Humans perceive the world only partially, not as a whole. And most of the time they rely mainly on their eyes as a first source of perception.

At the ‘It's all about the whole!’ workshop station, mainly hands and feet, noses and ears were used to explore different surroundings and ecosystems. The visitors experienced sensually why it is so important that we as humans can recognize and make connections.

Science communication is an important concern for the Sensing Living Systems team. With the hands-on / senses-on station It's all about the whole! at the EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS NIGHT, the team around Alexandra Graupner, Paul Divjak and Jeannette Mueller gave numerous visitors first insights into the olfactory and tactile approaches to the understanding of systems.

The PEEK research project Sensing Living Systems explores human system awareness and analyses the way artistic presentations of olfactory, auditory and haptic artworks can create direct sensory stimuli that activate this sense of awareness. The results of this artistic research, which are jointly conducted by artists and system scientists, will lead to a multisensory scenography that allows a diverse set of users to have an embodied learning experience.