Observation and visualization: reflections

on the relationship between science, visual

arts, and the evolution of the scientific
image

Eveline Kolijn

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Journal of Microbiology

ISSN 0003-6072

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

DOI 10.1007/s10482-013-9951-z

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 Author's personal copy
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
DOI 10.1007/s10482-013-9951-z
ORIGINAL PAPER
Observation and visualization: reflections
on the relationship between science, visual arts,
and the evolution of the scientific image
Eveline Kolijn
Received: 4 April 2013 / Accepted: 4 June 2013
 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract The connections between biological sci-
ences, art and printed images are of great interest to the
author. She reflects on the historical relevance of visual
representations for science. She argues that the
connection between art and science seems to have
diminished during the twentieth century. However, this
connection is currently growing stronger again through
digital media and new imaging methods. Scientific
illustrations have fuelled art, while visual modeling
tools have assisted scientific research. As a print media
artist, she explores the relationship between art and
science in her studio practice and will present this
historical connection with examples related to evolu-
tion, microbiology and her own work. Art and science
share a common source, which leads to scrutiny and
enquiry. Science sets out to reveal and explain our
reality, whereas art comments and makes connections
that don’t need to be tested by rigorous protocols. Art
and science should each be evaluated on their own
merit. Allowing room for both in the quest to under-
stand our world will lead to an enriched experience.
Keywords Art and science
Digital imaging

Printmaking
Scientific illustration
Symbiogenesis
E. Kolijn (&)
508 Bearspaw Village Ridge, Calgary, AB T3L2P1,
Canada
e-mail: evelinekolijn@hotmail.com; kolijn03@telus.net
URL: www.evelinekolijn.com
Introduction
The American writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell
often paraphrased an essay by Schopenhauer, Transcen-
dent Speculation on the Apparent Intention in the Fate of
the Individual, pointing out that looking back on your
life, events that seemed random at the time, will appear
structured, as if they were following a consistent order or
plan (Campbell and Moyers 1991). Artists are often
sensitive in recognizing their life-pattern, and awareness
of it informs their art. My childhood was spent
beachcombing the seashore of Venezuela and browsing
through illustrated books on evolution, natural history
and seashells. In my teens, I learnt scuba diving in the
Caribbean, and to observe and record the natural habitats
of the shells my father and I collected. These early
experiences influenced my development as an artist, and
fostered my interest in the connection between art and
science. Involvement with taxonomy made me sensitive
to form and pattern in nature. However, one of the most
fascinating patterns to emerge from developing events is
evolution, the pattern of life itself.
The historical relationship between image, art
and science
Observation is the shared source of art and science,
with the image forming the bridge. The spread of
scientific information historically depended on text
and image. A new empiricism that awakened in
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Europe in the mid 1400s caused a rising demand for
precise and multiple visual renderings of natural
phenomena. This demand was met by the introduction
of the printing press. Printed scientific illustration soon
became integral to knowledge dissemination. Printed
visualizations were not only the result of scientific
enquiry, but they have also assisted it (Cazort 1997).
The history of visualization in science is fascinating. It
provides both scientific information, and insight into
the worldview of artists and scientists of that time.
In their historical study on Objectivity, Lorraine
Daston and Peter Galison identify four consecutive
stages and categories of representation: Truth-to-
Nature, Mechanical Objectivity, Trained Judgment
and Constructed Presentation (2007). All categories
are currently in use, but each stage was a precondition
for the following, with the more recent stages devel-
oping through technological innovation, such as
photography and digital media. The transition from
scroll to book provided a possible format of presenting
image and text side by side (Pavord 2005). Printed text
and image made it possible to share scientific obser-
vation in a larger geographical context and through
time, providing continuity to explore and verify these
observations within a scientific community. This
collective empiricism, argue Daston and Galison, has
contributed to our current notion of objectivity in
science (2007).
