Albala unpacks our tenuous relationship to jelly, while providing plenty of inspiration to play with the mind-bending food.

I sat down with Albala over Zoom to talk about why jelly is on the come-up, and why more of us might reconsider all things jiggly.

Eater: You write that you don't choose book topics but that they choose you. What was your relationship to jelly like before you wrote this book?

Ken Albala: I didn't like it, for one. [laughs] My mother made it when I was young. My parents were on Weight Watchers and they made this parfait that was lots of different colors, Cool Whip with Jell-O, just awful. I told my mother I figured out where Jell-O comes from - that it comes from calves' feet - and I wasn't gonna eat it anymore. That got me out of it.

I didn't like it until a friend dared me to look at Show Me Your Aspics. I got sucked into it and I started making Jell-O here and there and realized that I was doing it every day. Some of them were good, some were not. I thought I might as well just get a book out of this.

In the book, you identify a cycle of jelly revulsion and fascination, and how this reflects how we, as a society, feel about technology and tradition. What do you think the current "aspic-forward aesthetic" says about where we're at when it comes to tradition and technology, and what has brought us to this point?

On the one hand, I think people are kind of sick of hipster pickles and local and traditional and all this stuff that we've been really obsessed with for the past 20 years. I think that we're beginning to look at the problems in the world, environmental ones especially, and look to science to solve those. The fact of an Impossible Burger - and lab-grown meat is going to happen very soon - I think is an indication that people have other priorities now and they're really not as distrustful of science as they used to be, or that tech-forward food is something that that doesn't really bug this next generation of people.

Eating animal collagen is one of those things that usually aligns with periods in history that are very science-forward and very trustful of science; there are other periods that are not. You think of the late '60s-early '70s, and the hippie generation - that's when Jell-O begins to take its precipitous downfall, because people don't want artificial colors and flavors. I predict that because of the way things have gone for the past 20 years, that we're going to be back in a period that is not just pro-science and pro-artificially made food, but I think Jell-O is going to come back too, in a weird way.

On that note, I've been seeing jelly a lot more as an aesthetic statement, like in fashion ads. Aside from the ideological changes, why do you think people are now pushing jelly in these usages that aren't really about the eating or the ingredients?

Because it's weird to start with. It's an unusual texture, color, and flavors that you really don't find in nature. It's something that is totally invented. Up until now, it's really been a kitsch thing. You know, it's camp - you do it because it's so silly and strange. I think people just want to play with food; Jell-O seems pretty easy to make something exciting and interesting.

At least for me, I find jelly really interesting because it skirts all of these boundaries. It's delicious, but it's also disgusting. It looks inedible, but it is edible.

I think that Jell-O, in a way, can be terrifying and delicious at the same time. There's a little discussion in the book about the sublime: things that are really scary, but they kind of attract you anyway. It's things that are in the liminal space between what's acceptable and what's really bizarre, and people find that fun from an aesthetic perspective.

In Asian cuisines, that QQ bounciness is really popular; people want it. But in the West, that is off-putting, and jelly is much more this gross-out thing. Why do you think that's the case?

Well, I think texture has always frightened Western palates - things that are slimy or chewy. It's just not part of our gastronomic history in the way that, in Asian cuisine, it's always been there. Jell-O, gelatin - especially agar, which is vegetable-based - never went out of fashion in Asia. Even in Eastern Europe, they still make kholodets [a kind of aspic], and headcheese doesn't bother them in the least; it's totally ordinary, and it never went away.

By and large, I'm really writing about the West. I think that part of the reason that there's been a rollercoaster ride in the West is because of the Jell-O brand. Jell-O was marketed as something everyone could do, and everyone did - and then they just said, "We don't want this anymore." The sales have just been disastrous since the era of Bill Cosby, really. They also started making Jell-O pudding and Jell-O pops and things that were not Jell-O anymore and started selling them to children, and I think Jell-O became infantilized.

For some really bizarre reason, it was in hospitals. I guess the idea was to get something in people that is not hard to chew or swallow, and that they will have pleasant associations with, but otherwise, Jell-O as hospital food makes absolutely no sense on Earth.

As you write, it's associated with convalescence, but it also has all of these qualities that people don't like - if I'm in a hospital, Jell-O is not the thing that reads like, "oh, this is great!" to me.

There's this book called Jell-O Girls by Allie Rowbottom. Her mother was one of the inheritors of the whole Jell-O fortune: hated it, never wanted to eat it, had this very bad association, the money was cursed. Really, really good story. Ironically, Rowbottom's mother got cancer and ended up in the hospital. They gave her Jell-O as her last meal, like oh my god.

Aside from the history of our relationship with jelly, the book has a lot of recipes. What was the process of testing these recipes like?

In general, if you take a cup of alcohol and a tablespoon of gelatin, you can do anything with it. Add the flavors and whatever you want; it can be straight alcohol, it can be a cocktail, it could be wine or Madeira or port. If I had something weird in the fridge - baby octopus - I would just throw it in and say, Let's see what happens. I didn't give them away a lot, but at parties I always brought Jell-O, and I shared the recipes with people sometimes to test them out.

For some reason, on the Show Me Your Aspics page, they just decided that I was the best thing since sliced bread. They started calling me "Jiggle Daddy," and I embraced it. I'd post something stupid and there'd be like, 1000 likes. They really encouraged me and gave me ideas and I don't think it would have ever become a book had it not been for that group.

Was there a single most surprisingly delicious jelly that you've made, and on the other side of that, was there a single most revolting? You write, for example, about making a moose nose jelly.

I made it for a TV show; they came and wanted me to do this. One of my Facebook friends actually said, "I have a moose's head in the freezer." He sent it. That was not that great. I did it for a year, I did maybe 500 different Jell-Os and I got about 100 [successes] out of it, so that's a pretty good batting average.

