Carl Strüwe: Archetype of Individuality (1933) — Carl Strüwe, “Archetype of Individuality 1. Singular Frustules from Algae Colonies. From a Circular Preparation,” 1933, printed late 1950s, Gelatin Silver Print, 7 × 5 in., Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery

About Seeing Science

Curated by Marvin Heiferman

2016

About Seeing Science

Curated by Marvin Heiferman for CADVC, Seeing Science (2016-2019) was a multi-platform initiative exploring how photographic images shape—and are shaped by—the sciences. Originally developed as a digital and print-based project, it brought together artists, scientists, and educators through a series of online mini-exhibitions, essays, conversations and events, and, as well, in a published volume.

What appears here is a partial and streamlined representation of the original, expansive website, which reflects ongoing discussions about the sustainability of ambitious digital platforms. In 2025, the site was reformatted to include a free, open-access PDF of the Seeing Science publication, which remains available for purchase [here].

Photography, Science and Visual Culture is a year-long project whose goal is to explore:

the central role photographic images play in defining, shaping, promoting, and furthering science and
how photographic images made in and about the sciences impact public opinion, policy and funding, science education, as well as visual and popular culture.

Through its multiple components, SEEING SCIENCE will look at the forms scientific images take, what they reveal, how they transform the disciplines they serve, and lives they influence. SEEING SCIENCE also investigates how the sciences—as well as scientists as cultural figures—are represented within the sciences and the arts, in the news, on social media, and in commercial and vernacular imagery.

SEEING SCIENCE is a University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) project, initiated and produced by the Center for Art, Design & Visual Culture (CADVC) in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President of Research. The project has received additional support from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Baltimore County Commission on the Arts and Sciences. A grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation was instrumental in the development of this site.

Project Personnel

Marvin Heiferman

SEEING SCIENCE producer and curator Marvin Heiferman creates projects about photography and visual culture for institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution, International Center of Photography, Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Heiferman has written for numerous publications, monographs, magazines and blogs, including The New York Times, CNN, Artforum, Design Observer, Gagosian Quarterly, Art in America, and Aperture. Author and/or editor of over two dozen books on visual culture, his most recent book is Photography Changes Everything (Aperture/Smithsonian, 2012). A Visiting ‘Senior Research Scholar at UMBC, Heiferman is also a core faculty member in the School of Visual Arts MFA Program in Photography, Video & Related Media and the ICP/Bard College MFA Program in Advances Photographic Studies in New York

Project Interns/Assistants:

Rahne Alexander, Mitchell Noah, Wes Stitt, Chelsea Alderman, Kara Martin

Project Sponsors

The Center For Art, Design & Visual Culture (CADVC) is a non-profit museum and research center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County dedicated to organizing and producing comprehensive online, exhibition, and publications on the arts and social and cultural history and educational and community outreach projects. The Center is committed to rethinking the relationship between the arts, humanities, and sciences and building connections between visual culture and the society at large.