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Plugged-in people
Aperture
22 | NewScientist | 11 00July Month 2015 2015
Plugged-in people HAS the man in the main image been plugged into a supercomputer or is he undergoing a bizarre form of torture? In fact it’s neither – he’s taking part in a study of how sound influences our spatial awareness, sitting in the midst of multiple arrays of speakers within a soundproof room at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Piquing our curiosity in this way is what photographer Daniel Stier aims to achieve in his book Ways of Knowing, which charts some of the weird and wonderful experiments he has seen. “I’m trying to make people wonder what’s going on,” he says. “To get across the wonder of experimentation.” Investigations into, from top, exercise tolerance, transcranial magnetic stimulation and ergonomics, and the rubber hand illusion below are all grist to the mill. The book also ventures deep into fantasy land with a series of still-life sculptures that recreate experiments conceived in Stier’s imagination. “There are similarities between the work of artists and scientists,” he says. “We both have open-ended curiosity and do work that might end up in complete failure.” Clare Wilson
Photographer Daniel Stier Ways of Knowing by Daniel Stier will be published by YES Editions, ways-of-knowing.com
00 Month 11 July 2015 | NewScientist | 23
22 | NewScientist | 11 00July Month 2015 2015
Plugged-in people HAS the man in the main image been plugged into a supercomputer or is he undergoing a bizarre form of torture? In fact it’s neither – he’s taking part in a study of how sound influences our spatial awareness, sitting in the midst of multiple arrays of speakers within a soundproof room at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Piquing our curiosity in this way is what photographer Daniel Stier aims to achieve in his book Ways of Knowing, which charts some of the weird and wonderful experiments he has seen. “I’m trying to make people wonder what’s going on,” he says. “To get across the wonder of experimentation.” Investigations into, from top, exercise tolerance, transcranial magnetic stimulation and ergonomics, and the rubber hand illusion below are all grist to the mill. The book also ventures deep into fantasy land with a series of still-life sculptures that recreate experiments conceived in Stier’s imagination. “There are similarities between the work of artists and scientists,” he says. “We both have open-ended curiosity and do work that might end up in complete failure.” Clare Wilson
Photographer Daniel Stier Ways of Knowing by Daniel Stier will be published by YES Editions, ways-of-knowing.com
00 Month 11 July 2015 | NewScientist | 23