By the eighteenth century it was recognized that
natural specimens display individual variance. How-
ever, underneath were pure and exact forms, which an
illustrating artist could generate. During the Enlight-
enment, the natural sciences started to move from a
philosophical towards a more empirical approach. The
German Romantic ideals that followed, originated
from the ideas of Goethe and philosophies of Kant also
strongly influenced scientific thought (Gamwell
2002). Nature was perceived as a great harmonious
whole. Morphological research on the diversity of
plant and animal forms was conducted to reveal deeper
archetypal forms or ‘‘Urformen’’. Qualitative under-
standing of these forms would lead to insight into the
laws and sublime quality of Nature (Steigerwald
2002). In this pantheistic worldview, art and science
were not yet separated domains. Scientific consider-
ation and aesthetic perception were both required in
studying organic form (Steigerwald 2002). Stylized
plant forms and organic shape were associated with
the ultimate ideal of beauty in art and design. Victorian
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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
art, the Arts and Craft movement and Art Nouveau at
the end of the nineteenth century, had their roots in
these Romantic ideals (Fahr-Becker 1997).
The work of natural scientist Ernst Haeckel
(1834–1919) reflects this Romantic scientific lineage.
However, he also embraced new ideas that brought
natural sciences into the twentieth century. When
Darwin published his Origin of Species a hundred and
fifty years ago, Haeckel was an early supporter and the
first to incorporate the new evolutionary thought in his
theories (Richards 2008). He was an exquisite draftsman
and produced many beautiful illustrations of the radiola-
rians that were the main subject of his research. In his
illustrations, he reduced the organisms to a basic pattern
of symmetry, thus revealing their hidden, ideal forms. His
most famous illustrations were published in 1904 in a
lavish book called Kunstformen der Natur. The illustra-
tions are a symbiosis between keen scientific observa-
tion and the presentation of natural form as ornament
(Breidbach 1998). Haeckel’s illustrations fit seamlessly
into the Art Nouveau movement and inspired the creation
of lamps, furniture and even architecture. René Binet’s
gate to the 1900 Paris fair was inspired by Haeckel’s
drawings of radiolarians (Breidbach 1998).
Haeckel’s illustrations were hand-drawn, coloured
lithographs. After the First World War, photo-repro-
duction techniques had matured enough to make
photography the prime medium for illustration.
Mechanical Objectivity became the preferred
approach of scientific illustration, where the influence
of the artist was erased as much as possible, in order to
create a most objective representation of nature
(Daston and Galison 2007). A fundamental difference
between hand-drawn illustration and photography
involves the artist’s choice. A hand-drawn image can
be diagrammatic or based on multiple specimens. The
photographer faces the choice of which single spec-
imen to select as representative for a species. This
debate already raged in Haeckel’s time, because his
academic opponents accused him of fraud, of twisting
his visual representation of embryos towards his
theories (Richards 2008). The photograph promised
to replace this interference of the artist. In contrast to
eighteenth century scientist-philosophers like Goethe,
who attempted to find the archetypical pattern of an
organism, late nineteenth century anatomists believed
specifics reflected true reality, and straying from them
invited distortions in the interest of dubious theories
(Richards 2008). The big question of the veracity of
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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
the photograph versus manipulation by the illustrator
and its influence on science remains a current debate
(Cazort 1997; Daston and Galison 2007; Lynch and
Woolgar 1990; Coopmans et al. 2014).1
Late nineteenth century photographer Karl Bloss-
feldt (1865–1923) used photography to categorize
plant-forms. His objective was to create a visual
catalogue as a resource for ornament in architecture.
