Concept: The Epistemic Grip (Forensic Lab Edition)
Artist: Mario Tischhauser (Zurich, Switzerland)
Concept Overview
The Epistemic Grip (The Lab Edition) is an ongoing, transmedia artistic research project rooted in physical and cultural anthropology. It serves as the direct artistic translation by sculptor Mario Tischhauser of his academic research at the university. Working within the fields of evolutionary morphology and forensic soft-tissue reconstruction of hominin hands, Tischhauser's scientific research investigates how the development of the hand correlates with early tool use.
As a sculptural practice, The Epistemic Grip bridges the gap between raw physical labor, digital fabrication, and cognitive science. It materializes the evolutionary and philosophical turning point where physical grasping (Greifen) transitions into intellectual comprehension (Begreifen), breaking radically with the detached observation of scientific data by making abstract knowledge directly tangible through the hands (Agency of Matter).
Mythological & Anthropological Framework
The Hephaestus Protocol (Cipher IL.18.417): A conceptual act of myth-archaeology referencing Book XVIII of Homer’s Iliad—the earliest cultural record of Artificial Intelligence (the golden handmaidens). It maps the cybernetics of the crippled creator-god whose hands forge autonomous machines to compensate for bodily decay, highlighting the moment where technology steps in to augment organic limitation.
The Prometheus Myth: The project channels the Promethean struggle—the theft of fire and technology, the shaping of humanity from clay, and the subsequent eternal bondage. It reflects the obsessive human drive to master nature and the physical price of technological access.
Key Components of the Project Setup
Artifacts of the Grip No. 1: Freestanding sculpture displaying a material metamorphosis: a precise, clinical white 3D print radically ruptures, fragmenting into the matte, reduced physicality of plasticine (painted 3d-print), and sinking into the earth's heavy primeval bloc. The hand sculptures are firmly fixed and anchored to their pedestals via heavy iron chains, materializing the inescapable bondage between creator, tool, and the brutal gravity of physical labor (
Anatomy of Labor).The Dialectical Monument: A spatial arrangement isolating the friction between abstract theory and the physical wear of the laboring body. A heavy, cast-iron industrial table featuring an engraved wooden world map (sterile theory) collides with a worn-out, lived-in working stool (the battered reality of physical sweat).The Field Kit (In the Cardboard Box): A mobile laboratory archive compressing human evolution into a three-part axis:
The Bone (Metacarpalis 1 / Nature),
The Chopper (Culture), and
The Saw (Industry). It is supplemented by analog calipers, a magnifying glass, a solid oak modeling spatula, and a Knife bearing the artist’s signature ("MT") in the historical style of Albrecht Dürer’s "AD" mark.
Forensic Pairs of Images (Scientific Imagery):
The SNSF Scientific Image: The photographic print
“It’s all about hands” (Alu-Dibond 89 x 90 cm, awarded with Jury Distinction at the SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2026), capturing the artist's hands actively engaged in the forensic-morphological reconstruction of a fossil hominin hand out of plasticine (
Mise en Abyme).
The X-Ray Image (The Anatomy of Shadows): A diagnostic and artistic radiographic composite print under acrylic glass (30 x 45 cm). It peels back the surface of the sculptures to expose the internal structural fractures, skeletal anatomy, and biomechanical force distribution overlaid with handwritten research notes.
The Forensic Lab Data Sheet: Secured to a raw industrial clipboard resting on the working stool, this document acts as a conceptual monospace decoder. It maps a dark genealogy of ancient automata (from Talos to Pandora and the Prometheus-tormenting Caucasian Eagle Machine), turning the anatomical study of the fossil human hand into a direct mirror of our digital AI present.
Future Development & Publications
The project is currently expanding into a limited-edition art book. This publication will deepen the concept through essayistic reflections on the philosophy of craft, serving as a permanent monument to the Anatomy of Labor.
For more information please visit: mariotischhauser.com
