Science meets street art

Since Monday, 8 July 2024, street artists have been creating a large-format façade painting at Maxstraße 58 in Bonn, which was created in collaboration with natural scientists. The association InUrFaCE (Initiative of Urban Facades Creature Exposition) wants to make biodiversity in its beauty, but also its endangerment, more visible in public spaces. On display will be a robin landing on a lush flower meadow. The work will last several days and is open to the public. A QR code on the image provides further information. The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) and the Museum Koenig Bonn are partners in the project entitled "Art meets Biodiversity". The project was made possible by the Dr Hans Riegel Foundation.

"Few people realise how dramatically species extinction is currently progressing and how much our own quality of life depends on an intact natural environment," says France Gimnich, biodiversity researcher at the LIB and co-founder of the InUrFaCE association, which initiated the façade painting. "With our project, we want to create a positive relationship with nature, increase its value in society and draw attention to the fact that we have an influence on the preservation or loss of biodiversity through our daily personal decisions."

"Artistic forms of expression such as graffiti create a level of reflection outside of museums," emphasises Bernhard Misof, Director General of the LIB. "We are therefore delighted to be part of the InUrFaCE project, in which graffiti is used as a language. We also want to use this to inspire people about nature and sensitise them to its importance for all of our lives who tend not to go to museums. We find the collaboration with the association and with these great artists very enriching."

InUrFaCE is a non-profit organisation based in Cologne that relies on an international network of scientists from the field of biodiversity research as well as street artists. With the "Art meets Biodiversity" project, the InUrFaCE association is launching an extraordinary collaboration between artistic and scientific expertise. The first eye-catching artwork entitled "Focusing" is being created by the artists "Jack Lack" and "Semor" and will soon adorn the façade of a building in Bonn. More pictures are to follow; we are still looking for space for them.

How can we combine artistic freedom with scientific precision, and how can we show the beauty and relevance of biodiversity at the same time? Artists and researchers discussed these and other conceptual questions in a two-day workshop at Museum Koenig Bonn in April 2024.

Inspiration for the planned artworks also came from a look behind the scenes of the museum and the natural history collections. InUrFaCE e.V. initiated the workshop together with the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) and artists from the street art scene and with the support of the Dr Hans Riegel Foundation.

The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) is dedicated to researching biodiversity and its changes. In order to better understand the ongoing mass extinction of flora and fauna, the scientists are investigating the connections and causes of the - often man-made - changes and are looking for solutions to protect and preserve ecosystems and species - the basis of human life. The transfer of knowledge on these topics in museums with their research collections and public exhibitions is integrated and linked to research into biological diversity.

The Dr Hans Riegel Foundation, based in Bonn, continues the charitable legacy of the former HARIBO co-owner and pursues the goal of promoting and sustainably supporting young people along the education chain in shaping the future. The purpose of the foundation includes the promotion of the fine arts and historical culture in the form of the care and preservation of art and cultural assets and the promotion of the development of art and cultural assets for the public. As part of this statutory purpose, the foundation launched the "Walls of Vision" project in 2019, in which historical works of art are interpreted in the form of façade artworks ("murals") and thus made accessible to the public.