His close-up photographs from isolated plants look
like organic abstractions (Wilde and Wilde 1977). In
1928, Blossfeldt’s photographs were published as
photogravures in a book called Urformen der Natur. It
was an instant success and made his images as
influential as those from Ernst Haeckel. In classifying
forms, Blossfeldt adhered to Romantic notions but the
aesthetic of his cropped, magnified images was crisp
and clear, heralding the sense of New Objectivity
(Wilde and Wilde 1977). The invisible was increas-
ingly revealed by new imaging technologies like
X-rays and photo-microscopy. The application of
microscopic scientific imagery in art can be very
subtle, as is the case with a famous painting by Gustav
Klimt. In 1907, Klimt painted Danaë, a dreamy and
sensual nude being impregnated by the Golden Rain of
Zeus. Danaë is shrouded in a robe with a motif that has
been described as ‘‘gold filigree discs’’. When devel-
opmental biologist Scott Gilbert saw those discs a few
years ago, he was amazed that nobody had recognized
they were perfect renditions of blastocysts, the early
stages of embryonic development. He successfully
argues that Klimt must have seen blastocysts through a
microscope himself because he shared the salon of
Emil Zuckerkandl, a leading Viennese anatomist of
the time (Gilbert and Brauckmann 2011). The Danaë
by Klimt is a perfect example where scientific imagery
is used in art to make lateral connections with an
alternate, but very meaningful, content. Zuckerkandl’s
son Émile, fled to the United States during the Second
World War. He became a biochemist and developed
the initial idea of the molecular clock with Linus
1
An update of the essays on this topic in the publication edited
by Michael Lynch and Steven Woolgar (1990) is expected into
appear in January 2014 by Coopmans C, Vertesi J, Lynch M,
Woolgar S (eds). ‘‘This volume revisits the topic, taking into
account both the changing conceptual landscape of STS (Science
and Technology Studies) and the emergence of new imaging
technologies in scientific practice’’. http://mitpress.mit.edu/
books/representation-scientific-practice-revisited/. Accessed 16
May 2013.
Pauling. He has played a crucial role in integrating
molecular biological theories into evolutionary
biology.
Organic shape in the arts moved towards more
abstract biomorphic form. Blossfeldt’s organic
abstractions appealed to the Surrealist movement,
which flourished between the world wars (Mundy
2007). In some collages from Max Ernst we can find a
residue of the Romantic notion of nature. Through
collage he altered and re-arranged scientific images,
themselves a product of printed representation, stress-
ing their alien quality and demonstrated how close they
connect with qualitative fantasies of our own imagi-
nation (Gamwell 2002). The Romantic scientists were
motivated by a sense of wonder. The Surrealists
emphasized the subjective in this notion of wonder by
creating personal fantasies (Mundy 2007). The visual
in art and science started to disconnect. The German
Romantic thought that I have been following so far
effectively ended with Germany’s defeat in the Second
World War. The leading role in science and art shifted
to the United States. Reductionism, which emphasizes
discovering the smallest parts of the whole, became the
dominant approach. The arts embraced reductionism
through abstraction, minimalism and the quest for
purity of expression (Gamwell 2002).
Widespread photographic reproduction of scientific
illustration throughout society in the twentieth century
turned some biological images into cultural artifacts.
They have become icons or symbols loaded with new
meanings of collective understanding (Flannery
1998). An early example is Haeckel’s tree of life
diagram expressing hierarchies in evolutionary devel-
opment. Another is the famous ‘‘March of Progress’’
illustration that first appeared in Time Life Books in
1965, which instantly cemented an unfortunate but
popular view of evolution (Switek 2010). However,
one of the most iconic visuals produced in the last
century is the double helix of DNA. The development
and use of X-ray crystallography accelerated research
into molecular models after the Second World War.
X-ray diffractions made by Rosalind Franklin pro-
vided the visual clue for Watson and Crick to solve the
structure of DNA (Kemp 2011). John Kendrew created
the first three-dimensional model of the protein
Myoglobin in 1957, which also won him a Nobel
Prize. He experimented with several methods of X-ray
crystallography and constructed a three dimensional
density map by stacking transparent layers with X-ray
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reflections of different cross-sections from the protein
(Kemp 2000). Print-artist Marilene Oliver used a
similar method in 2002. She screen-printed a selection
of MRI cross-sections from the first full body scan
done of a human being onto sheets of Plexiglas. By
stacking the sheets, she rebuilt the shape of the body
(Miles 2006).
Today, a similar principle is applied in electron
cryotomography (ECT), where imaged cross sections
of specimen in a cryo transmission electron micro-
scope are combined to create digital, three-dimen-
sional structures of cellular or macro-molecular
organisms.2 Research on the Planctomycetes-Ver-
rucomicrobia-Chlamydiae (PVC) Superphylum has
revealed that many of its members are full of complex
endomembranes that are unique among prokaryotes.
