Presentation vs Credibility – scientific palm scanner or interactive art installation?
At a first glance the Agnostoskop P15-2 is a new scientific palm scanner to visualize an exceptional species of microbes by using a special nutrient fluid and a new analyzing technique. These organisms live on the palms of our hands and are unique and distinct for each person – like a fingerprint. Scientists assume a correlation to the lines on our hands, though nothing particular is known yet.
Diving deeper into the concept, the product reveals itself as an art installation drawing attention to developements in society, i.e. excessive faith in technology or blind trust in well performed presentation. At the same time the underlying ideas are based on techniques already in use by large corporations (PalmScanning) and on new scientific discoveries: People leave behind a unique „cloud of microbes“ which is, in fact, as distinct as a fingerprint.
The installation has been showcased – or better: presented in credible manner – at the Werkschau of Hochschule Augsburg as well as the media art festival Lab30.