One I made which is just delightful: Imagine you're taking a Boulevardier, which is my favorite cocktail. It's bourbon, Campari, and vermouth. You make a cup of that or whatever and then add gelatin, and you take dried fruits like raisins (you can use dates and apricots), soak them in bourbon, add some nuts like pecans or walnuts. You make a jelly out of it, like a solid bar, and cut it into bits so it's chewy and firm. It's sort of like fruitcake and sort of like gummies; it's great flavor and it gets you a little toasted.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Now trending, Jell-O molds and aspics deserve to be reconsidered, according to Ken Albala's new book, "The Great Gelatin Revival."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Just desserts: Sharona Franklin’s art jellies – in pictures

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Canadian artist Sharona Franklin creates amazing gelatin art, using food, flowers, and surreal props

# data[].attributes.headline
Elaborately shaped gelatin desserts have long entranced people. “Part of the reason it was a status symbol is the same reason that it is now a social media sensation: it acts as an optical lens, it catches the light,” Bompas says. After the American domestic sciences movement and Jell-O’s instant product turned jellies into a punchline in 20th-century gastronomy, Bompas and Parr are betting big that the medium is ready for a comeback.

# data[].attributes.subject
Elaborately shaped gelatin desserts have long entranced people. “Part of the reason it was a status symbol is the same reason that it is now a social media sensation: it acts as an optical lens, it catches the light,” Bompas says. After the American domestic sciences movement and Jell-O’s instant product turned jellies into a punchline in 20th-century gastronomy, Bompas and Parr are betting big that the medium is ready for a comeback.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Meet the Duo Molding the Weird, Wondrous Future of Jelly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From disturbingly realistic gelatin portraits to a jiggling Buckingham Palace, Bompas & Parr are pushing the wobbly envelope.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Politics Behind Sharona Franklin’s Sculptural Jelly Cakes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The artist discusses cakes, disability, biocitizenship, and her new show.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In 2016, almost by accident, the US artist Taryn Simon ended up making a video work about the most important moment in recent British political history. While scouting for a location for another work, she visited Alexandra Palace in London just as a rehearsal for the Brexit ballot-counting was taking place. "I immediately asked if I could come back and film the actual count," says Simon, whose request was approved, making her the only person in the world permitted to record a Brexit count.

She's speaking with me from Paris, where the video has just gone on show. Presented on two screens, it is at first unremarkable: one view shows a wide frame of the historic Great Hall of the palace, with count staff seated at tables covered with black tablecloths and scattered with paper. A second screen offers a closeup view of two count staff in their official burgundy T-shirts, sorting papers into "Leave" and "Remain". The tension mounts as each stack grows, but no climax is reached.

"It's a basic picture of the act," says Simon, who was up until 4am filming the vote count. "I was thinking about the things that trigger these decisions: how the process of counting up desires - and the fervour for change - happens literally in our sleep, deep in the night."

Brexit votes pile up in an excerpt from Taryn Simon's film Haringey Ballot Count - video

The undramatic and sober view of this monumental event becomes increasingly chilling with the endless, repetitive sound of paper-sorting, leading towards the outcome we all now know. "Ultimately, it's just paper," says Simon, "but it has such a heavy outcome for so many people." Simon sees the papers as "surrogates" for citizens, the near weightlessness of the material at odds with the gravity of the decision. "I remember sitting there in extreme shock as they were calling out the results and being amazed how something could turn so quickly. It felt unreal."

Simon, 50, is best known for her minimalist, index-like photographs, densely researched still lifes and portraits of things that are hidden - or so familiar they usually pass you by. Working with a large-format camera, she has often gone to extremes, to the edges of society. She has photographed Saddam Hussein's son Uday's body double, a nuclear waste storage facility in Washington State, a cryopreservation unit where bodies are frozen just after death, and the Church of Scientology.

'They are actually directions we are following' ... Taryn Simon. Photograph: Eli Baden-Lasar/© Taryn Simon, courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech

The Brexit video is part of The Game, a new exhibition of Simon's work at the Almine Rech gallery in Paris. The Game deals with the everyday objects and events that influence electoral outcomes, right down to a cat from Ohio called Miss Sassy. Alongside the Brexit video, Simon has installed artefact-like photographs, printed and framed in bright colours, chosen to catch your attention as if they're playful "distractions". However, as she points out, "They are actually directions we're following - whether by force, ignorance, or both."

Each image is related to the 2024 presidential election in the US, where Simon lives. She travelled the country photographing things such as a Fox News microphone, Capitol police riot gear, McDonald's fries, and balloons on standby at a Republican National Convention. She also photographed Miss Sassy, the cat who was at the centre of a media maelstrom last year after her owner accused her Haitian immigrant neighbours in Springfield, Ohio, of abducting her. By the time Donald Trump got hold of the story, Haitians were accused of eating her.

"It's just a cat," says Simon. "She had no idea what narrative she was part of, nor did she have any active participation. But she became this emblem of paranoia and conspiracy theory that consumed a town and created incredible discord. The cat was later found alive in her owner's basement - but the outcome doesn't matter. The story kept going. You can hang your hat on the lie and that's quite scary."

Simon turns Miss Sassy back into a straightforward image of a cat, but one that is now also a symbol of the disease and the proliferation of misinformation. It recalls one of her early, groundbreaking projects in the early 00s, The Innocents, in which the artist documented people who had been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for violent crimes. She photographed many of them at the crime scenes after they'd been released - places they had no association with or had never been to. "The fiction takes over, the story consumes, even when there's so much evidence of the opposite."