An electron tomogram of Gemmata obscuriglobus
presented by Rachel Santarella-Mellwig, Sabine
Pruggnaller, Iain Mattaj and Damien Devos during
the 2013 EMBO Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobia-
Chlamydiae Superphylum: Exceptions to the bacterial
definition workshop,3 revealed a very complex inter-
connecting endomembrane system inside this organ-
ism. Visualization of the cell structure and exact
observation of these internal membranes is crucial in
understanding the PVC bacteria and in a wider
context, the evolution of eukaryotic organisms. The
presented tomography-visuals were extremely illumi-
nating, but also challenged visualization skills of some
who saw the digital renderings projected on the screen.
Tomograms are digital constructions, and look quite
abstracted. In an overview of current microscopic
methods, Martin Pilhofer et al. (2010) discuss the
value of electron cryotomography for revealing spatial
relationships between objects within a microorganism
such as a bacterium. The process of creating such
microscopic images is taxing and requires great skill
on the part of the researcher. It should be mentioned,
that many computational adaptations and noise-reduc-
tions have been applied to recorded images in order to
create the three-dimensional tomogram, which lacks
the visual detail present in images resulting from two-
dimensional cryo-sectioning. On the other hand, some
objects have been observed in bacteria, such a
2 the hand and mind of an artist who can synthesize the
See: http://www.jove.com/video/1943/electron-cryotomogra
phy-of-bacterial-cells. Accessed 16 May 2013.
3
See: http://events.embo.org/13-pvc/programme.html. Accessed
16 May 2013.
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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
mesosomes, which turned out to be artifacts created
by dehydration, chemical fixation and staining neces-
sary to prepare specimen for more traditional light and
electronmicroscopy (Pilhofer et al. 2010). Martin
Pilhofer pointed out during his presentation on ‘‘Cell
biology of PVC bacteria revealed by electron cryot-
omography (ECT)’’ in the same EMBO workshop,
that cryo-electromicroscopy avoids occurrence of
these artefacts (see footnote 3). The wide array of
modern microscopy techniques have their strengths
and weaknesses, while increasingly revealing differ-
ent elements of the structure of a bacterium, which is
quite crucial in this case of the PVC bacteria.
However, back in the 1960s an artist’s skill and
drawing were applied to visually expand early models
of proteins. The crude plaster-model of Myoglobin
made by Kendrew was clarified through a beautiful
watercolour rendering by illustrator Irving Geis in
1958. This image set a new standard for scientific
illustration of molecular structures. Dickerson, who
worked with Geis, remembered in 1997: ‘‘A computer
could draw a protein, given the right set of coordinates.
But who would tell it exactly what to show? If some
key aspect of protein structure was eclipsed and out of
sight, the computer would be stuck. But Irv the artist
could just tweak it a bit, and move it out in the open
where it could be seen and the molecular mechanism
thereby understood. He called this process ‘‘selective
lying,’’ and claimed that this was one of the special
talents of a knowledgeable artist’’ (Dickerson 1997,
p. 2483). The artist’s interference returned in creating
images of this complex world invisible to the human
eye. This approach can be labeled Trained Judgment,
where the artist needs to understand the science, and
use a well-informed sense of judgment in order to
create clarifying images (Daston and Galison 2007).
Geis applied human intelligence in a way that
computer-generated rendering cannot achieve. An
artist well informed in a specific field of science and
with a visual knowledge of collected observations, is
able to slightly adapt some elements in an illustration
in order to present as accurately as possible. Given the
previous discussion on the merits of a digital tomo-
gram and images that are generated by modern
microscopy in general, it is interesting to contemplate
available visual information into a detailed drawing.
