Suzanne Anker 

The work of Suzanne Anker finds itself at a crossroads between the realms of biology and art, psychology and semiotics. Her projects offer us a glimpse of the deep and intensive research required in the field of science, encouraging the viewer to consider how the non-scientific world takes for granted not only the previously unimagined progresses in science but, more simply, the wonderful complexity of our own bodies. Anker’s fastidious experimentation in a wide array of mediums and subjects is an effort to push at the boundaries of what Anker terms ‘BioArt’ and is an incitement of fearlessness and tenacity in the creation of scientific artworks.

Anker’s investigation of this crossroads began with a study of animal and human chromosomes and how they resembled written language. In her 1993-1995 series Zoosemiotics, Anker constructs a ‘text’ from the chromosomes of such animals and bats, alligators and fish, presented as small silver objects affixed to the wall, and though they do resemble rune-like forms it is interesting how they can also take on different meanings presented in a highly de-contextualized setting. For example, the objects in Fish(bottom left image) look like shiny pants in a wide variety of positions. In the Rorschach series, Anker transforms inkblot images into 3-dimensional reliefs reminiscent of fossil molds. The almost always highly symbolic pelvic appearance of the Rorschach inkblots is intensified by the sculptures’ concave forms. Genetic Seed Bank demonstrates the recuperative and adaptive power of nature and the potential for organic materials as a medium for artistic expression.

All of Anker’s works possess an overarching theme of the issues of scientific ethicality. Anker challenges the hygienically sealed nature of the lab, which often alienates individuals or subjects from their species-being, as Karl Marx might say. Bringing these subjects into the light of the public space, not only as scientific experiments but also as deeply-invested and aesthetically stirring art works, allows Anker to bridge the often too-broad gaps between the public, the gallery and the lab.

To see more of Suzanne Anker’s work, visit her website

-Stephanie Read

Joanna Tidey

To create this series Mould Scrapes, Joanna Tidey set up a controlled environment and invited nature to invade. Tidey is interested in bi-products; how as one thing deteriorates something else can thrive. As Tidey describes the series,

“I see this work as live painting — continuously developing and evolving. Colours you would not expect appear, and create images of another world similar to landscapes and seascapes.  Mould Scapes I found as a suitable description; taking something out of its context and admiring it intrinsically.”

This series works within an overarching theme in Tidey works, an interest in natural colonies. Her work is inspired by a quote from Carl Sagan. 

“We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We’re made of star stuff.”

So far, Tidey has found this in ducks eggs, silk worms and moulds. To see more of her works, click here. 

- Lee Jones

Simon F. Park

A Senior Lecturer in Molecular Bacteriology at University of Surrey, Simon F. Park’s artworks are driven by a need to correct the common misconception that microbiological life is primitive and always detrimental. As Park states,  

“I hope that through my art, and collaborations with artists, that the real and sublime nature of the microbiological world can be revealed. I also find the interface between arts and science to be a powerfully pluripotent one, that can occasionally give rise to outliers and thus new avenues of scientific investigation.”

As a microbiologist, Park works mostly with microorganisms and uses them to explore the inherent creativity of the natural world and to reveal its subtle, and usually hidden, narratives. But, rather than imposing any strict human-centred design upon the organisms that he works with, he prefers to evoke them as  co-authors in the creative process so that important events that many of us often overlook, or fail to consider intimately, become manifest. To see more of Park’s work, click here. 

- Lee Jones

Ernst Haeckel

Here’s one from the history books. Ernst Haeckel was a German of many trades including, but not limited to, the following: biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist. Through his books such as Kunstformen der Natur, “Art Forms of Nature,” Haeckel categorized and identified many new species while also showing the beauty to be found in nature. He is also know for spreading Charles Darwin’s work throughout Germany. For more on Haeckel, click here. 

- Lee Jones

Mitch Payne

We featured some of Payne’s work yesterday with his artistically designed periodic table, but we just had to add some more. In this series Poultry, Payne snaps shots of chickens in flight. You would never suspect that just ordinary poultry could look so stunning. For more of his photography, click here.

- Lee Jones 

Peter Carrington

Peter Carrington, an illustrator from Manchester, makes artworks about  science, natural history and his struggle to gain knowledge. As Carrington states, 

“I’ve always had an interest in science and nature, and during my studies I decided to combine this with my practice. Through deeper research into different scientific areas it quickly became apparent that, due to having dyslexia, I was never going to get a grip of the topics to make work that wasn’t shallow and ill-informed. I became frustrated that I wouldn’t be able to use the visual language of the sciences that I had become obsessed with. It was at this point that this frustration became the forefront of the work and the drawings became a portrait of me and my struggle with dyslexia. I began using the visuals of science and natural history journals to create seemingly scientific illustrations.”

Carrington’s work harkens back to the history of biology and botany, where drawing and labels were the key to all knowledge, then he adds his own bit of mystical influence. Now Carrington is focusing on the human need for order. Through labels and numbers he demonstrates our need to categorize. To see more of his work, click here. 

- Lee Jones

Philips Bio-Light: Bacteria as Energy Source

Philips’ newest Microbial Home concept is a resourceful and visually dynamic bio-light that uses bioluminescent bacteria, fed with methane and composted material (poop and waste) as an energy source. As you can see, this light is not only an achievement technologically and scientifically, but it is pretty impressive aesthetically as well.

For Philips, however, this is more than a light — it is a life-changing idea: “Potentially biological products could be self-energizing, adaptive, responsive, self-repairing, act as biological sensors to environmental conditions, and change the way we communicate information.”

So there’s waste, and then light, but how does it work? In scientific terms, bioluminescent organisms produce luciferase, an enzyme, which interacts with a molecule called a luciferin, which emits light. This type of light is produced at low temperatures (unlike incandescence, where light is produced as a result of high heat).

Luminescent light is consequently less intense, described as “more suitable for … ambience and indication than functional illumination”. It is slower than conventional light sources, and its functionality depends on the living material’s life itself. What’s cool about that, though, is that the light emitted is susceptible to change, and likely to react to its environmental setting. Essentially, it’s an ambiance-creating light source with a life of its own. 

Philips sees a more practical future for this concept in night-time road markings, warning strips on flights of stairs, informational markings on cultural institutions, and the like. As well, they see potential in its ability to create new genres of atmospheric interior lighting, that could potentially have therapeutic effects. All of this said, there are no plans to sell this light as a Philips product. Instead, it is intended to spark discussion: “this concept is testing a possible future — not prescribing one.” Oh well… we can dream!

In the meantime, you can have a look at some other Philips Microbial Home concepts here. For more information on the bio-light, click here.

- Gabrielle Doiron