Science as a Self-Myth (2022- current)

Since 2022, I have been visiting research centers between France and Switzerland. In these austere and specialized environnements, I have been struck by the systematic presence of forms whose purpose was not scientific: objects, images, gestures, even architectures, whose aim was not scientific, but rather narrative: telling the tale of science. I then began to explore the modalities of these forms, examining their implications: what do these choices tell us about the place of individuality in science? What role can narratives play in the face of a loss of bearings?

“For the most important form of human thinking is not reason or analysis, not intuition or feeling, but rather narration. All our experiences, our memories, our goals and aspiration, our rationales, vindications, apologies and excuses - our whole life is organized into a narrative form. It is not logic, mathematics, or physics that can resolve the uncertainties to which humans are exposed in a social environnement. Only stories can supply any kind of reliable compass in the vague world of togetherness, where coalitions regulary shift.”

Werner Siefer, Brain specialist and german Biologist, Der Erzählinstinkt: Warum das (The narrative instinct: why the brain thinks in stories)