At the centre of another storm ... Representative Jasmine Crockett's Eyelashes. Photograph: Maris Hutchinson/© Taryn Simon, courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech

Another photograph is of false eyelashes worn by the Democratic politician Jasmine Crockett. Enshrined in their white and pink case, they are eerie and unseeing. "I could have gone to CVS to buy a pair," Simon says, "but that's the horror of my work - I never fake it." She photographed them after a fiery showdown - that later went viral - during a US House Committee meeting in 2024, triggered by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene telling Crockett: "I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you're reading." She hit back with comments about Greene's bleached blonde hair. Crockett's office were somewhat taken aback by Simon's request to photograph her eyelashes, but agreed. "Sometimes, these quieter things that stand outside and fly by are actually the crux of the story."

The Game sees Simon - who had a solo exhibition at London's Tate Modern in 2011, aged 36 - returning to the kind of photographic work she made her name with, after years focusing on performance and installation work. "Obviously, the photographic document can generate or reinscribe certainties that are wrong, but it's also an important tool for pushing against error. It can be that mushy. I don't think photography has to be clear. I think of photographs as their own creatures who help us see things we can't or don't see. They stop time and let you look, make you pause. That's incredibly valuable, even if I can't get them to answer."

The show also pays homage to Simon's father, an inventor of arcade and video games. "He made pinball machines, air hockey tables, skeeball. I spent my whole childhood in arcades. I always wanted to make a game but I never found the thing that aligned with what I do." But now she has - and it takes the form of her reimagining the kleroterion - an ancient Athenian device for randomly selecting male citizens for public roles.

"Only fragments of it exist," she says animatedly, "and no one really knows how it worked. It had hundreds of slots and any male citizen could insert a chip and have a chance at being chosen for public office or jury duty."

'It's fun to play a game' ... a detail of Simon's Kleroterion. Photograph: Maris Hutchinson/© Taryn Simon, courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech

The kleroterion highlights an important and under-appreciated element of Simon's often hard-hitting work: humour. In the gallery in Paris, she has installed a red and blue Vegas-esque carpet. "A weird collision," she jokes, "between the UN and a cruise ship." Her work revels in life's more laughable absurdities - even if, in the past, it has been hard to see because of the gravity of her themes. For now, at least, she is happy to sit back and enjoy it. "It's fun to watch people enter a serious gallery space and have to play a game."

Simon's kleroterion is an interactive sculpture that looks like a tall cabinet, with five slots for tokens arranged vertically, and another five horizontally - intended to reflect average family sizes, globally. It encourages us to think about how decision-making happens at a domestic and national level. It took a few years for Simon to figure out the engineering. "The only way to really get a random result is by error," she says, "which was an interesting thought."

Simon's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's soon after she decided to make the work. "That's the sadness of it. He's been part of literally every single thing I've done, and now he's not totally present. But he loves it in his own way." The work isn't just a tribute to her father - it could herald another career shift. "I wouldn't mind quitting," she says, "and going into arcading."

Taryn Simon: The Game is at Almine Rech, Paris, until 26 July.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Meet Miss Sassy, the cat who sparked Trump's pet-eating ravings: Taryn Simon's thrilling election photographs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From the Ohio pussy who triggered a wild conspiracy theory to the Brexit 'Leave' votes piling up, the great American photographer has turned her lens on election excesses. But what are those fake eyelashes doing in there?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Public disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland town Ballymena after alleged sexual assault

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Police in Ballymena in Northern Ireland say a number of missiles had been thrown towards officers and damage to properties had been reported

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Gepubliceerd op 23 mei 2025 Leestijd
7 minuten

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Opinie | Waarom satire niet meer werkt tegen radicaal-rechts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Politiek: Radicaal-rechts is behalve een ideologie ook een grap, schrijft Dave Schut. Politici belachelijk maken werkt daarom niet meer – je kunt ze beter serieus nemen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Einstein predicted it more than 60 years ago - researchers at TU Vienna and the University of Vienna have succeeded in visualizing the Terrell-Penrose effect of special relativity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Imagine a cube zipping past you so fast, it looks like it’s twisting in midair. Although it might seem a magic trick; it’s actually Einstein’s universe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Geometrisch gefrustreerde roos wil een vorm aannemen die ruimtelijk onmogelijk is

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Materialen: Hoe komen rozenblaadjes aan hun puntjes? De wiskunde daarachter kan helpen bij de bouw van zachte robots.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
After walking the Earth for a few hundred thousand years, humans might think they have seen it all. But not according to a team of scientists who claim to have experienced a colour no one has seen before.

The bold - and contested - assertion follows an experiment in which researchers in the US had laser pulses fired into their eyes. By stimulating individual cells in the retina, the laser pushed their perception beyond its natural limits, they say.

Their description of the colour is not too arresting - the five people who have seen it call it blue-green - but that, they say, does not fully capture the richness of the experience.

"We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented colour signal but we didn't know what the brain would do with it," said Ren Ng, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley. "It was jaw-dropping. It's incredibly saturated."

The researchers shared an image of a turquoise square to give a sense of the colour, which they named olo, but stressed that the hue could only be experienced through laser manipulation of the retina.

The researchers claimed this square was the closest colour match they had to olo.

"There is no way to convey that colour in an article or on a monitor," said Austin Roorda, a vision scientist on the team. "The whole point is that this is not the colour we see, it's just not. The colour we see is a version of it, but it absolutely pales by comparison with the experience of olo."

Humans perceive the colours of the world when light falls on colour-sensitive cells called cones in the retina. There are three types of cones that are sensitive to long (L), medium (M) and short (S) wavelengths of light.

Natural light is a blend of multiple wavelengths that stimulate L, M and S cones to different extents. The variations are perceived as different colours. Red light primarily stimulates L cones, while blue light chiefly activates S cones. But M cones sit in the middle and there is no natural light that excites these alone.

The Berkeley team set out to overcome the limitation. They began by mapping a small part of a person's retina to pinpoint the positions of their M cones. A laser is then used to scan the retina. When it comes to an M cone, after adjusting for movement of the eye, it fires a tiny pulse of light to stimulate the cell, before moving on to the next cone.

