Category: The Art of Science

The Art of Science: Fashioning Cancer

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As a big proponent of showing your inner beauty by wearing your cells and microbes on the outside, I couldn’t help but be excited by this collection of ball gowns inspired by microscopic photos of cancer cells created by Jacqueline Firkins.

Firkins, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada, says, “Many women who have battled cancer express a disconnect with the fashion imagery that commonly represents the disease,” such as the ubiquitous pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness. Firkins hopes that her collection, titled Fashioning Cancer: The Correlation between Destruction and Beauty will encourage discussions about disease, body image and beauty.

The cell patterns on the dresses were inspired by images captured by researchers in the lab of UBC scientist Christian Naus.

“My hope is that somehow through fashion, I more closely tap into what a woman might be feeling about her body as she undergoes the disease, but simultaneously reflect a strength, beauty, and resilience,” says Firkins, who will use the collection to raise money for cancer research, patients and survivors.

A free public presentation and discussion of the Fashioning Cancer collection will take place March 25 at noon at UBC’s Frederic Wood Theatre. More information is here.

Photo by Tim Matheson via UBC News

The Art of Science: A Machine that Vends DNA Samples Like Candy Bars

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Gabe Baria-Colombo, DNA Vending Machine, 2013

Gabe Barcia-Colombo’ s DNA Vending Machine is an art installation blending the utterly mundane (a fairly primitive machine dispensing mostly crappy snack food) with the cutting-edge (DIY human genetics) to intriguing effect.

Barcia-Colombo, a 2012 TED fellow, collected DNA samples from a bunch of his friends using a basic swish-and-spit method. With the help of Oliver Medvedik of GenSpace, a community biotech lab in New York, he synthesized the samples in a liquid base.  Barcia-Colombo then created a pack-of-cards sized case for the vials and loaded them into a vending machine.

As the picture above indicates, the only labeling on the vials is a number.  Barcia-Colombo compares this to the concept of “blind box” collectible toys – sealed limited edition collectible figurines packaged randomly with many variations. As with human genetics, people have limited information on which to base their choices, and much depends on luck.

Each sample comes packaged with a collectable portrait of the human specimen as well as a unique link to a custom DNA extraction video. The DNA Vending Machine treats human DNA as a collectible material, exploring the question of who owns our DNA.  Can the person who bought a stranger’s DNA from a vending machine get it sequenced or potentially use it in other ways?

The DNA Vending Machine has been shown in several galleries, and the artist reports that many people have indeed bought the DNA samples. No word on what they’ve done with them – yet.

hat tip: DesignBoom

The Art of Science: John Grade’s Capacitor

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John Grade, Capacitor, 2013

John Grade’s sculpture Capacitor is an immense, immersive piece designed to, as he puts it, “encapsulate the viewer.”  As visitors walk inside the  40- x 20- x 40-foot sculpture, made of fabric stretched over metal frames, it moves, lightens and darkens.  

Capacitor was conceived and built in a mere two months and was exhibited at the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 2013.

The sculpture responds to information from weather sensors outside the Arts Center, slowly twisting and shifting to changes in wind direction and temperature.  The live weather data are correlated to historic data, so the greater the divergence from historical norms, the more the sculpture moves, and the more dramatic the shifts in light.

Grade says he hopes people come away from the installation “having experienced something about the outside environment in a new way, having experienced it with their bodies.”

You can see more photos and other projects by John Grade on his website.

Voyage of Discovery: The Slideshow

Michele posted fabulous pictures from Voyage of Discovery – her collaboration with Jessica Beels and Ellyn Weiss at the AAAS Art Gallery in Washington, DC – allowing those of us who cannot make it to the gallery to get a virtual taste of the experience.

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Voyage of Discovery – Michele Banks, Jessica Beels, and Ellyn Weiss

Art like this requires the talent and creativity of artists. That means our artists need our support. You can support these artists by visiting their websites:

Michele Banks

Jessica Beels

Ellyn Weiss

Artwork by Jessica Beels, Ellyn Weiss, and Michele Banks. All photos by Michele Banks. All rights reserved by respective copyright holders. Used with permission. 

The Art of Science: Beyond Air Guitar

Simon Blackmore, Weather Guitar, 2006
Simon Blackmore, Weather Guitar, 2006

Air guitar a little low-tech for you? Try Simon Blackmore’s Weather Guitar, a robotically-controlled flamenco guitar that responds to variations in weather conditions. Blackmore says that the electronic guts of the Weather Guitar, currently on view at the Aldrich Contemporary Arts Museum in Connecticut, were designed to be as flexible and open as possible, so it could be shown (and heard) in many different settings.

The Aldrich Museum’s Richard Klein explains: “Blackmore’s work is characterized by an inventive, DIY approach that draws on influences such as hobby-style electronics, open-source software, and lo-fi aesthetics. The resulting “performative” sculpture and installations are not, however, just about revealing the inner workings of things that are usually invisible, but rather an attempt to tackle the more philosophically thorny questions that surround our increasingly complicated relationship with technology and the power it holds over us.”

Blackmore himself describes the goal of the piece as “an attempt to draw parallels between the scientific inquiry of measuring and quantifying the natural elements, and the romantic notion of the weather acting as a source of artistic inspiration.”

You can see Weather Guitar  and two other pieces by Blackmore at the Aldrich Museum through March 9 and see a video of it on Blackmore’s website.