In her installation work soundless voices, bitten tongues, haptic hands, Hurth intertwines the biographies of three objects with those of three women and scientists who represent groundbreaking research in physics and microbiology and who have often been ignored or forgotten in official historiography: Lise Meitner (1878–1968), who formulated the theory of nuclear fission; Elsa Neumann (1872–1902), the first woman in Berlin to earn a doctorate in physics; and Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner (1871–1935), a microbiologist who proved the transmission of tuberculosis and was the first woman appointed professor at Berlin University. As women, they also represent emancipation in the sciences.
Hurth has researched the biographies of the three women and their instruments in various scientific archives and makes them speak in soundless voices, bitten tongues, haptic hands. She designs a theater of objects in which the table presents the objects as if on a stage. Using blown glass, Hurth has duplicated and magnified an induction foil, an ion tube, and a series of pipettes. In the wall text, the vessels are given a voice and speak to their viewers and about their users. They speculatively and polyphonically explore what they can tell us about the hands on the instruments.
This installation was first commissioned by T AT Berlin, 2019.
Hurth has researched the biographies of the three women and their instruments in various scientific archives and makes them speak in soundless voices, bitten tongues, haptic hands. She designs a theater of objects in which the table presents the objects as if on a stage. Using blown glass, Hurth has duplicated and magnified an induction foil, an ion tube, and a series of pipettes. In the wall text, the vessels are given a voice and speak to their viewers and about their users. They speculatively and polyphonically explore what they can tell us about the hands on the instruments.
This installation was first commissioned by T AT Berlin, 2019.
soundless voices, bitten tongues, haptic hands
Installation (blown glass, ceramics, acrylglas, accoustic foam, iron) and vinyl text
dimension variable
2019-2023
Co-produced by Tieranatomisches Theater, T AT Berlin, 2019
Production assistance: Zoé Thonet (2019), Jakob Urban (2023). Glass production supported by Berlin Glas e.V.
Installation Views: *INNEN, Künstlerhaus Bremen, 2023.
Photo credit: Fred Dott
Work exhibited at:
T AT Berlin, 2019
Künstlerhaus Bremen, 2023
Installation (blown glass, ceramics, acrylglas, accoustic foam, iron) and vinyl text
dimension variable
2019-2023
Co-produced by Tieranatomisches Theater, T AT Berlin, 2019
Production assistance: Zoé Thonet (2019), Jakob Urban (2023). Glass production supported by Berlin Glas e.V.
Installation Views: *INNEN, Künstlerhaus Bremen, 2023.
Photo credit: Fred Dott
Work exhibited at:
T AT Berlin, 2019
Künstlerhaus Bremen, 2023
