Kunst als epistemisches Werkzeug: Über die Bedeutung künstlerischer Erkenntnis für die Wissenschaft – Art as an Epistemic Tool: On the Significance of Artistic Insight for Science

This article examines the relationship between art and science as two historically diverging, yet currently converging forms of knowledge. It argues that artistic practice can fulfil not merely illustrative, but genuinely epistemic functions. Drawing on the historical unity of both disciplines during the Renaissance – exemplified by the ideal of the Uomo Universale and the figure of Leonardo da Vinci – the article traces the process of institutional separation that unfolded in the 18th and 19th centuries. It then argues that, in response to growing complexity in scientific and social inquiry, a productive rapprochement is underway. This thesis is illustrated through the works of artists Lucie Mara Bornmann and Johanna Wunderlich, presented at the vernissage Seite an Seite.