The result, published in Science Advances, is a patch of colour in the field of vision about twice the size of a full moon. The colour is beyond the natural range of the naked eye because the M cones are stimulated almost exclusively, a state natural light cannot achieve. The name olo comes from the binary 010, indicating that of the L, M and S cones, only the M cones are switched on.

The claim left one expert bemused. "It is not a new colour," said John Barbur, a vision scientist at City St George's, University of London. "It's a more saturated green that can only be produced in a subject with normal red-green chromatic mechanism when the only input comes from M cones." The work, he said, had "limited value".

The researchers believe the tool, named Oz vision after the Emerald City in the L Frank Baum books, will help them probe basic science questions about how the brain creates visual perceptions of the world. But it may have other applications. Through bespoke stimulation of cells in the retina, researchers might learn more about colour blindness or diseases that affect vision such as retinitis pigmentosa.

Will the rest of the world get the chance to experience olo for themselves? "This is basic science," said Ng. "We're not going to see olo on any smartphone displays or any TVs any time soon. And this is very, very far beyond VR headset technology."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hue new? Scientists claim to have found colour no one has seen before

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Contested discovery achieved by experiment firing laser pulses into eyes, stimulating retina cells

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
‘Magical realism’: how a fake Hindu nation tried to take over Indigenous land in Bolivia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Contracts show fictional country created by fugitive Indian guru would control vast swathes ‘with full sovereignty’

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
On the Concept of Knowledge in Artistic Research. Summary

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Till Bödeker examines theories that postulate that artistic research creates specific knowledge that is equal to scientific knowledge.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fortune-telling, the forecasting of future events or the delineation of character by methods not ordinarily considered to have a rational basis. Evidence indicates that forms of fortune-telling were practiced in ancient China, Egypt, Chaldea, and Babylonia as long ago as 4000 bce. Prophetic dreams

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Let us know if any of these work for you

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Algorithms are tools of divination. Like cowry shells, scapular bones or spiders trapped under a pot, algorithms are marshaled to detect and relay invisible patterns; to bring to light a truth which is out there, but which cannot ordinarily be seen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
In the 17th Century, Leibniz Dreamed of a Machine That Could Calculate Ideas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Part two of a six-part series on the history of natural language processing and artificial intelligence

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Het winVitalis-assortiment bestaat uit maaltijden in aangepaste consistentie. De glad gemalen maaltijden voldoen aan IDDSI 4, en de fijn gemalen maaltijden voldoen aan IDDSI level 5. Deze maaltijden dragen bij aan de inname van voldoende voedingsstoffen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Science And Nonduality (@scienceandnonduality_) • Instagram reel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
63K likes, 920 comments - scienceandnonduality_ on January 10, 2025: ”“what we call science is a very narrow patriarchal project for a very short period of history”
Vandana Shiva A powerful repost from Vandana , highlighting the filters behind science and its disconnect from nature, woman and indigeneity #nature #indigenous #woman #science”.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gary Stevenson (@garyseconomics) • Instagram reel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
115K likes, 1,990 comments - garyseconomics on January 8, 2025: “You are losing against Elon Musk. We need to change the game.”.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
VPRO Tegenlicht (@vpro.tegenlicht) • Instagram reel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
2,610 likes, 61 comments - vpro.tegenlicht on February 22, 2025: “De #democratie staat onder druk en het post-truth tijdperk zorgt ervoor dat de waarheid plaats heeft gemaakt voor spektakel. Vraagt deze steeds absurdere werkelijkheid om een andere manier van #verzet? In ‘New Rules for Radicals’ volgt VPRO Tegenlicht een actie van The Yes Men, Amerikaans kunstcollectief dat identiteitsdiefstal gebruikt om de #politiek te bevragen. Morgen om 08:00 uur op ons YouTube-kanaal!”.

# data[].attributes.body
Alles staat net verkeerd

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sadtoots on Instagram: ”#meme #memes #memesdaily #insta #instagood #instagram #instalike #instadaily #instamood #reels #reel #reelkarofeelkaro #reelitfeelit #reelsinstagram #reelsvideo #trend #trending #trendingreels #viralvideos #viral #viralreels #photo #photooftheday #photography #life #love #friends #family #dankmemes #funny”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
167K likes, 198 comments - gatoradeshouldbethicker on October 3, 2024: ”#meme #memes #memesdaily #insta #instagood #instagram #instalike #instadaily #instamood #reels #reel #reelkarofeelkaro #reelitfeelit #reelsinstagram #reelsvideo #trend #trending #trendingreels #viralvideos #viral #viralreels #photo #photooftheday #photography #life #love #friends #family #dankmemes #funny”.

# data[].attributes.body
Artistic inquiry as a means to unstuck how we understwnd the world. Beyond logic and statistics. 
Imitation, simulation and parody.
Maybe even change the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hij had er vandaag de dag vast een TikTok-filmpje van gemaakt. 's Nachts op pad naar de galgen waar misdadigers aan de koorden bungelden. Met één hand filmend en met zijn andere het lichaam voortslepend naar zijn kleine studentenkamer. Een kelder met een kokende pot water. De enorme stapel botten die als een gigantische puzzel op de vloer liggen. Tot slot de enorme atlas die hij zonder schroom maanden later naar zijn eigen universiteit meebracht met de juiste anatomie van het menselijke lichaam. Een atlas waar vandaag de dag nog talloze anatomiefilmpjes op TikTok zijn gebaseerd.

Emma Bruns is arts-onderzoeker en chirurg in opleiding.

Andreas Vesalius (1514 - 1564) was buitengewoon dapper. Hij durfde de kennis die hem aangeboden werd door gezaghebbenden in twijfel te trekken en ging terug naar de basis om de waarheid te achterhalen.

