Helmholtz Institut 'HIPS'

After the successful artistic design of the new administration building of the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) at the headquarters in Braunschweig, Samuelis Baumgarte Art Consulting has also taken on the contract for the implementation of an art in building competition for the branch office of the HZI in Saarbrücken. The aim was to artistically interpret the research approach of the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) in the new building on the university campus. The HIPS concentrates on the development of new drugs against infectious diseases and thus makes a significant contribution to health research. The merger of the scientific expertise from infection research and pharmaceutical research from HZI and HIPS is unique in Europe.

The condition for the artist selection was a regional connection of the artists to Saarbrücken or the Saarland and, if possible, first experience in the artistic interpretation of scientific topics. Esther Hagenmaier and Sigrún Ólafsdóttir emerged as winners from the limited invitation competition carried out by Samuelis Baumgarte Art Consulting and were commissioned to develop a design.

Esther Hagenmaier studied from 1999 to 2006 at the HBK Saar in Saarbrücken and was a master student of Prof. Sigurd Rompza. Under the title “Teamwork” she designed a work for the HIPS that both uses the central staircase and includes two glass walls between the foyer and the seminar room. Colored line elements made of metal give rhythm to the stairwell, still appear confused and unstructured on the ground floor, to bundle more and more into a strand with a clear orientation the higher you climb. The visualization of the research process shows that a comprehensive overview from a single perspective is not possible - neither on an artistic nor on a scientific level.

Foil lamination with strongly colored line structures accentuate the two opposing glass walls between the foyer and the seminar room. Depending on the point of view of the observer, the lines diverge, overlap and finally come together to form a clear image. The interlocking of the structures can be interpreted symbolically for the cooperation between the different research groups at HIPS.

The Icelandic artist Sigrún Ólafsdóttir first studied sculpture in Reykjavik before moving to the HBK Saar in 1990, where she became a master student of Wolfgang Nestler. For the HIPS she designed the outdoor sculpture “Cornucopia”, which was placed not far from the entrance area near a seating group for the employees. The breaking form strives energetically into the surrounding nature, seems to seek equilibrium in a permanent rotational movement, never to stand still. A symbol for research at HIPS. There, too, permanent movement is essential. Movement in the sense of further development, the requirement to constantly recognize new connections, and last but not least, the joy of experimentation, which gives science the chance for optimization processes.

Photographs © RDS Partner and Esther Hagenmaier