Arctic tipping points and deep drilling in Lusatia: The Schaufler Kolleg's first explorations of Data↔Worlds

The Schaufler Kolleg@TU Dresden started its second funding phase in April 2024. Under the leadership of spokespersons Moritz Ingwersen and Orit Halpern and postdoctoral researcher Özgün Eylül Iscen, seven doctoral students began their dissertation projects on the new guiding theme of Data↔Worlds. In addition to a regular research colloquium, which in the first semester was characterized by intensive, interdisciplinary text reading and discussion on the main topic, the first exchange formats with the Schaufler Residency as well as research studios and excursions took place:

As a prelude to her artistic research fellowship at the Schaufler Residency@TU Dresden, conceptual artist Lena von Goedeke met literary scholar Svenja Engelmann-Kewitz, TU Dresden, in mid-May.

Under the programmatic motto "Tipping Points", the two researchers, who have been exploring the transformation of the polar north for years from an artistic and literary perspective respectively, discussed the significance of the Arctic in the context of the climate crisis and extreme futures at COSMO in the Kulturpalast Dresden.

The Schaufler Kolleg doctoral students in the audience were soon able to intensify this first dialog on Lena von Goedeke's research. In mid-June, the research colloquium on the topic of "Sensing Data Environments" was moved to the artist's Berlin studio without further ado. This was a fruitful way of combining a cultural studies-based reading with a guided tour of Lena von Goedeke's current research work, which deals with the potential and challenges of various remote sensing technologies within Arctic research, with the artist herself also using drones to explore her research subject.

The Schaufler Kolleg was able to experience a brief demonstration of this on its two-day excursion to Görlitz and Upper Lusatia, which took place at the end of June. The focus of this excursion into field research was a visit to the German Center for Astrophysics in Görlitz, a large-scale research center for astrophysical and astronomical research and associated technology development that was initiated in 2022 and has been under construction since 2024. Led by astrophysicist and science communicator Dr. Stefan Ohm and accompanied by other DZA scientists, the excursion began with a guided tour by Daniel Breutmann from the goerlitz21 e.V. association through the future site of the DZA in Görlitz, the Kahlbaum-Areal. Today's "lost place" was founded in the 19th century by the physician and therapist Dr. Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum as a mental hospital and used as a psychiatric and medical facility before the building ensemble was vacated in 2002. The excursion group then took a motorcade to Ralbitz-Rosenthal in Upper Lusatia to visit the drilling site for an underground research laboratory planned by the DZA, the Low Seismic Lab.

According to the DZA, the subterranean granite dome of Upper Lusatia offers excellent conditions for the development of new measurement and production technologies and innovative gravitational wave detectors. The depth of the test drillings of over 200 meters already reached was immediately checked by a drone flight controlled by Lena von Goedeke. Schaufler Kolleg and DZA employees discussed the interweaving of new high-performance technologies and data streams with social and cultural transformation processes in post-industrial landscapes such as Upper Lusatia. The visit to the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz on the second day of the excursion followed on from this: Dr. Olaf Tietz, section head for the museum's geological and palaeobotanical collections, provided an insight into the history and composition of the Upper Lusatian granite stock, possible drilling depths and palaeontological finds from the former open-cast mining areas. Together with the astrophysical objectives of the DZA, the excursion participants of the Schaufler Kolleg and the Schaufler Residency received data messages from deep time from two directions: geological and cosmic.

Following the excursion, the fellows reflected in initial creative sketches on their observations of the diverse dimensions of data worlds and practices they encountered during this exchange. Further work on these reflections will kick off the Kolleg training program in the upcoming winter semester 2024/25.

To be continued ...