Eeuwen later, als assistent anatomie op de snijzaal, vertelde ik vaak over hem. Dat het van wezenlijk belang zou zijn dat studenten noch mij, noch de hoogleraar, noch de boeken of de websites die ze aangereikt krijgen, zomaar op hun woord of beeld moeten geloven. Als je het mij vraagt, is dat het primaire doel van onderwijs: het opleiden van mensen die de werkelijkheid kunnen bevragen. Maar het gaat verder dan dat.

Eén juist antwoord

Geneeskunde is bij uitstek een studie waar een enorme hoeveelheid feiten - variërend van de citroenzuurcyclus tot het ontstaan van een depressie - in talloze colleges over je uitgestort wordt. Je wordt geacht die kennis tot je te nemen en te reproduceren in eindeloze multiplechoicetentamens waar elke vraag slechts één juist antwoord heeft. De verwarring is dan ook groot als je, eenmaal als coassistent op de werkvloer, met een klinisch probleem wordt geconfronteerd dat zich helaas (of gelukkig maar) nooit aandient als een multiplechoicemenu.

In de drang van mens en samenleving om pasklare antwoorden te hebben en die te vatten in protocollen, dreigt de verwondering verloren te gaan. Begrijp me niet verkeerd. Het is extreem belangrijk dat artsen en andere zorgverleners in hun opleiding een goede theoretische basis krijgen van de anatomie (de landkaart) en de fysiologie (de interacterende krachten) van het menselijk lichaam. Maar dan vooral van het gezonde lichaam.

De verleiding is groot om studenten vanaf de eerste dag te 'charmeren' met allerlei exotische ziekten, van dramatische botbreuken tot zeer zeldzame tumoren, en zo lekker praktisch toegepast aan de slag te gaan, maar dat leidt zelden tot fundamenteel begrip. Laat staan tot fundamentele verwondering, zoals Vesalius die had.

Als zorgverleners past ons enorme bescheidenheid

Het menselijk lichaam is immers een buitengewoon magisch en bijzonder iets. Ik raad u aan om op YouTube filmpjes te bekijken van - om maar wat te noemen - dna-replicatie of de anatomie van de knie. Zelfs als je geen enkele medische achtergrond hebt, kan je bij het zien van die filmpjes niet anders dan respect hebben voor de ongelofelijk zorgvuldige samenwerking van kleinschalige processen, die uiteindelijk ertoe leiden dat je dit artikel kan lezen en straks de hond kunt uitlaten.

Die verwondering is essentieel om respect op te kunnen brengen voor het lichaam. En ook met name cruciaal voor, zonder al te stichtelijk te worden, de nederigheid die wij als zorgverleners dienen te hebben als we iets willen gaan doen met dat lichaam. Het is ongelofelijk dat we een stuk darm uit iemand kunnen halen, de uiteinden weer aan elkaar vast kunnen hechten en dat die dan weer aan elkaar groeien; dat we zeer giftige chemotherapie kunnen toedienen waarvan het lichaam weer gewoon herstelt; dat we met medicijnen ingrijpen op processen in het brein om mensen te behoeden voor zelfmoord.

Broodje kopen

Als zorgverleners past ons enorme bescheidenheid. En dat kan in de spreekkamer, zeker als je nog een jonge arts bent, nog wel eens tot problemen leiden. Want in tegenstelling tot wat steeds meer het beeld lijkt te worden, is een bezoek aan het ziekenhuis niet hetzelfde als een reis boeken of een broodje kopen. Zelfs voor een 'simpele' gebroken enkel zijn de antwoorden op de meeste vragen (hoe lang is mijn herstel, wanneer kan ik weer autorijden, waarom doet het hier nog pijn) alleen bij benadering te geven.

De laatste jaren lijken niet alleen zorgverleners de drang te hebben om het menselijk lichaam steeds meer te willen passen in een hokjeskast van behandelingen en protocollen. Ook de patiënt eist steeds meer zeggenschap in zijn behandeling. Hij heeft inzage in een deel van zijn dossier en lijkt daarmee ook steeds meer het idee te hebben dat hij na wat googlen voldoende kennis heeft om ook een idee te hebben over de behandeling.

Emancipatie van kennis en het openbreken van het medische bastion is natuurlijk goed. En de wensen die de patiënt heeft ten aanzien van zijn behandeling zijn heel belangrijk. Ik vraag dan ook niet om ouderwets respect voor de dokter, want die moet er best tegen kunnen om kritisch bevraagd te worden. Maar voordat u standvastig stelling inneemt over wat er met uw lichaam moet gebeuren: kijk een paar van die filmpjes, verwonder u, en bovenal, wees een beetje lief voor uw lijf.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Opinie | Bekijk eens een YouTube-filmpje over dna of knieën, en zie hoe magisch ons lichaam is

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Zorg: Geneeskundestudenten leren pasklare antwoorden te hebben schrijft Emma Bruns. In de praktijk blijkt het lichaam te wonderbaarlijk om in de hokjeskast van behandelingen te passen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Er was een tijd dat een wetenschapper ook aan tovenarij kon doen

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tips: Lees-, kijk- en luistertips van onze redacteuren bij het nieuws. Deze week: plekken die aan de wieg van de moderne wetenschap stonden.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
I’m a death expert. I designed eight questions to help you think about dying

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The modern era has eroded the myths and traditions of death. But there’s a way to create your own belief system

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reeks Illustratie Verkeersvector Spoorweg- En Wegverkeerslicht Semafoor Cartoon Stock Illustratie - Illustration of groen, voorwerp: 164575705

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Illustration about Reeks Illustratie verkeersvector Spoorweg- en wegverkeerslicht Semafoor Cartoon. Illustration of groen, voorwerp, teken - 164575705

# data[].attributes.body
But what is knowing?

# data[].attributes.headline
Deleuze and Guattari on art as monumentalising possibilities

# data[].attributes.subject
Deleuze and Guattari on art as monumentalising possibilities

# data[].attributes.headline
Thus, while everything within the context of a situated practice might indeed be potentially possible and very much worth trying out [..] this does NOT mean that any act in itself is always meaningful and substantial. [..] It is the very difference between doing the dirty deed and pretending to do it.