Visual exploration of these complex protein struc-
tures continued. Jane Richardson was searching for
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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
better visual tools to express the three-dimensional,
physical shape of proteins. It took her a year to develop
but by 1981, she had perfected a system of ribbon-
drawings that set the current standard for depicting
proteins. On developing the drawings she comments
that, ‘‘Making these drawings was a fascinating
process. First, the structures are very aesthetically
pleasing… Second, making a drawing can change
one’s scientific understanding of a protein, sometimes
revealing a preferable structural classification and once
even correcting a chain tracing. Third, defining the
conventions of representation was surprisingly com-
plex and interesting.’’ (Richardson 2000, p. 624). It is
important to note that the act of visualization assisted in
clarifying scientific understanding. Rosalind Reid,
Director of the Institute for Applied Computational
Science at Harvard, has developed imaging workshops
for scientists for this purpose. ‘‘…All participants find
that making a good drawing to communicate a
scientific concept or result is difficult, for surprising
reasons,’’ she says, ‘‘In stripping a problem down to its
bones, a drawing reveals underlying scientific think-
ing.’’ (Reid 2011, p. 81). Richardson’s drawings laid
the foundation for the digital protein modeling tools
that exist today. Their impersonal, sleek, look suggests
objectivity. We should not forget that in creating these
models, some artistic decisions have been made which
are not very different from the choices made for earlier,
truth-to-nature images. However, trained judgment
differs in that it is more about revealing pattern than
type (Daston and Galison 2007). Kemp poses the
interesting question as to which extent the visual make-
up of these models, such as a certain styling or color-
use, influences the thinking of the scientists who work
with them (Kemp 2000). Marie Farge, a computational
fluid dynamicist, has been researching tools for colour
standardization to block subjectivity of color palette
and other visual choices related to computer simulation
modeling (Daston and Galison 2007).
Personal art-science projects
It was such a digital protein model that inspired my
collaboration with Canadian poet Christian Bök in
2007. At the time of our collaboration, Christian was
developing a proposal called the Xenotext Experiment.
He planned to transcribe a poem into a DNA-sequence
and embed it into the genome of a bacterium. The
DNA sequence will generate a new protein in its host
thus producing the first protein-poem (Kolijn 2008). I
had just finished a body of prints that incorporated
photographs of plastic spores that I had constructed
from repurposed, plastic yoghurt cups. I decided to use
a similar approach for this project. I found a digital
image of a protein from the intended host-bacterium
and I created a physical model from metal chicken-
mesh and plastic, (Mylar) strips (Fig. 1). The Xenotext
poem had not been written yet, so Bök wrote six
anagrams derived from William Burroughs’s quote
that ‘‘Language is a virus from Outer Space’’. One
reason for selecting this quote is speculation that the
intended host bacterium, Deinococcus radiodurans,
originated in outer space. The anagrams are a meta-
phor of DNA recombination. I printed this text on the
(Mylar) strips and wove them into my physical model,
mimicking the protein ribbons. I edited my photo-
graphs of this model in Photoshop, to create the visual
structure of the intended protein (Fig. 2). On a visual
level, the image completed the concept of the Xenotext
Experiment. Bök has used it widely to advertise and
generate funding for his project. He is currently very
close to completion. He recently managed to create a
poetic sequence that was successfully integrated into
E. coli. The final phase will be inserting it into
Deinococcus radiodurans, followed by a book publi-
cation (Davis 2013).
With the discovery of DNA, evolutionary biology
embraced the reductionist approach, leading the way
for a torrential amount of new discoveries by the
Fig. 1 Model for protein poem, chicken mesh, printed Mylar
strips, 29 9 20 9 7 cm, 2007
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Fig. 2 Eveline Kolijn, A Virus from Outer Space, digital image,
2007
twenty-first century. However, new insights also led to
questioning the mechanistic approach that gave rise to
their discovery. Stuart Kauffman, a well-known
complexity theorist and friend of Christian Bök, has
criticized this approach as inadequate. Reductionism
is powerful science, but its mechanistic nature fails to
explain phenomena like self-organisation in organ-
isms and the outcome of open systems like evolution.
Kauffman calls such systems emergent since they are
inherently creative and unfolding beyond prediction.
In recognizing this creative nature, Kauffman advo-
cates to reconnect the sciences with the arts (Kauffman
2008). The idea of emergence also reconnects with the
Kantian, purposive concept of an organism as ‘‘both
cause and effect of itself’’. Kant gives a beautiful
description in his Critique of teleological judgment by
illustrating how a tree stands in a causal relation to its
own existence: ‘‘In such a natural product as this every
part is thought as owning its existence to the agency of
all remaining parts, and also as existing for the sake of
the others and of the whole, that is as an instrument, or
organ. But this is not enough –… On the contrary, the
part must be an organ producing the other parts-each
consequently, reciprocally producing the oth-
ers…Only under these conditions and upon these
terms can such a product be an organized and self-
organized being, and, as such, be called a natural
end.’’ (Kant 2008, p. 202, italics mine). The concept of
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purpose is anathema in a reductionist view where
evolution is propelled by pure random, replicator-
driven events. In the arts this worldview is somewhat
echoed in Post-Modernism and Deconstruction.
