KHK c:o/re Fellow Hannah Star Rogers contributes to Integrative Contemporary Art and Science Practices Building Catalytic Structures, a newly released volume, edited by J.D. Talasek and Barbara Stauffer, and published by Routledge.

Contemporary Art and Science Practices: Building Catalytic Structures (2025) considers how such interdisciplinary efforts have shifted from outsider experiments to increasingly institutionalized initiatives. It examines the motivations, challenges, and transformative potential of this integration across public engagement, education, and cultural discourse. This groundbreaking collection brings together leading thinkers and practitioners to examine the evolving relationship between contemporary art and scientific inquiry. In addition to Rogers, the text features contributions from other leading voices in art and science, including William L. Fox, Ellen Levy, Mel Chin, Brandon and Aurore Ballengée, and Jill Scott. This volume is a vital resource for researchers, educators, curators, artists, scientists, and policy makers navigating the complex intersections of knowledge, creativity, and collaboration.

Rogers’ chapter, “Art, Science and Technology Studies: Charting Collaborative Practice,” offers a compelling analysis of the power dynamics, collaborative models, and institutional conditions shaping art-science partnerships today. Rogers’ work contributes a critical theoretical framework from Art, Science, and Technology Studies (ASTS), a subfield of Science and Technology Studies (STS), to advocate for more symmetrical, equitable modes of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Rogers argues for understanding both art and science as socially and culturally situated systems of knowledge. Drawing on examples ranging from historical botanical illustration to contemporary biotech art and artist residencies, she categorizes four prevalent models of collaboration, each with distinct power structures, intentions, and outcomes. She critiques the persistent instrumentalization of art – particularly in science communication – where artistic practice is often reduced to a tool for enhancing scientific messages. Her chapter provides a roadmap for critically evaluating and fostering more generative, balanced partnerships between artists and scientists.

About the Editors:
J.D. Talasek is a curator, researcher, and writer known for integrating the arts into scientific contexts through his leadership at the National Academy of Sciences and as editor-in-chief of Leonardo Journal.

Barbara Stauffer, a ceramic artist and former program director at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, has led numerous interdisciplinary initiatives focused on public engagement and education.

On Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at 6:00 pm, Professor Caspar Hirschi from the University of St. Gallen will give a talk on “A child of the knowledge economy? On the history of the history of knowledge” (“Ein Kind der Wissensökonomie? Zur Geschichte der Wissensgeschichte”) in the KHK c:o/re lecture hall. The talk will be held in German.

Everyone is cordially invited to attend!

For further information and registration, please contact Sandra Dresia: dresia@histinst.rwth-aachen.de

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has renewed funding for the KHK c:o/re at RWTH Aachen University for four more years.

The KHK c:o/re is an international Center for Advanced Studies in philosophy, sociology and history of science and technology and the first Käte Hamburger Kolleg based at a technical university. Since 2021, it has explored the transformation of research cultures in science and technology and develops a methodological approach to strengthen the integration of the various disciplines in science and technology studies. This takes place in a close exchange between the humanities and social sciences and the life, natural, technical and engineering sciences.

Beginning in May 2025, the center will start its second funding phase under the direction of Professor Gabriele Gramelsberger and Professor Stefan Böschen with continued support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

“It’s just wonderful that the KHK gives us a platform that allows us such unusual freedom in our research,” says Gabriele Gramelsberger. “This has to do with a number of important boundary conditions. On the one hand, generous funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research allows us to invite a large number of fellows from all over the world every year to work with us on fundamental questions in science. Second, we have a great team that not only supports the work but also enables us to work together on our research goals. Finally, we receive exceptional support from the Rectorate of RWTH Aachen University, which regards the work of the Kolleg as an important asset for its strategy for excellence.”

The overall aim of the center is to investigate the impact of digitalization and globalization on contemporary research cultures, and to develop a theory of “cultures of research” from a situated, historical, and comparative perspective.

In the second funding phase, the basic research question is to what extent digitalization and globalization as universal drivers of transformation set in motion dynamics of standardization of science and “research cultures” – or whether the diversity of research cultures and the varieties of science are not increased precisely by digitalization and globalization. To address this question, the central concepts of “digitality/complexity,” “globality/varieties of science,” and “expanded science and technology studies” will be explored in three research lines in collaboration with international fellows.

“We can look forward to four more exciting years,” says Stefan Böschen. “We will certainly cultivate even more freedom for individual and joint research than we have done so far. In addition, the Kolleg allows us to further develop and strengthen our international networks related to our research topics. In this way, we hope not only to achieve insightful research results, but also to support the development of a special epistemic culture at our University.”

An interview with Gabriele Gramelsberger and Stefan Böschen looking back on the past funding phase and reflecting on the goals and expectations for the second phase can be found on our blog.

We are happy to announce that the lecture series of the summer term 2025 will continue to explore the topic of expanding science and technology studies.

Over the decades, science and technology studies (STS) have developed many different approaches for investigating the relationship between science and society and to dig deep into the cultures of research, the ways science is conducted. For example, scholars have investigated the local cultures and politics underlying processes of knowledge production, the biases and gender divisions informing the organization of academic institutions, or the reception of future technological visions in different publics. There is a rich knowledge. However, it seems that science studies are not well prepared for the transformation challenge, a present-day topic that also affects science, knowledge societies, and the spread of knowledge. Against this background, the purpose of this lecture series is to understand first the transformation challenge and its consequences for science studies and second to explore different pathways of future science studies.  

The lecture series will begin on May 7, 2025 with a talk by Nina Frahm entitled “Innovation as Res Publica: The New Governance of Technoscience and its Politics”.

For an overview of the dates and speakers, please see the program.

The lecture series will take place every second Wednesday from 5 to 6.30 pm, in the lecture hall of the center and online via zoom.

If you would like to attend the lectures, please send a short email to events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.

Program