June 2012

Over a period of several months I spent time at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna. Entering a scientific environment, my goal was to become acquainted with the field and the specific everyday routine of the institute by using ethnographic research with an understanding of participatory observation. Within these months I was able to be part of several surgeries and pathological investigations.

My work is a visual oscillation between understanding and questioning my observations and findings, especially the importance of using protocols during the production of scientific facts.

A protocol – a type of decision-support tools – offer pre- defined, stepwise, optimal paths through complex or troublesome medical situations. At each step, decision criteria can be built in to determine whether the next step can be taken: a protocol can be seen as a chain of generally simple conditional rules. Well-defined protocols should be able to “reduce inappropriate variation in services, improve the quality of care, and produce better health outcomes”. By analyzing “decisions before the fact,” protocols prevent the impossibility of having to rationally decide every time again from scratch. These tools, help us to define, not for others, but for ourselves, the practice of rational medicine.
Rationalizing Medical Work, Berg – 1997

Exhibited during “The Essence” at Künstlerhaus in Vienna from June 26 until July 15 as part of “Here and There”, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Department for Art & Science.
This project is also part of Babylon Design School.