Within this mechanical worldview, art and science
are widely separate realms. However, a growing group
of scientists advocate a new focus on a more holistic
approach that considers whole systems, relationships,
self-organization and creativity. Even the concept of
teleology finds an entry again, and there is growing
support by science philosophers in re-evaluating
Kantian purposiveness as a natural phenomenon of
organisms (Walsh 2006).
Other concepts that had been abandoned after the
War because they did not fit the reductionist paradigm
are now reconsidered and re-evaluated in the light of
new discoveries. The current concept of the biosphere
is a holistic idea that was first developed by Russian
scientist Vladimir Vernadsky at the turn of the
previous century (Vernadsky 1998). The concept of
symbiogenesis had also been explored by Konstantin
Merezhkovsky and Boris Kozo-Polyansky, but was
cut off and secluded behind the Iron Curtain after the
Second World War (Kozo-Polyansky 2010). This is
the theory that formation of new and more complex
organisms occurred through symbiotic mergers.
In the 1960s, before the rise of complexity theory
and the concept of emergence, a passionate and
brilliant biologist, Lynn Margulis, started to explore
the concept of endosymbiosis. She eventually found
the connection with the Russian scientists and pro-
moted that heritage. Lynn was creative and coura-
geous enough to go against mainstream theory in her
time. She remained steadfast, because she had seen
proof of her hunch under her microscope and in the
‘‘gorgeous high-power photographs (electron micro-
graphs) of organelles’’. She preferred ‘‘to look directly
at living cells rather than grind them up to examine
their intrinsic chemistry.’’ (Margulis 1998, p. 24).
Visual observation clearly guided Lynn’s research and
she was also able to make many creative, lateral,
connections in her thinking. In a recent interview she
said, ‘‘The evolutionary biologists believe the evolu-
tionary pattern is a tree. It is not. The evolutionary
pattern is a web—the branches fuse…and stay
together.’’ (Teresi 2011, p. 69). This is how she sees
the world, as a web of interconnections. This is also
what led her to support James Lovelock in developing
his concept of the biosphere and Gaia theory. By now,
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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
her Serial Endosymbiosis Theory (SET) has been
widely accepted. Scholars in the humanities and
cultural sciences have used evolutionary theory to
explain human culture and behaviour. The theory of
natural selection has been universalized in this man-
ner. Philosophy of science professor Natalie Gontier
proposes that symbiogenesis as a theory can be
universalized as well (Gontier 2012).
As an artist, I completely relate to this way of seeing
the world: as creative, emergent and symbiotic.
Fig. 3 Eveline Kolijn, Symbiogenesis, intaglio on Somerset paper, 56 9 56 cm, 2009
Margulis’s books introduce her theories to non-
professionals, and after reading Symbiotic Planet I
was totally blown away by her elegant theory, which
made so much sense to me. Her writing inspired me to
visualize my understanding of it into print. The
process of artistic creation is always emergent. In this
sense can the making of my print Symbiogenesis
(Fig. 3) be regarded as a mini-evolution in itself,
where the art develops according to rules determined
by the artistic concept and constraints of the medium.
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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

This framework guides the actual act of creation,

where the progression is determined by what has been
created before. However, despite the planning and
conceptualising, it cannot be exactly predicted what
the product will look like in the end. This is a process
of creative discovery and emergence.
Let me describe my concept. First, I connected my
desire to visualize endosymbiosis with another idea I
had floating around: to compose one large image by
tiling smaller images; each an individual image in its
own right. Perfect for symbiogenesis. I also considered
the idea that evolutionary development accelerates
over time. I decided to use thirteen tiles, and increase
the amount of tiles depicting each stage. The series
I used is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, and 5, which are the first numbers
of the mathematical Fibonacci sequence. The ratios
derived from that sequence correspond very closely to
5:8, which is the same ratio as the Golden Section.
