Hello Europe! It’s Academic Heritage Day and it’s all about sensational and sensory objects in the collections of European universities.
At the University of Göttingen, objects are in use all over campus, coming from an incredibly rich landscape of almost a hundred different academic collections. These objects are being analyzed in research, as well as demonstrated in teaching, for example:
- paintings or prints in art history,
- living algae cultures in microbiology,
- archaeologists trying out color variations on plaster casts
At Forum Wissen, the University of Göttingen’s museum of knowledge, many of these objects are on display, and many are protected by glass, so they don’t get damaged or, worse still, stolen.
Touching is allowed
But in teaching and research, being able to touch the objects is often essential, in fact, many of the objects in teaching collections are even especially made to be touched. Because we don’t only gain knowledge by closely examining things with our eyes. Often the things at hand actually need to be touched, to learn about their key features.
So, at Forum Wissen we have deliberately put some objects out to be touched, to be explored with our finger tips. Let’s go for a quick tour in our Spaces of Knowledge exhibition and find some stuff we can literally get our hands on! Let’s explore, how knowledge is created trough by the sense of touch, this sensational ability to feed our brains directly from our skin, nerves and muscles.
Grasping Mineralogy
We can sense the structures in minerals by touching their surfaces: some are smooth or sharp-edged, some harder than others that might even crumble, some are heavier than others, they even have different temperatures and some surfaces seem almost greasy. All these features, recognized in contact through our skin, nerves and muscles, are very relevant primary information for mineralogists, especially when they are out doing field work.
Understanding a horse’s foot
Learning the anatomy of a horse, or rather its foot, becomes so much easier with a mounted example at hand: Which bones make up a foot? How does their 3D shape convey their function in motion? How do they correspond with the joints of a human hand? And why does bone material tend to have this greasy feel to it, again, similar to minerals? And, how do you technically mount a skeleton, to create such a sensational object? All the answers are just a touch away…
Making sense of scattered shards
Here’s some knowledge that might even come in handy at home, if you break a plate. While we wish all the best for your cutlery at home, practically all ceramics from antiquity are dug up in piles and piles of shards. Now, to solve these puzzles we definitely have to go hands-on! The edges of shards are incredibly telling to touch, they are highly individual, because only two of them match exactly. Our fingertips enhance the abilities of our eyes and brain, to put all the shards together again.
The beauty in a cat
It’s said that symmetry is a feature of beauty, and at first sight: Yes! Isn’t this a sensationally beautiful portrait bust of a cheetah, looking perfectly symmetrical? Well… to be exact: it’s NOT exactly symmetrical, like practically nothing is in nature. Symmetry is an ideal, but in natural life, there are these little differences everywhere, which make every living being an individual. And these differences can be felt best, by touching and comparing a form with both hands, thus giving your brain stereo input so to speak from two sources simultaneously.
Sensing the materiality of writing
We can train our hands to also type with both hands, even with all fingers individually, so we can pour our knowledge onto sheets of paper. But did you know, that your parents and grandparents actually had to physically, type every single character of a text onto paper? Give it a try, and you will learn: “Sensation is also key to the process of writing.”
Grab a pen and put down your thoughts
We hope all these thoughts about creating knowledge being a sensory experience make sense to you. It’s absolutely sensational what objects from academic heritage can do! Why don’t you grab a pen from time to time, to express yourself and pass on your thoughts – just like the visitors do at the Forum Wissen.