Artist Prof. Jane Brucker and scientist Prof. Jeremy Wasser from America visit the Design Campus

Students from Professor Jörg Obergfell's Art and Nature course met for five weeks with artist Jane Brucker and biomedical scientist Dr Jeremy Wasser to explore water as an essential aspect of the human experience of nature and the relationship of water to human health. The Trier design students met with Dr. Wasser's biomedical science students from Texas A&M University for weekly meetings. The resulting work was presented to the public in a final exhibition evening entitled "Water and the sustainable Body".

Water
The works shown are individual artworks on the theme of water, inspired by a series of meditations and experiences in class. Participants engaged with visualisations on the theme of water, exploring the science as well as the poetry of water. Each student was free to create according to their own experiences, background, aesthetics, materials and ideas.

The Sustainable Body
This series included drawings and an interactive video performance as a collaborative installation project. The whole project dealt with the Rhine, microplastics and water as an element of health.

Students were divided into groups representing organ/body systems: endocrine, cardiovascular, nervous system, kidney, reproductive, gastrointestinal and biochemistry.  The groups worked together on drawings, discussing and visualising research findings on micro- and nanoplastics and their impact on these biological systems.  During the collaboration, they found that the main source of micro- and nanoplastics ingestion is water pollution from fast fashion and clothing.  The design students were tasked with completing the collaborative work in a way that expressed the impact of the research.