I chose to embed this particular sequence in my image,
because proportions very close to the Golden Section
are encountered in many forms and processes of life.
For instance, we find it in the spirals of shells and
sunflowers, and also in phyllotaxis of plant growth.
Once my concept was defined, I needed to find source
images of bacteria and cell organelles. I did not want to
take too much artistic license in depicting these
organisms and tried to find original images on the web.
Cell organelles were easy to find, but interesting or
detailed images of the smaller bacteria were less easy
to access. I tried to determine which bacteria were part
of more archaic lineages so I could place them in the
bottom corner, the foundation of my symbiotic,
merging sequence. I selected Planctomyces maris
(Fig. 4), because the form was striking and it had
enigmatic qualities according to my source (Margulis
and Schwartz 1997). A sense of mystery seemed
appropriate to me. The drawing I sourced was a bit
clinical and not organic enough to my taste, so I added
texture with crateriform structures, which appeared to
be strikingly similar to those recently observed by
microbiologist Christian Jogler in the related species
Planctomyces limnophilus, and which he could only
recently produce with state of the art microscopy.4 My
drawing of these structures was intuitive, but sublim-
inally informed by years spent observing natural
forms. There is also a remarkable sense of coincidence
4
Personal communication with Dr. C. Jogler, February 27,
2012.
Fig. 4 Eveline Kolijn, Planctomyces maris, intaglio, 7.5 9 7.5
cm, 2009
in the fact that planctomycetes are now subject of
intense study; whether they are evolutionary interme-
diaries in the transition from prokaryotes to eukary-
otes—the exact process I set out to portray. My image
is not meant to be an exact scientific depiction. It is
meant to be an expression of the theory, born from my
fascination with these wonderful forms and processes
in life. In this sentiment, the artist and biological
scientist share common ground.
As mentioned earlier, the interpretation of the
visual information on the compartmentalization of the
membranes inside the planctomycetes and other PVC
bacteria is quite significant for developing under-
standing their position within this evolutionary pic-
ture. It is also clear, that current microscopic methods
produce many different types of visuals with a range of
visible detail. The visual literacy of an artist could be
applied to this complex visualization of planctomycete
images for deep understanding of modeling their
structure in effective hypotheses for compartmental-
ization. Thus the three-dimensional imaginative
reconstruction skills developed by an artist may
contribute to solutions for problems in the PVC
bacteria field where ‘‘Russian doll’’ nesting of struc-
tures within structures is apparently common.
Once my print was finished, it triggered further
development. The main 4 9 4 grid in the image
reminded me of sliding-tile puzzles. The theory of

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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Fig. 5 Eveline Kolijn, Symbiogenesis, intaglio Chine-collé on Plexiglas, light box, 60 9 60 9 9 cm, 2010
endosymbiosis is accepted, but many elements still
compose a puzzle. This is why I created one copy of the
print on Plexiglas, as a sliding tile puzzle in which you
can physically move the tiles into different positions
(Fig. 5). Another iteration of my Symbiogenesis print
happened after I photographed and digitized the image.
For another project, I was looking into the relationship
between curly shapes of seaweed and digital models of
non-Euclidean mathematics. I found a freeware com-
puter program, which allows the user to manipulate
imported images into geometric solids, tiling kaleido-
scopic images, or create a Poincarré-disc, a two-
dimensional depiction of the hyperbolic plane.5 Using
this program, I manipulated digital images of my
bacterial tiles into mathematical solids and kaleido-
scopic figures, transporting the hand-drawn images
into virtual and hyperbolic space (Fig 6).
5
Downloaded from this link: http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/
software/download/KaleidoTile.html; Accessed May 2009.
