Microscopic samples are important medical and scientific objects. The samples first have to be prepared in several steps: cutting, fixing, coloring, drying. Viewing the four-square-centimeter artefacts that are thus created is both seductive and disconcerting: intensive colors, peculiar formations, uneven, smooth, monotonous, and sharp things are taking shape.
Presenting microscopic samples in the context of an exhibition is tricky; to interpret them correctly, it takes prior knowledge. If they are exhibited under a microscope—like in the lab—, they frequently disappear under the equipment. Moreover, seeing structures and connections under the microscope does not provide any immediate insight to non-scientists. Showing the samples directly cannot convey what there is to see, because laypersons do not know what they should, or could, see.

Linda-J. Knop views histological objects without a microscope and creates large watercolors of what she sees but does not understand. In her paintings, the samples become images that depart from their origins and take on an aesthetic and intellectual life of their own. The artistic engagement with these histological samples, which Knop takes from the collection of the Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité, moreover leads her to the tools and aids of scientific practice. The slides and the specimen box are the contexts framing the samples, into which she inserts philosophical terms, thus building a bridge between seeing and knowing. The Schering Stiftung supports the exhibition, which will not only provide visitors with new insights and knowledge but also help them experience the beauty of these objects.