Artificial Creativity – A Contradiction in Terms Becomes Reality on Canvas

In a world in which machines take over human handling, creativity is what separates us from machines… right? As technology challenges the way art is perceived, Christie’s will become the first to sell an artwork created by an algorithm.

Liselore Tissen • November 06, 2018

Fantastic Beasts and How to Make Them (according to 16th century instructions)

In his 1558 encyclopedia of fishes, the Swiss scholar Conrad Gessner described how to make a dragon out of a dried ray. How does this work in practice?

Sophia Hendrikx • November 01, 2018 • 1 comment

Digging Deeper

Why spend your summer digging and carrying dirt? Because it’s both educational and incredibly worthwhile, that’s why. Renske Janssen talks about participating in the Kinneret Regional Project’s excavations at Horvat Kur (Israel).

Renske Janssen • October 25, 2018

̶M̶o̶n̶k̶'̶s̶ Nun's work

Andrea Reyes Elizondo has taken two research stays at Mexican archives. Here she talks about the challenges encountered and discoveries made during those visits.

Andrea Reyes Elizondo • October 11, 2018 • 1 comment

One hundred and eleven drawings identified as the work of Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder

The scoop every project is hoping for.

Dirk Geirnaert • October 04, 2018 • 2 comments

The Descent into Darkness Discovering the Deep-Sea Fauna (1800–1930)

Until the nineteenth century encounters with deep-sea fishes were more or less accidental, but by the beginning of that century naturalists developped an acute awareness that deeper waters house strange creatures...

Robbert Striekwold • September 28, 2018

Curious and Real. Envisioning Sea Creatures in Tokugawa Japan

The sea marked a boundary both real and imagined in Tokugawa Japan (1615– 1868). Contact with sea creatures was mainly in the form of food, however, sea creatures were also envisioned as curious objects which captured people’s imagination.

Doreen Mueller • September 27, 2018

The Murky Waters of Classification. Ordering Fish in Eighteenth-century Europe

The Swedish naturalists Peter Artedi (1705–1735) and Carolus Linnaeus (1707– 1778) had an insatiable thirst for order. They unravelled the structure of the natural world, and introduced the binominal system in use today.

Didi van Trijp • September 26, 2018

Fish out of Water: Collecting Aquatic Animals in the Early Modern Period

Day 6 of the Fish & Fiction week: fish out of water, on how fish became fashionable collectables in Early Modern cabinets

Marlise Rijks • September 25, 2018