Victoria Vesna - Cell Ghost, Bio Art Installation 2004/05

YouTube via MediaArtTube

"This work captures the viewer moving through space with a live camera, with their image projected in particles that is stored in memory and appear later as a ghost. The person passing by also activates text. The ambient sounds are a composition of data derived from manipulating live biological cells. The piece was originally conceived site specifically for an exhibition held at the former Seodaemun prison in Seoul, Korea.

eodaemun Prison(Hyongmuso), which is located at 101, Hyonjo-dong, seodaemun-gu, Seoul, was built during the japan's occupation at the end of Taehan Empire, and it served as a major site of oppression during their forced colonization. For almost 80 years, it has stood as a living monument of our ordeal, and grief in the tumultuous times of modem Korean history.

When japanese occupid our nation by force, they unveiled their wild ambition to launch a full scale invasion into the continent by using our land as a bridgehead. At that time, they found it necessary to build a prison to house the numerous patriotic martyrs who fought against their invasion was begun in 1907 near Tongnimmun (Independence Gate), which was estabilshed as a symbol of independence during the period of Taehan Empire.

Poem:
Prisons of our minds unlocked by the power of love.
Ghosts of suffering from the past haunt these spaces now.
Waiting for the key to open the door to the future.
Bars of steal dissolved by the heart.

Cell Sounds
Professor James Gimzewski with PhD student Andrew Pelling at the Pico lab, UCLA first made the discovery that yeast cells oscillate at the nanoscale in 2002. Amplifying this oscillation results in a sound that lies within the human audible range. "Sonocytology", the suggested term for this cutting edge field of study, represents a new realm of challenge and potential for scientists, artists, and in particular for musicians. The tool with which the cell sounds are extracted - the atomic force microscope (AFM) - can be regarded as a new type of musical instrument. Unlike microscopes that use optical imaging, the AFM "touches" a cell with its small tip, comparable to a record needle "feeling" the bumps in a groove on a record. With this interface, the AFM "feels" oscillations taking place at the membrane of a cell. These electrical signals can then be amplified and distributed by speakers. Manipulating the cell with chemicals will result in a change of oscillation. Isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) for example, will change a "singing cell" into a "screaming cell". And a chemical such as sodium azide will kill the cell, causing the emitted frequency to die away, leaving only noise.

More info: http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/projects/04-0..."

Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski - Blue Morph, Intercative Installation / Nano Art, 2008


"Blue Morph is an interactive installation that uses nanoscale images and sounds derived from the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

Nanotechnology is changing our perception of life and this is symbolic in the Blue Morpho butterfly with the optics involved -- that beautiful blue color is not pigment at all but patterns and structure which is what nano-photonics is centered on studying. The lamellate structure of their wing scales has been studied as a model in the development of fabrics, dye-free paints, and anti-counterfeit technology such as that used in monetary currency. Blue Morpho has intrigued scientists for generations because of its subtle optical engineering that manipulated photons. Today, its dazzling iridescent wings are giving rise to a market trying to mimic its wonder and create a counterfeit proof currency and credit cards. The optics are no doubt fascinating but the real surprise is in the discovery of the way cellular change takes place in a butterfly. Sounds of metamorphosis are not gradual or even that pleasant as we would imagine it. Rather the cellular transformation happens in sudden surges that are broken up with stillness and silence. Then there are the eight pumps or "hearts" that remain constant throughout the changes, pumping the rhythm in the background. During the transformation to emergence each flattened cell of the wing becomes a nanophotonic structure of black protein and space leading to iridescence.

Nano is not only making the invisible visible but also changing our way of relating to "silence" or making the in-audible audible. With all the noise of chattering technologies and minds, we propose the interactivity to be stillness for in this empty space of nano we can get in touch with the magic of continuous change. But most of all we embrace the absurd and in a surge of laughter recognize our limited human viewpoints.

In collaboration with Gil Kuno, Sarah Cross
Production: Shaun Westbrook, Tyler Adams, Laura Hernandez

More info: http://artsci.ucla.edu/BlueMorph/co ncept.html"