Director: Laura Splan

Film: Baroque Bodies (Ambient Portals)

Bio: “Baroque Bodies (Ambient Portals)” explores the interconnectedness of the natural world and the built environment with an otherworldly meditation on post-human subjectivities. The viewer is taken on a journey through molecular bodies situated in a liminal space that is at once biological and technological, autonomous and entangled. The conceptual underpinnings of the project are drawn from epigenetic research on environmental influences on gene expression. Drawing both inspiration and material from emerging research on the effects of trauma, climate change, food scarcity, pesticides, and other external influences on public health, the work explores the complex relationships between what is invisible and in plain sight, nature and nurture.

The imagery evokes notions of residues in both the abstract (metaphorical, emotional) and the physical (literal, genetic). The animations, made in Blender, were created using 3D molecular models of nucleosomes that reflect AI-generated landscapes. The mirror surfaces of genetic structures (histone proteins, DNA strands) reflect idyllic landscapes that are otherwise invisible in the animations. The reflected landscapes were created with AI using text prompts from epigenetics research on the influence of environmental factors on gene expression.

The accompanying 20-channel soundscape was created with sonifications of chromatin simulations made by theoretical biophysicist Adam Lamson. MIDI conversions of the sonifications were arranged into an ethereal spatial soundscape composed of different MIDI instruments driven by the molecular movement of the simulations.

“Baroque Bodies (Ambient Portals)” is part of an experimental research collaboration between interdisciplinary artist Laura Splan and theoretical biophysicist Adam Lamson. The project explores entanglements of computational and biological worlds through research, artworks, exhibitions, and public engagement. Process and production for the project are informed by Lamson’s biological simulations and Splan’s studio practice interrogating scientific imaging techniques.

Lamson’s simulated chromatin structures serve as both material and as a conceptual framework for artworks that attempt to communicate complex biology by connecting virtual representations of the biological world with sensory encounters and tactile experiences. The collaboration explores the potential for deeper understanding of complex science by rematerializing representations of molecular phenomena. The creative underpinnings of their collaboration know as “Sticky Settings” are informed by Splan and Lamson’s shared fascination with the layers of translation involved in digital representations of molecular biology. In software interfaces, “sticky settings” is a phrase used to describe “remembered” user settings. “Sticky” is also a term Lamson uses to describe certain molecular interactions in his computer-generated models. In biology, evidence has emerged for gene bookmarking suggesting mechanisms of epigenetic memory or “stickiness” in DNA.

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.