December 1-2, 2022
UTS Data Arena
University of Technology Sydney
Sydney, AU
Curated by Linda Dement and Carmine Gentile
immersive 360° 10k projection installation with 16-channel spatial soundscape
TRT: 4 min 10 sec loop
Selected work from Sticky Settings was previewed as an immersive installation in remote collaboration with University of Technology Sydney Data Arena as part of The Australian Bioprinting Workshop for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. Baroque Bodies (Ambient Portals) explores computational and virtual representations of the biological world through animations and sound. The work evokes notions of residues in both the abstract (metaphorical, poetic, ethereal) and the physical (literal, material, biological). The conceptual underpinnings of the project are drawn from epigenetic research on environmental influences on gene expression. The animations are created with molecular models of nucleosomes and AI-generated reflections. The mirror surfaces of histones and DNA reflect idyllic landscapes that are otherwise invisible in the animations. The reflected images in the mirror proteins were created with AI image generators using text prompts from scientific research on epigenetics. The accompanying soundscape is a sonification of computer-generated contact map visualizations depicted in a related series of weavings, Tangible Variations. The soundscapes were composed by converting sound files into midi tracks. A different midi instrument was assigned to each of the 20 tracks creating an ethereal spatialized sonification of contact among molecular bodies that are situated in a liminal space that is at once biological and technological.
Selected work from Sticky Settings was previewed as an immersive installation in remote collaboration with University of Technology Sydney Data Arena as part of The Australian Bioprinting Workshop for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. Baroque Bodies (Ambient Portals) explores computational and virtual representations of the biological world through animations and sound. The work evokes notions of residues in both the abstract (metaphorical, poetic, ethereal) and the physical (literal, material, biological). The conceptual underpinnings of the project are drawn from epigenetic research on environmental influences on gene expression. The animations are created with molecular models of nucleosomes and AI-generated reflections. The mirror surfaces of histones and DNA reflect idyllic landscapes that are otherwise invisible in the animations. The reflected images in the mirror proteins were created with AI image generators using text prompts from scientific research on epigenetics. The accompanying soundscape is a sonification of computer-generated contact map visualizations depicted in a related series of weavings, Tangible Variations. The soundscapes were composed by converting sound files into midi tracks. A different midi instrument was assigned to each of the 20 tracks creating an ethereal spatialized sonification of contact among molecular bodies that are situated in a liminal space that is at once biological and technological.
...biophysicist Adam Lamson is collaborating with artist Laura Splan in a project the two of them call ‘Sticky Settings’...From giant tapestries that present maps of DNA in colorful, tactile formats, to otherworldly animations set to music, their art invites a non-scientific audience to literally walk into the processes our own cells are undergoing every day...
...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...
Remote creative technology collaboration with UTS Data Arena Technicians: Thomas Ricciardiello, Chris Hancock, Darren Lee
This work was made possible by the Simons Foundation. Created in collaboration with Adam Lamson, Science Collaborator and theoretical biophysicist at Flatiron Institute, a division of the Simons Foundation.
Created while in residence as NEW INC Artist in Residence at EY at NEW INC, the New Museum's cultural incubator
Special thanks to Clara Liu Chung Ming
Photo and video documentation by Linda Dement