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 Author's personal copy
Fig. 6 Eveline Kolijn, Chloroplast Poincarré Disc, digital
image, 2011
Contemporary art-science directions
The digital revolution has brought art and science
much closer again. With new digital imaging tools,
scientific re-presentation has shifted towards presen-
tation. In the digital realm completely new constructs
can be made. These scientific images are to be used as
tools instead of presented as evidence. Think of the
tomogram, in which multiple images of a bacterium,
which has been subjected to a long process of
preparation and recording with high-tech devices, are
digitally merged into three dimensional, rotating
models. These models can be further tweaked by
adding colors, lighting and other virtually constructed
or interactive features. A three-dimensional tomogram
could even be made more concrete. Another rapid
developing technology that uses the principle of
stacking layers is three-dimensional printing. For both
art and science, this technology offers countless new
directions and the possibility to translate three-dimen-
sional digital models into physical form. It has great
potential to enhance scientific understanding, and has
already been widely applied in medical sciences to
create complex models of both soft and hard tissues.6
For instance, outputting a coral form created by a
6 8
http://www.jove.com/video/50250/3d-printing-of-preclinical-
x-ray-computed-tomographic-data-sets. Accessed 16 May 2013.
123
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
digital algorithmic growth-model and comparing it
with real corals, aided haptic understanding of the
researcher (Kaandorp and Kübler 2002).7 Combining
the technologies of electron cryotomography and three-
dimensional printing has the potential to create truth-to-
life, physical enlargements of those microorganisms
that are invisible to the naked eye. The issue of digital
imaging and modeling in science is extremely current.
In October 2013, another EMBL symposium in
Heidelberg will address: Seeing is Believing—Imaging
the Processes of Life. The symposium ‘‘aims to bring
together the leading developers of imaging methods
with cutting edge applications that illustrate how
imaging can answer biological questions.’’8 Galison
labels these as ‘‘haptic images’’ where ‘‘seeing and
making entered together’’. He states, that, ‘‘freed from
the asceticism of mechanical objectivity or even the
interpretation of trained judgment, the nano-image and
other interactive images slid more easily into an artistic
interpretation. It became routine, …, to see the virtual
scientific image not as competing with art or even
employing art, but positioned as art itself.’’ (Daston and
Galison 2007, p. 382). Digital imaging in science has
exponentially grown this first decade of the twenty-first
century, and has produced such a wide range of sublime
images that the question has been asked whether
‘‘science is more beautiful than art’’ (Jones 2012).
Conclusion
Without doubt science has contributed to art, but what
about the value of art for science? First of all, we
should not forget that art has a freedom to go where
science cannot follow. Art is not restrained by
scientific protocol. This gives a tremendous creative
freedom, to make lateral and alternate connections,
which can trigger new insights. The connection
between art and science does not always have to be
applied with using the latest available technology.
Even though many contemporary art-science projects
are often placed digital realm, basic drawing skills can
still be very relevant, as discussed in this paper. The
7
Personal communication with Dr. M.J.A. Vermeij on his
involvement with the research of Dr. J. Kaandorp, 2 July 2008
(Kaandorp JA, Kübler JE (2002).
Program description: http://www.embo-embl-symposia.org/
symposia/2013/EES13-03/.
 Author's personal copy
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
arts also have the freedom to apply a scientific method
or concept in a completely new and creative way. Art
and science do not share the same approach, but they
can complement each other, resulting in an enriching
experience. There is also growing understanding of the
fact that art does foster science (Root-Bernstein 2000).
This is meant in a two fold way. One, that artists have
figured out models or applications for artistic pur-
poses, which could then be applied in science. The
other, is a study done by Robert Root-Bernstein, in
which he has found a statistical correlation that
accomplished scientists are often also engaged in the
pursuit of art (Rothenberg 2011). In the twenty-first
century, there are an increasing amount of trained
science professionals who apply the tools of their
research to create art. Examples are new disciplines
such as generative art, interactive art and computa-
tional design. This new discipline, where new arts and
sciences intersect, has been labeled ArtScience. In
2011, Robert Root-Bernstein published an ArtScience
manifesto, in which he concludes, that ‘‘ArtScience, in
sum, connects…ArtScience is a new way to explore
culture, society and human experience that integrates
synesthetic experience with analytical exploration. It
is knowing, analyzing, experiencing and feeling
simultaneously.’’ (Root-Bernstein 2011; 192).
Acknowledgments I would like to thank Dr. Christian Jogler
and Dr. Damien Devos for inviting me to present on the EMBO
workshop, Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobia-Chlamydiae Super-
phylum: Exceptions to the bacterial definition? The European
Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) has supported my
participation. It has been a very encouraging experience and in the
spirit of the presented paper to involve the arts in a scientific
microbiology environment.
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