An object becomes of particular interest to scientists when there is something unknown, something invisible to uncover. ‘Life: Through the Looking Glass’ lets you dive into a realm filled with unknown elements, where you find yourselves at the edge of visibility and understanding.

The online exhibition presents works-in-process of young scientists from the EvoCELL network. The researchers are studying animal evolution from a cellular perspective, by applying cutting-edge technologies to uncover a previously invisible world. Their research is complex… so complex that most communication about it never leaves the scientific community. 

The scientists were asked: What is preventing them from bringing their research to the public’s attention? Many stated that there are simply “no big results” or “eureka moments” as usually imagined by the public. Moreover, their generated images and data are just “inaccessible”. Modern biological research often lacks physical objects to exhibit. The objects of interest are only indirectly visible through a range of complicated technologies and long processes.

As a result, scientists often struggle with the communication of their work, further alienating science from the public in a post-truth world that values personal beliefs over factual information. More than ever we need scientific dialogue to understand the differences between truth and fiction in the entanglements of the world wide web. 

Is this problem just a result of the wrong expectation that science provides clear answers? Science is a constant process of debating, hypothesising, collaborating, and questioning. It runs parallel to a reality in which scientists try to get as close to the truth as possible. The online exhibition is therefore anything but an attempt to present the usual “finished science” that fills museum halls. It instead depicts science as a process and the questions scientists pose as they research without an end in sight.