# data[].attributes.subject
Thus, while everything within the context of a situated practice might indeed be potentially possible and very much worth trying out [..] this does NOT mean that any act in itself is always meaningful and substantial. [..] It is the very difference between doing the dirty deed and pretending to do it.

# data[].attributes.body
'Fail Again, Fail Better' in AR Methodology, Hannula/Suorata/Vadèn

# data[].attributes.headline
AR = artistic process + arguing for POV 

# data[].attributes.subject
AR = artistic process + arguing for POV 

# data[].attributes.body
(open ended, historical, context -aware and narrative enterprise) in: AR Methodology, Hannula, Suorata, Vadèn)

# data[].attributes.headline
Researchers employ experimental and hermeneutic methods that reveal and articulate tacit knowledge that is situated and embodied in specific artworks and artistic practices. The public is a recipient and a partner in this kind of knowledge production.

# data[].attributes.subject
Researchers employ experimental and hermeneutic methods that reveal and articulate tacit knowledge that is situated and embodied in specific artworks and artistic practices. The public is a recipient and a partner in this kind of knowledge production.

# data[].attributes.body
(Borgdorff 2006)

# data[].attributes.headline
understanding constitutes a creative, re-productive act, in which the researcher appropriates the meaning of the object, rather than mechanically reproducing it

# data[].attributes.subject
understanding constitutes a creative, re-productive act, in which the researcher appropriates the meaning of the object, rather than mechanically reproducing it

# data[].attributes.body
Graeme Sullivan 'Art Practice As Research'

# data[].attributes.body
divine line

# data[].attributes.headline
Artistic Research: Eine epistemologische Ästhetik book review

# data[].attributes.subject
Artistic Research: Eine epistemologische Ästhetik book review

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Review of Anke Haarmann, “Artistic Research: Eine epistemologische Ästhetik” | JAR

# data[].attributes.body
Make knowledge

# data[].attributes.body
all of us

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
International Maritime Signal Flags – The Chart & Map Shop

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Found on Google from chartandmapshop.com.au

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
UK Hobby Horse Championships – in pictures PRACHTIGE PORTRETTEN VOL TOEWIJDING EN VERBETENHEID

# data[].attributes.body
kunstpony foppony valspaard

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
UK Hobby Horse Championships – in pictures

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The event features young enthusiasts trotting, galloping and cantering on toy horses in various disciplines such as jumping and dressage. Its popularity has surged in recent years, especially during Covid, and is growing in appeal

# data[].attributes.headline
Innig contact met de maan dankzij de details die kunstenaar Erika Blumenfeld zichtbaar maakte

# data[].attributes.subject
Innig contact met de maan dankzij de details die kunstenaar Erika Blumenfeld zichtbaar maakte

# data[].attributes.body
wat kan wetenschap in bredere zin leren van kunst?

„Diverse dingen. [..] Nieuwsgierigheid en verwondering staan centraal in zowel kunst als wetenschap, maar in de wetenschap heeft objectiviteit de voorkeur, terwijl voor een relatie met de natuur ruimte nodig is voor onze emoties, subjectiviteit en verbondenheid. Kunst moedigt ons aan de wereld op deze manier te benaderen en kan ons leiden naar een empathischer en meer relationeel perspectief op onze natuurlijke wereld.”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
De grijze, gepokte maansteen draait langzaam rond op het scherm. Op het oppervlak lichten kleine kristalletjes op. Je zoomt in op het haarscherpe beeld, stelt het licht bij. Met een muisbeweging klief je de steen open, een mozaïek van licht- en donkergrijze vlakjes wordt zichtbaar. „Op 20 juli 1969, slechts een paar minuten nadat hij de eerste mens was geworden die een vreemd hemellichaam betrad, vergaarde astronaut Neil Armstrong het eerste monster maansteen en -bodem", lees je op het scherm. De maansteen die je bekijkt, Apollo Lunar Sample 10021, is er een van. „[De] veelkleurige glazen bolletjes [...] vertellen het ongelooflijke verhaal van vurige magmafonteinen die ongeveer 3,5 miljard jaar geleden uit de diepten van de maan opstegen."

De website Astromaterials 3D is letterlijk een kunstwerk. Ruim tien jaar geleden benaderde kunstenaar en onderzoeker Erika Blumenfeld een afdeling van ruimtevaartorganisatie NASA (de Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science Division in het Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas) met een voorstel om een virtuele bibliotheek te maken van de maanstenen die meer dan een halve eeuw geleden werden teruggebracht door de Apollo-astronauten. Blumenfelds kunst is 'transdisciplinair'. Ze zoekt grenzen op op het snijvlak van wetenschap, natuur, kunst en cultuur. Fotografie is haar favoriete medium: „Een wonderlijke samenkomst van kunst en wetenschap. Het is scheikunde en optica, maar ook licht, dat het onzichtbare en het fantasierijke uitnodigt."

In haar werk brengt Blumenfeld deze werelden bijeen. In Tracing Luminaries maakte ze een printuitgave van met goud afgewerkte blauwdrukken van sterrenkundige aantekeningen en analyses, als eerbetoon aan de 'Women Computers' van Harvard Observatory. Zij legden eind 19de eeuw de sterrenhemel vast op fotografische glasplaten, maar hun aantekeningen waren bij de digitalisering van het archief verwijderd. Een ander project, Encyclopedia of Trajectories bestaat uit meer dan vijfduizend schilderijtjes, elk met een enkele gouden penseelstreek: vallende sterren, precies zoals ze werden waargenomen door camera's van het All Sky Fireball Network van NASA. Voor Light Recordings fotografeerde ze bijzondere lichtgebeurtenissen - een zonsondergang, de volle maan, het eerste ochtendlicht, een equinox - met zelfgebouwde, lensloze camera's. „Dit proces brengt fotografie terug naar de basisingrediënten: licht en lichtgevoelig materiaal, die een unieke vingerafdruk van het licht vastleggen met een abstracte verschijningsvorm", legt Blumenfeld uit.

