research projects

Knowledge Visualizations in Chinese and Western Cultures (SNFS 2010–2015)

Within the scope of a five-year SNFS project, I have achieved substantial knowledge in the interdisciplinary collaboration with sinologists from Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies (University of Zurich) and with cultural scientists of the Chinese-German Art Academy, Hangzhou. In addition, I have extensive experience in the coordination of integrated planning processes in interdisciplinary collaborations. The project included a three-year research on Knowledge Visualizations in Chinese and Western Cultures.

At the center of this research are infographics from Chinese and western culture (2012–2015). Each of these graphics are linked to different methods of representation whose foundations are concepts anchored in culture and time. The research focused on comparing traditional Chinese and contemporary western methods of representation. The basic starting point for these observations arose from the fact that these comparisons of contemporary graphics were insufficiently legible, since the differences were sometimes too subtle, while others no longer existed.

The centerpiece of the research was the conception and creative development of new “visual translations.” By redesigning the infographics at hand, it became possible to perceive the essential differences between the diverse methods of representation. Various means and methods of design were developed for this process of visualization and “translation.” The research process closely combined practical design research (design and development, research through design), and scientific procedures (appropriation of knowledge, analysis, stating results). The goal of the research was to investigate how infographics are influenced by culture, by methodically comparing and contrasting traditional and contemporary sources, reflecting upon them through theory, and realizing them in practice. By comparing the two systems of representation the western-influenced conventions became very obvious, most particularly the linearity of depictions of time, and the fixed reading direction from left to right, as well as the continually homogenous grid. Among the major characteristics of the traditional Chinese system of reference are the open-endedness and mutability of symbolic space; time is understood as continual cycles such as time of day, season, and universal time. The traditional Chinese graphics examined could be considered visualizations of qualitative correlations between elementary, opposing forces, such as heaven and earth, light and dark. These are especially obvious in medical pictures of the human body. On the superficial visual level formal relationships to western graphics were most certainly observed. However, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is the foundation for the conceptual structures of Chinese graphics.
Another goal of the research was to contribute a reflective way to deal with differences and one’s own cultural influences, with regard to forms of representation. Here, the fundamental realization was that one’s “own,” familiar system of representation was not a given, but had to be regarded as culturally constructed. So it was assumed that both the western and Chinese systems of reference were “unknown.” Hence, they were provided with appropriate visual translations and explanations. Reflecting upon and making it possible to see (one’s own) cultural influences is relevant to information design, visual studies, and, in an expanded sense, for the disciplines involved in diversity research. Here, there are also parallels to the medical field, where concepts such as (Moro, 2011) require that therapists are conscious of their own cultural influences and can deliberately make use of certain explanatory models in their practice of therapy.
Research team: Ruedi Baur, Sébastien Fasel, Ulrike Felsing, Fabienne Kilchör, and Eva Lüdi Kong.
Read PDF presentation, part 1 and part 2
© Fotografien Emphase Lausanne/Bern