Planetary scientist selected as Artist in Residence at international conference

Liliane Burkhard with her installation at EGU 2025

Liliane Burkhard, University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa research affiliate, was selected as one of two Artists in Residence for the European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2025 General Assembly in Vienna, Austria recently. In this week-long role, Burkhard created a large-scale installation that bridges science and art, specifically, transforming discarded conference posters into a floating cloud sculpture. 

“Science is how we explain the world, art is how we make sense of it,” said Burkhard, a planetary geologist in the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). “I am deeply honored to be selected as an Artist in Residence for EGU25, where I can merge my passions for science and art in a meaningful way.” 

The Artist in Residence program offers scientist-artists an opportunity to engage with scientific research in a dynamic setting and be inspired by the many new discoveries being presented at one of the largest international geoscience conferences.

“My installation served as a metaphor for how scientific ideas form and evolve, often starting as nebulous concepts that, over time, take shape and lead to something tangible,” Burkhard shared. “The act of reusing the physical posters to craft something new reflects the iterative process of research itself. In this, I hope to encourage viewers to consider how ideas, much like clouds, are always in flux: constantly forming and dissolving, yet impactful in the way they inspire both imagination and progress.”

With the installation, “Clouds of Insights”, Burkhard created a space for reflection and conversation, while also emphasizing sustainability by repurposing materials from the conference itself.

In addition to her work as a sculptural mixed media artist, Burkhard has conducted planetary science research previously as a graduate student in the SOEST Department of Earth Sciences and now as a HIGP research affiliate. Through her investigations, she has explored the geology and histories of icy moons in our solar system, including Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede. 

Sharing the science-art connection

Burkhard and Emily Costello, a postdoctoral researcher at HIGP, co-hosted a short course at the EGU conference, “Unlocking creativity through paper sculptures: Overcoming blocks in writing and idea generation”.  They offered over 60 attendees an opportunity to use the art of paper folding and sculpture to overcome creative blocks, spark fresh ideas, and explore the transformative connections between hands-on creativity and scientific innovation.  

“There was quite a lot of interest overall, which was very exciting!” said Burkhard. “The participants said they very much enjoyed doing something tactile and hands-on to help them with their work as scientists, connecting themselves to art and seeing things from a different perspective.”