Het project Astromaterials 3D past goed in dit rijtje wetenschappelijk getinte kunstwerken. Wat bracht u ertoe om in 2013 NASA te benaderen?

„Voor een onderzoeksproject tijdens mijn master conservation studies had ik meteorieten als materiaal gekozen. Ik analyseerde hiervoor een stukje meteoriet met een rasterelektronenmicroscoop, die de bestanddelen ervan zichtbaar maakte. Op het scherm verscheen een grafiek met piekjes, die correspondeerden met de verschillende elementen waar de meteoriet uit bestond. Ik zag met mijn eigen ogen dat deze steen uit de ruimte en ikzelf deels uit dezelfde materie bestonden.

„Ik ging een steeds sterkere verbinding voelen met gesteente en de geologische en planetaire processen waardoor het gevormd wordt. Geologen die ik ontmoette beëindigden een uitleg over hun werk steevast met de zinsnede '...maar het verhaal zit in de steen'. Zo begon ik stenen te zien als scrolls of knowledge, kennisdocumenten waarin hun ontstaansgeschiedenis is vastgelegd. In mijn studio kwam bij mij de vraag op: is het mogelijk om een steen in mijn handen te houden, die het volledige verhaal van de kosmos vertelt? Het was een poëtische vraag, maar er was een kans om deze van een tastbaar antwoord te voorzien. Een groot deel lag namelijk in een NASA-laboratorium in Houston: zowel de maanstenen teruggebracht door de Apollo-astronauten als de meteorieten die ieder jaar worden verzameld in Antarctica."

CV Kunst voor de wetenschap

Erika Blumenfeld (1971) is een transdisciplinaire kunstenaar, schrijver en onderzoeker en woont in Houston, Texas (VS). Ze ontving onderzoeksbeurzen van onder andere het Smithsonian Institution en Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Musea in de VS en internationaal exposeerden haar werk (o.a. Tate Modern in Londen en de Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam).

Het Astromaterials 3D project won de NASA Johnson Space Center Director's Innovation Award. In 2022 werd Blumenfeld toegelaten tot de Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society voor de bijdragen van haar kunst aan de wetenschap.

Was NASA meteen geïnteresseerd?

„Ze waren erdoor geïntrigeerd. De stenen waren natuurlijk al uitgebreid onderzocht door wetenschappers en werden geroemd door liefhebbers. Toch was NASA enthousiast over mijn idee om de collectie dichter bij een nog veel breder publiek te brengen door de stenen op een innovatieve manier in een nieuw daglicht te stellen. Elke steen heeft een verhaal; gezamenlijk beschrijven deze verhalen de ontstaansgeschiedenis van ons zonnestelsel, de aarde en andere planeten en onze maan.

In hoeverre was uw methode innovatief?

„Ik wilde de stenen - en daarmee de maan en het zonnestelsel zelf - een identiteit geven, door mensen uit te nodigen ze te beschouwen als onderdeel van ons natuurlijk en cultureel erfgoed. Ik wilde dat zij een band zouden gaan voelen met deze kleine kosmische fragmenten. Hiervoor fotografeerde ik ze in het hoogst mogelijke detail, zodat de kijker elke steen grondig kon onderzoeken en er een bijna directe interactie mee kon ervaren. Mijn doel was om ze virtueel in de handen van mensen te leggen en zo onderzoekers en het publiek de kans te geven de verwondering en de verhalen zelf te ervaren. Dat was nog nooit eerder gedaan."

Wat werd in het laboratorium uw werkwijze waarmee u de 3D-modellen maakte?

„Allereerst verzamelde ik een multidisciplinair team van specialisten, met wie ik de methode ontwikkelde en uitvoerde. Een grote uitdaging was dat er specifieke voorschriften zijn voor de hantering van de monsters. De collectie is opgeslagen in een multi-cleanroom, elke steen bleef tijdens de fotosessies in een met stikstof gevulde vitrinekast. Omdat de 3D-scanner niet geoorloofd was in de vitrinekast, fotografeerde ik van buitenaf elke steen handmatig honderden keren, systematisch, uit verschillende hoeken. Vervolgens reconstrueerden we de steen in 3D met behulp van speciale software."

Blumenfeld (l.) in het lab met een NASA-collega.

Josh Valcarcel/NASA

Blumenfeld fotografeerde handmatig elke rots vanuit honderden hoeken in het cleanroomlaboratorium van NASA. Foto Josh Valcarcel/NASA

U leerde de stenen van buiten en van binnen kennen?

„Ja, bijna elke steen brachten we ook in beeld met röntgen-computertomografie, wat een beeld geeft van hun bestanddelen en structuur. Ten slotte brachten we de volledige 3D-modellen onder in een op maat gemaakte, mooi vormgegeven interactieve omgeving. De binnenkant kan worden 'opengesneden', wat de interne structuur onthult. En voor elke steen schreef ik een biografie: waar komt hij vandaan, welk verhaal vertelt hij over de processen die hem vormden?"

Het project heeft veel belangstelling van het publiek gekregen. Heeft uw grondige aanpak ook wetenschappelijke waarde gehad?

