Communicate and transform your science

Discover Thinking Hands workshops to reflect your science through visualisation and communicate beyond borders

In our Thinking Hands workshops you learn how to visualize your science through artist’s guidance in a stepwise discourse. You and your team develop a joint storytelling that communicates to a broad audience and becomes accessible to other fields.

The method builds on the idea that we are more then the sum of our parts. It applies arts to build a collective brain and capture the bigger picture. We provide workshops for scientists, lab teams and as a teaching module for advanced studies.
The results can be published within printed or digital media for outreach (Workshop 1). An advanced version can integrate stakeholders into the process to involve a participative and multi-perspective view for deeper research (Workshop 2).

Think on paper! The Thinking Hands experience

Thinking Hands explained by artists, workshops for the arts & science project ¡vamos, simbiosis! that elaborates on the relation between humans and the sea, 2022

Science stories

Let’s talk about kinship!, by students of Ludwig-Maximilans-University, 2022, performed by Pauline Affatato

Covid - The creative potential of the crisis, by students and their teachers at the Marsilius Kolleg,
Heidelberg University, 2021

Gene Technology - what are we afraid of?, how does it work and how can we use it?, by students and their teachers, Heidelberg University, 2018

It was a unique experience for me. I discovered how art can be used to express our thoughts. Thank you for arranging such a fantastic event.

Dr. Babita Paudel, founder/research director and head at the Center for Natural and Applied Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal

With their Thinking Hands workshop, Stephanie and Kristina supported the participants of the Humboldt Residency Programme 2024 - a group of scientists, journalists, activists and artists - in visualizing a common understanding of the topic of 'Power and Knowledge'. Thanks to their empathetic guidance, even people with no previous artistic experience were able to work creatively on the abstract topic. This resulted in powerful images that served as points of reference for our further collaboration. Thank you very much for this inspiring experience and excellent collaboration!

Tonja Klausmann, programme director of Humboldt Residency, Berlin, Germany

Must say it was a fantastic experience. To put thoughts in visuals rather than words opened a whole new world of possibilities in breaking language barriers to reach your audiences. Your method needs to reach many people.

Dr. Shadrach Teryila Ukuma Lecturer on performance aesthetics, cultural sustainability, creative peacebuilding & festival-making, Markurdi, Nigeria

The Thinking Hands workshop as part of the University of Music and Performimg Arts Vienna (mdw), Lectures for Future, was a wonderful experience that allowed us to see what our hands know! It was fun, exciting and inspiring to be able to immerse ourselves in a process of artistic activity under the guidance of Stephanie Guse and Kristina Heldmann and to be given new perspectives as a result!

Prof., Dr. Doris Ingrisch, Gender studies, University of Music and Performimg Arts Vienna

Workshop 1

Science communication and transformation

Reflect within sciences and communicate to society

︎ 20 scientists
︎ 1,5 days (12 hours)
︎ on-site: (field) laboratory, institute, university or company

Program

Workshop 2

Participative research & science communication

Integrate stakeholder view-points and information for deeper research and communication

︎ 20 researchers & stakeholders
︎ 1,5 days (12 hours)
︎ on-site: (field) laboratory, institute, university or company

Program

Meet the artists

The illustrator Katrin Funcke holds a degree in communication design and is based in Berlin. She works for clients such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Mercedes Benz, Nokia and The New York Times, and her work can be seen in books, magazines and advertisements all over the world. Her latest commissions Zu Mensch and Eine verbogene Geschichte are highly recognized and depict her elegant and bold style of painting.
https://katrinfuncke.de

Stephanie Guse is a photographer and art philosopher based in Vienna who creates arts, methods and spaces to inspire transformation towards a sustainable future. She designed Thinking Hands from the practise with the art collective Bettine, and described it within her PhD thesis (2015). Stephanie is the co-initiator of the arts and science project ¡vamos, simbiosis! that communicates the crucial relationship between humans and the sea in manyfold aspects.

Kristina Heldmann is a highly recognized illustrator and author from Berlin. Her books focus on the relationship between humans and the environment and especially address children. Her latest publications Without Ice no Ice Bear and Hallo Plankton! were created in close collaboration with scientists. The books are the basis for her public workshops and readings within educational and scientific programs such as the Berlin Science Week.
www.kristinaheldmann.de

Stefan Michaelsen is a communication designer with a focus on public outreach through exhibitions. He runs his own business since 20 years in Essen, Germany. The Naturschutz- und Bildungszentrum Alfsee was one of his ambitious projects of the last years and he also designed the exhibtion ¡vamos, simbiosis!, 2023 at the Biocenter of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich.
https://www.michaelsen-kd.de

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References

Guse, S. et al, Thinking Hands – Schön ist zu verstehen, in: Aisthesis – Ästhetik zur Meßbarkeit einer Sensation, Volume I, Marion Elias (Hrsg.), Eigenverlag Angewandte, Wien, 2017, p. 149-159, (ISBN: 978-3950432305)

Guse, S., Thinking Hands – A Social Design Approach, Dissertation of philosophy at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2015, 170 pp.

Guse, S.: Thinking Hands – Für Co-Design & Co, in: Design Austria Mitteilungen, Volume 2015, No 1, 12 & 13 pp.

Guse, S.: Von Hand zu Hand denken – Kollaboration durch Zeichnung im Social Design, in: Joseph Binder Symposium, Reader, 2014, 9 & 10 pp.

Thinking Hands workshop Covid - The creative potential of the crisis. with students and their teachers at the Marsilius Kolleg, Heidelberg University, 2021