Dr. Bernd Willems

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Having more than one passion in life, I decided to pursue my professional career in Life Sciences as a Geneticist and follow my creative heart in my free time … for it simply would not have been possible the other way around. 

Along the way, I was happy to find many intersects between Arts and Sciences. For example, during my basic plant anatomy trainings at the University of Cologne, I enjoyed drawing the intricate organization of cells and their subcellular organelles that constitute the marvelous microcosm of living things found under the microscope. Later, as a PhD student at the National University of Singapore, I was lucky to have been given access to state-of-the-art confocal microscopy equipment to take breathtaking colorful 3-D time lapsed images of developing fish embryos.

On the other hand, just like dissecting specimen under the microscope I like to delve into very high levels of detail and draw with meticulous precision. 

In my country theme park series, I am conducting simple thought experiments: How would amusement parks, themed after a specific country look like? These experiments lead to a multitude of fun encounters with the country’s history, culture and popular tourist attractions, all represented as theme park rides and attractions. Together, they blend into colorful and very detailed representations of the country’s identity that invite the viewer’s eyes to linger and explore. 

So far, I have completed theme park maps for Germany, Singapore, Bali and Japan. I am currently working on France and hope to complete it soon.