Experiments
In a series of experiments at the laboratories of Montanuniversität Leoben’s Department Petroleum Engineering and at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Ernst Logar and his team explore the sensory properties of crude oil. With basic hands-on procedures the lab space is transformed into a site for creative and reflective speculation, in order to develop new perspectives and imagine a future beyond oil.
Our associative and reflective exchanges during the experiments are recorded and form the basis for the following experiments and the development of the project. Participants’ written reflections on their experiences of the experiments are a key outcome of our experiments.
Experiment X, Leoben, 17. March 2022
This series of experiments was conducted in Leoben at the Department Petroleum Engineering with the participation of Arianna Mondin, Ernst Logar, Karez Abdulhameed, Pit Arnold, and Boris Jammernegg. The experiments that were executed took crude oil as the main subject, using technologies that are used in the oil and gas industry and other creative approaches. The first experiment, Frequency Dancing of Crude Oil, aimed to demonstrate the frequential pattern taken by fluid crude oil under acoustic frequencies. A loudspeaker was…
Experiment IX, Leoben, 25. November 2021
This set of experiments was carried out on the riverbank next to the Department Petroleum Engineering building, with the participation of artist Herwig Turk, as well as Ernst Logar, Karez Abdulhameed, Patrick Jasik and Pit Arnold. A table was arranged to place the equipment on, surrounded by trees and accompanied by the slow flowing river of Mur, with the water close to the shoreline partially frozen. The first experiment investigated the concept of viscosity, using four different fluids: water, crude…
Experiment VIII, Leoben, 17 September 2021
For this set of experiments, Ernst Logar, Michael Hohenberger and Karez Abdulhameed visited the Chair of Thermal Processing Technology at Montanuniversität Leoben. The focus of the experiments was on the flammability of crude oil and the calculation of related parameters. The aim of their first experiment was to find out how many calories different samples of crude oil contain. For this they used a bomb calorimeter, crude oil samples and igniting threads. One gram of crude oil was weighed into…
Experiment VII, Leoben, 22 April 2021
Ernst Logar and Karez Abdulhameed visited the Chair of Petroleum Geology to learn more about rock formation. Petroleum geologists focus their research on the source rocks of crude oil, geological structure and rock mineralogy. Logar and Abdulhameed were able to observe the fluorescent effect of crude oil on oil-bearing rocks under ultraviolet light. There are three parameters the level of this fluorescent effect depends on: API gravity, microbe presence and temperature. A drill core also showed visible timelines of different…
Experiment VI, Leoben, 20-21 October 2020
This series of experiments amended and continued several earlier ones, such as microfluidics, the viscometer, and emulsion, as well as embarking upon a new one determining the flash point of crude oil. For the flash point experiment Ernst Logar and Karez Abdulhameed were joined by Michael Hohenberger, assistant at the Chair of Thermal Processing in the Department of Environmental and Energy Process Engineering. The flash point is the lowest temperature at which a flammable substance, in our case crude oil,…
Experiment V, Leoben, 1-2 October 2020
Ernst Logar together with Karez Abdulhameed, Patrick Jasek, Rene Ritter and Ahmad Kharrat of the Department Petroleum Engineering conducted three experiments in parallel: a microfluidic chip experiment, and experiments in distillation and viscosity. Microfluidics analyses the behaviour of fluids on a small scale. One of the main motivations of the microfluidic chip experiments was to connect culturally significant fluids to crude oil. Firstly milk was injected into a chip and then crude oil, resulting in the oil displacing the milk.…
Experiment IV, Leoben, 12-13 February 2020
For our second set of experiments in Leoben we were joined by Benjamin Steininger and Leonhard Gruber on the second day, and Benoît Bollon provided filming. Our first experiment was the fractional distillation of crude oil, using Kumkol. Crude oil is composed of many compounds. Increasing its temperature allows to fraction the oil into those smaller compounds. Afterwards we used the falling ball viscometer to measure the oil’s viscosity. On the second day, we undertook a microfluidics experiment to investigate…
Experiment III, Vienna, 31 January 2020
Using the same crude oil samples as two weeks before, we carried out our third series of experiments, again at the Laboratory of the University of Applied Arts together with Leonhard Gruber. This time we undertook a series of emulsion formation experiments, using a glass tank filled with desalinated water, and dripping oil into the water to examine the results. We then also experimented with adding detergent and absorbent. We started our experiments by examining the solubility of crude oil.…
Experiment II, Vienna, 17 January 2020
Ernst Logar and Monika Vykoukal carried out our project’s second series of experiments at the Lab of the University of Applied Arts together with Leonhard Gruber of the Institute of Art and Technology. We analysed three different samples of crude oil: one from the Vienna Basin (Austria), Kumkol (Kazakhstan), which is more viscous, and Geisum (Gulf of Suez, Egypt) without condensate (i. e. the water has been separated out of it), which smells of sulphur. We looked at all three…
Experiment I, Leoben, 28-29 November 2019
On 28 and 29 November we carried out our first experiments in the lab of the department Petrol Engineering at Montanuniversität Leoben. Led by artist and chemist Denise Schellmann we started with simple, basic experiments on the chemical analysis of crude oil. In this first experiment we not only wanted to get to know crude oil, but first and foremost the lab and the team. Those beginnings already led us to exciting discussions about approaches to knowledge, discovery and our…
experiment | Leoben | crude oil
| reflections