...Baroque Bodies (Sway) by Laura Splan ’95, plays with the complexity of epigenetics. She developed the project in collaboration with several scientists including Hannah Lui Park, Ph.D., UC Irvine associate professor in residence of epidemiology and pathology. Epigenetics complicates a basic truth that many of us grew up learning in science class: that our DNA is our destiny. In fact, the environment can change the expression of genes, so that anything from the air we breathe to the stress we experienced in the womb can influence how DNA plays out. Splan explores this with a large 3-D video projection of an animated scientific model of a nucleosome — a molecular structure involved in epigenetic expression — that she ensconces in sci-fi elements. The surfaces of the structures reflect AI-generated images of environments that might influence gene expression: idyllic scenes that might be kept lush with pesticides. Splan generated the landscapes by feeding the AI excerpts from Park’s peer-reviewed research papers...
....Baroque Bodies (Sway) by Laura Splan ’95, plays with the complexity of epigenetics. She developed the project in collaboration with several scientists including Hannah Lui Park, Ph.D., UC Irvine associate professor in residence of epidemiology and pathology. Epigenetics complicates a basic truth that many of us grew up learning in science class: that our DNA is our destiny. In fact, the environment can change the expression of genes, so that anything from the air we breathe to the stress we experienced in the womb can influence how DNA plays out.
Splan explores this with a large 3-D video projection of an animated scientific model of a nucleosome — a molecular structure involved in epigenetic expression — that she ensconces in sci-fi elements. The surfaces of the structures reflect AI-generated images of environments that might influence gene expression: idyllic scenes that might be kept lush with pesticides. Splan generated the landscapes by feeding the AI excerpts from Park’s peer-reviewed research papers.
“Hopefully you’re compelled to approach it and inspect it more closely,” said Splan. “A lot of my work is about the embodied experience of inspecting detail — like squinting or touching.”
As you approach Baroque Bodies (Sway), sounds created from a scientific dataset start to play, and the 3-D nucleosome zooms in closer, until someone else approaches and takes control. Multiple visitors in the area create a sort of tug-of-war with the image gyrating in and out as they compete — perhaps unwittingly — for control. Splan used the Beall Center’s Black Box residency to explore embodiment further by adding these interactive elements to her previous Baroque Bodies works.
“There are a lot of layers to the piece visually, conceptually, technically that have been really fun to complicate through the concept of the exhibition itself,” said Splan. “The work was already very much situated in complexity and uncertainty around environmental influences on gene expression and how those can be inherited, so this project provided an opportunity to deepen that.”
This work is one of five new pieces in the show that are the result of the Beall Center’s Black Box residency, but Splan’s interest in arts and science dates back to her experience as an undergraduate at UC Irvine. Though she originally planned to major in biological sciences and pursue veterinary medicine, her exposure to courses in humanities topics like bioethics, social politics and women’s studies led her to art, where she could explore broader cultural questions. Splan, who went on to earn an M.F.A. from Mills College, said the most important aspect of her arts education at UC Irvine was its conceptual focus.
“Studio art is about learning how and why to make art no matter what tool you use. What are the ideas you’re trying to express and what’s the best tool to express that idea?” Splan said. “I’m really thankful for that approach and philosophy. I use a lot of very sophisticated technology in my work, but my process is about finding the narrative implications of the technology itself.”....
