Sometimes science is just plain weird. Daniel Stier makes it look even weirder, documenting seemingly bizarre experiments at state-of-the-art facilities for his series Ways of Knowing.
The London-based photographer spent four years shooting at different locations in Europe and the US. He was intrigued by the elaborate, outlandish-looking experiments conducted by certain institutions and research centers. "I have a strange fascination with anything scientific," Stier says. "So often things that you don’t understand can be very attractive."
He visited multiple facilities, including the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne, Germany, the Sensory Motor Neuroscience Centre in Birmingham, England and the Department of Psychology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. The experiments might look wacky, but Stier insists they are quite real—conducted by professors, doctors and students for actual research. The photos depict participants subjected to all sorts of uncomfortable poking and prodding. Individuals are suspended from medieval-looking wires, strapped into clunky, egg-shaped capsules and stuffed into shiny, puffy suits. The hulking contraptions, tangled cords and oddball materials give the impression of a DIY project gone awry.
What’s perhaps most curious is how dated everything looks. From the shabby carpeting to the sterile, basement-like environments, the scenes would easily be at home in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Stier explains that's because research isn't only in sleek, impressive laboratories. "It’s not all stainless steel and high tech," he says. "It’s mostly universities who are always short on funding. So they work with what they have and make do."
Stier doesn't have captions for his images, and offers no details regarding the testing devices or the research. The photographer wants people to invent their own stories about what they're seeing. "I like the fact that you have a sense of bewilderment when looking at them," he says. "There is some potential in these photos - what is going on? What happened? What is going to happen?"
Stier recently published a photo book on the project. Along with the research facilities, the book includes still life "experiments" built by the photographer. While some illustrate actual scientific principles, others are outright fantasy. Stier sees a parallel between scientific study and the creative process in his work. "Entering these laboratories I always had the feeling of visiting an artist's studio," he says. "It is about curiosity, experimentation and a feedback loop of thinking and doing. The creative work of artists and scientists is always an open-ended inquiry. I think it's ultimately a way to find order in an all too complex reality."
Ways of Knowing is currently showing at the Kulturreich Gallery in Hamburg, Germany until September 4.