„Jazeker, veel wetenschappers gebruiken de data van Astromaterials 3D voor hun onderzoek. Dit heeft tot nieuwe inzichten geleid over bijvoorbeeld maanvulkanisme. De methode geldt nu als standaard voor de digitale archivering van ruimtemonsters. Onlangs documenteerden we bijvoorbeeld het monster van planetoïde Bennu dat door de Osiris-Rex-missie is teruggebracht. Ons fotowerk bracht zoveel detail dat het de eerste wetenschappelijke analyse van de materialen ondersteunde."

Dat bevestigt ook Ryan A. Zeigler, NASA Apollo Sample-curator: „Blumenfelds project ontsluit fundamentele gegevens die wetenschappers nu al gebruiken om de monsters beter te bestuderen." Het project heeft ook de blik op de collectie veranderd, zegt Zeigler: „We zien ze nu niet meer alleen als wetenschappelijke objecten, maar evengoed als culturele en historische artefacten."

Los van deze directe toepassing van uw project - wat kan wetenschap in bredere zin leren van kunst?

„Diverse dingen. Het woord 'wetenschap' wordt te vaak gebruikt als eigenlijk 'natuur' bedoeld wordt. Woorden hebben veel kracht. Als we ten onrechte geloven dat wetenschap natuur is - in tegenstelling tot 'de studie van de natuur' - dan bereiken we de natuur alleen via de wetenschap, in plaats van via een directe verbinding. Nieuwsgierigheid en verwondering staan centraal in zowel kunst als wetenschap, maar in de wetenschap heeft objectiviteit de voorkeur, terwijl voor een relatie met de natuur ruimte nodig is voor onze emoties, subjectiviteit en verbondenheid. Kunst moedigt ons aan de wereld op deze manier te benaderen en kan ons leiden naar een empathischer en meer relationeel perspectief op onze natuurlijke wereld."

Waarom is dit belangrijk?

„Voordat de empirische wetenschap ontstond, waren 'natuurfilosofen' vaak zowel kunstenaars als wetenschappers, bij wie de grenzen tussen objectiviteit en subjectiviteit vervaagden. Onderzoek was veel meer multidisciplinair. Sinds de wetenschappelijke revolutie is objectiviteit de centrale analysemethode en is er aanzienlijk minder ruimte geweest voor symbolische, emotionele of artistieke kennis binnen de wetenschap.

„Dit is nu aan het veranderen, mede dank zij de opbloei van interdisciplinaire samenwerking tussen kunstenaars en wetenschappers in de afgelopen decennia. Sommige wetenschappers stellen strikte empirische methodes ter discussie en benadrukken de noodzaak van een complexer begrip van creativiteit. Kunst moedigt ons aan de wereld en elkaar op emotionele, symbolische en relationele manieren te benaderen. De erkenning vanuit de wetenschap dat kunst een eigen, rigoureuze bron van kennis is, is een van de grootste ambities in mijn werk."

Is deze boodschap ook geland bij uw publiek?

„Uiteindelijk ervaart iedereen mijn werk op een eigen manier, maar op Astromaterials 3D komen vanuit de hele wereld veel positieve reacties. Mensen lijken echt de verbindingen te voelen die ik wil belichten. Sommigen zeggen tot tranen geroerd te zijn; anderen raken geïnspireerd tot een nieuwe onderzoeksrichting. Wat voor mij vooral veel betekent, is als mijn werk mensen aanzet tot nadenken over hoe kunst een eigen, rigoureuze bron van kennis kan zijn."

Niet alleen Amerikaanse maanstenen

Schrijf je in voor de nieuwsbrief 'Wetenschap'

Wekelijks de beste verhalen van Wetenschap in je inbox?

In totaal 380 kilo maansteen werd teruggebracht tijdens de Apollo-missies. Maar niet alleen de VS hebben stukjes maan verzameld. In de jaren 70 brachten drie maanmissies van de Sovjet-Unie in totaal ruim 300 gram bodemmonsters op aarde. Dat was een stuk minder dan de vracht van de Apollo-missies, maar de Luna-missies waren dan ook onbemand - er waren geen kosmonauten die konden grabbelen in het rulle maanzand. Net als bij het Apollo-programma werd een klein deel van de monsters gedeeld met wetenschappers wereldwijd, als een klein waakvlammetje internationale samenwerking tijdens de Koude Oorlog.

In recente jaren is er weer meer activiteit op de maan; in 2020 bracht de Chinese missie Chang'e 5 ruim anderhalve kilo stenen en bodemmonsters op aarde. In 2024 herhaalde Chang'e 6 dit kunstje, nu met bijna 2 kilo afkomstig van de achterkant van de maan. Deze monsters worden hoofdzakelijk in China bestudeerd, maar een klein deel is beschikbaar gesteld aan de internationale gemeenschap. Onderzoekers over de hele wereld kunnen aanvragen indienen om de monsters te bestuderen.

De Chinese maanmonsters zijn gebruikt voor verschillende internationale wetenschappelijke publicaties, hoewel de verdeling strikt gereguleerd is. Er zijn geen plannen bekend om de maanstenen tentoon te stellen in een Astromaterials 3D-achtige publieke omgeving.

In de komende jaren staan veel commerciële missies gepland, waardoor - naast het Amerikaanse Artemis-programma - nieuwe maangrond op aarde zal komen voor onderzoek en expositie.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Innig contact met de maan dankzij de details die kunstenaar Erika Blumenfeld zichtbaar maakte

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Astronomie: De astronauten van de Apollo-missies hebben sinds 1969 vele stenen van de maan naar de aarde gebracht. Kunstenaar Erika Blumenfeld nam het initiatief om die stenen digitaal te reconstrueren. „Elke steen heeft een verhaal."

# data[].attributes.headline
HANS HAACKE - analysis based, not outrage based

# data[].attributes.subject
HANS HAACKE - analysis based, not outrage based

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Are Museums So Afraid of This Artist?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As cultural institutions face an existential crisis over who funds them and how, the 88-year-old artist Hans Haacke is still making curators and collectors clutch their pearls.