Science meets street art

Since Monday, 8 July 2024, street artists have been creating a large-format mural at Maxstraße 58 in Bonn, which was created in collaboration with scientists. The association InUrFaCE (Initiative of Urban Facades Creature Exposition) wants to make the beauty of biodiversity, 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 are aware of 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 our daily personal choices have an impact on the preservation or loss of biodiversity.”

“Artistic forms of expression such as graffiti create a level of reflection outside of museums,” emphasises Bernhard Misof, General Director of the LIB. “We are therefore delighted to be part of the InUrFaCE project, which uses graffiti as a language. We want to use it to inspire people who don’t normally go to museums and make them aware of the importance of nature for all of our lives. We find it very enriching to work with the association and these great artists.”

InUrFaCE is a non-profit organisation based in Cologne, Germany, that draws on an international network of biodiversity scientists  and 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, titled “Focusing”, is being created by the artists “Jack Lack” and “Semor” and will soon adorn the façade of a building in Bonn, Germany. Further artworks will follow and locations are still being sought.

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 scientists discussed these and other conceptual questions during 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 its 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 the study of biological diversity and its changes. In order to better understand the ongoing mass extinction of flora and fauna, the scientists are investigating the interrelationships and causes of the changes, many of which are man-made, and are seeking for solutions for the protection and conservation of 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 on biological diversity.

The Dr Hans Riegel Foundation, based in Bonn, Germany, continues the charitable legacy of the former HARIBO co-owner and pursues the goal of supporting and sustainably accompanying young people along the educational chain as they shape their 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.

Further information:

https://www.art-meets-biodiversity.com

Contact:

Carola Greve
Board of Directors InUrFaCE e.V.
INFO@BIODIVERSITY-INURFACE.DE

Mareen Gerisch
Head of Communications and Press
Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB)
M.GERISCH@LEIBNIZ-LIB.DE

Madeleine Breuer
Head of Public Relations
Dr Hans Riegel Foundation
MADELEINE.BREUER@HANS-RIEGEL-STIFTUNG.COM