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VIDEO SCULPTURE
Commission for 2021 Bruges Triennial
2021
video triptych sculpture with 4k molecular animations, 4k video monitors, 4k BrightSign players, wood frames, custom pedestal
triptych sculpture: 32.6 H × 88.6 W × 17.7 D in (83 H × 225 W × 45 D cm)
TRT: 4min 15sec video loop
PRINTS
Renatured (Disentanglement)
2021
archival pigment prints on fine art paper
48 H × 48 W in (122 H × 122 W cm) each, other dimensions available in giclee or C-print
Disentanglement echoes conventions of the presentation of portable altarpieces in the tradition of Flemish Primitive painting. The mesmerizing animation was created with molecular visualization software and models of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, ACE2 human cell receptors and llama nanobodies. The colors of the animations are drawn from paintings in the Potterie’s art collection including a 15th century depiction of St. Michael that was removed for the placement of the Disentanglement triptych. St. Michael, considered the patron of both warriors and the sick alike, is shown waging battle against two demons in the painting that is thought to have been commissioned by a nun from the convent of Our Lady of the Potterie. The slow undulating movements of the animation evoke the sense of wonder and reverence commanded by such religious subject matter of the devotional works and altarpieces of Early Netherlandish painting.
Disentanglement echoes conventions of the presentation of portable altarpieces in the tradition of Flemish Primitive painting. The mesmerizing animation was created with molecular visualization software and models of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, ACE2 human cell receptors and llama nanobodies. The colors of the animations are drawn from paintings in the Potterie’s art collection including a 15th century depiction of St. Michael that was removed for the placement of the Disentanglement triptych. St. Michael, considered the patron of both warriors and the sick alike, is shown waging battle against two demons in the painting that is thought to have been commissioned by a nun from the convent of Our Lady of the Potterie. The slow undulating movements of the animation evoke the sense of wonder and reverence commanded by such religious subject matter of the devotional works and altarpieces of Early Netherlandish painting.
Disentanglement was part of a site-specific intervention commissioned for the 2021 Bruges Triennial and is located at the Museum of Our Lady of the Potterie whose hospital, established in the 13th century, once served plague victims. The Potterie houses a still functioning Gothic church with Baroque interior and a museum collection that includes tapestries depicting miracles and a silver treasury with reliquaries. I was inspired by the complex history of the Potterie that is rich with entanglements of the earthly and heavenly. It is a site that has offered medical healing as well as spiritual salvation for over 700 years. I wanted to situate my work in the Potterie in a way that was both interwoven and in conversation with the collection. My installation attempts to evoke a “biomedical imaginary” with provocations of curiosity and wonder while providing space for psychologically charged liminal states of recognition and obfuscation that can feel both otherworldly and intimate. The installation connects both newly-commissioned animation with existing artworks that make poetic connections between material artifacts of the biomedical landscape with everyday domains. A new multichannel video sculpture created with molecular models of the coronavirus responds to both the unique Potterie location as well as the timely triennial theme of “trauma”. Selected works from the lace virus series Doilies are also installed in the museum including a SARS lace sculpture created in 2004 in response to the first coronavirus outbreak. Together, these works examine contemporary experiences of trauma with a historical lens on the cultural present.
...the Potterierei, has seen a significant increase in its visitors thanks to the installation “Disentanglement” by the American artist Laura Splan. 25,000 people have already found their way to the museum...
...Interdisciplinarity is the foundation on which artist Laura Splan conceives her work...Through her practice, science is moved out of the laboratories while keeping its axioms and experiments present...A number of its mechanisms are paralleled with the cultural dynamics that inhabit our everyday lives, putting a magnifying glass on the interconnections that exist between diverse fields of knowledge...
…While the complex, and often alienating science behind the pandemic has inundated the globe over the past year, artist laura splan dove into the study of virus structures to explore the interconnectedness between cultural and biological systems…
…Splan presents textile patterns, digital animations and woven structures that appear as if they have always been at this site…
…Disentanglement…is interspersed with the rest of the permanent collection … In this, science, fiction and religion intertwine in the realm of pain and healing, life and death...
...surprisingly beautiful...That Splan’s erudite aestheticization of COVID-19 can enchant as much as it does is baffling...
...With the coronavirus outbreak, people worldwide have become preoccupied with a threat so physically small that it can’t be seen. The invisible world of viruses has long fascinated multi-media artist Laura Splan, who is artist in residence at a biotech lab...
Additional Project support provided by Triënnale Brugge, Musea Brugge, Brugge Plus, Dietl International, DNA Company, Silja De Bruyckere, Shendy Gardin, Nele Vermeire, Jasper Van Het Groenewoud, Joke Geldhof, Elviera Velghe, Okita Daels, Els Degryse, Mieke Parez, Reuben Lorch-Miller
