2020-2025
archival pigment prints on fine art paper
48 H × 48 W in (122 H × 122 W cm) each, other print and mural dimensions available
“Renatured” is a series of prints that present mesmerizing meditations on invisible entanglements between natural and constructed worlds. The digital images are created using molecular visualization software and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein models. They include playful manipulations of folded protein forms, known as “conformations”, which determine biological function including infectivity. Using specialized features of molecular visualization software in unconventional ways, the coronavirus spike protein is transformed by unraveling and morphing the folded and unfolded forms. The colors are chosen from the software’s palette for their references to nature such as plants, animals, and chemical elements. The titles in the series echo the colors’ names that are evocative of idyllic representations of the natural world such as blue skies, green forests, ripe fruit and romantic flowers. The mere act of adding color is another layer of translation and fabrication since most viruses are smaller than visible wavelengths and therefore have no color. The color palette and its naming conventions reveal additional layers of abstraction built into the interfaces of the technologies we use to engage with and manipulate the natural world. “Unraveling” was developed in remote collaboration with scientists Edgar Davidson and Ben Doranz at biotech company Integral Molecular while “sheltering in place” for COVID-19. "Renatured” is a series of prints made from video stills in the "Unraveling" animation series.
“Renatured” is a series of prints that present mesmerizing meditations on invisible entanglements between natural and constructed worlds. The digital images are created using molecular visualization software and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein models. They include playful manipulations of folded protein forms, known as “conformations”, which determine biological function including infectivity. Using specialized features of molecular visualization software in unconventional ways, the coronavirus spike protein is transformed by unraveling and morphing the folded and unfolded forms. The colors are chosen from the software’s palette for their references to nature such as plants, animals, and chemical elements. The titles in the series echo the colors’ names that are evocative of idyllic representations of the natural world such as blue skies, green forests, ripe fruit and romantic flowers. The mere act of adding color is another layer of translation and fabrication since most viruses are smaller than visible wavelengths and therefore have no color. The color palette and its naming conventions reveal additional layers of abstraction built into the interfaces of the technologies we use to engage with and manipulate the natural world. “Unraveling” was developed in remote collaboration with scientists Edgar Davidson and Ben Doranz at biotech company Integral Molecular while “sheltering in place” for COVID-19. "Renatured” is a series of prints made from video stills in the "Unraveling" animation series.
...Laura Splan spent three months in 2020 collaborating with Integral Molecular scientists Dr. Benjamin Doranz and Dr. Edgar Davidson over Zoom to produce her series...created using Pymol to visualize intricate molecular models of SARS-CoV-2. Splan explains that “by using the specialized features of the software in unconventional ways, I unravel and distort the folded structure of the coronavirus spike protein. I playfully manipulate the folded forms...
...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…
…Laura Splan’s "Unraveling"...is another animation, using molecular visualization software and SARS-CoV-2 structures to present mobile fractals that made me want to learn more about COVID’s biological formation...
...Looking at these hypnotizing structures is a moment of ephemeral divinity; a tiny glimpse into the dangerous beauty of the world of the virus...
...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...
Project support: The uCity Science Center Bioart Residency, Integral Molecular, The Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation
Exhibitions: BioBAT Art Space
