Science to Street Art

The Wisconsin Institute of Discovery’s “Illuminating Discovery Hub” kicked off a new project, Science to Street Art, in 2018. The program brings university professors together with graffiti artists to beautify spaces while promoting science learning and engaging creative thinking about how to artistically represent complex scientific themes. Pumping Station 8 (on Plaenert Drive off of Fish Hatchery Road, near Wright Middle School) was selected as a site for one of the project’s first murals.

The exterior walls of the pumping station were transformed by artists Ingrid Kallick and Mario Fregoso a map of microbiology and molecular structure in collaboration with UW-Madison scientists Dr. Jo Handelsman and Dr. Zach Wickens. The final design includes “hidden” (think glow-in-the-dark paint) messages about wastewater or what is going on behind the brick walls at that pumping station.