Victoria Vesna & James Gimzewski >
Blue Morph, installation
08|11|2007 -
25|11|2007
Blue Morph is a piece in progress that has been under development for the past two years. This project is a close collaboration of an artist and scientist interested in collective consciousness shifts in relation to sound, vibration and color. The piece is based on vibration measurements of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a Blue Morpho butterfly. The Blue Morpho butterfly in particular interested us for the nano-photonics involved in iridescent Yves Klein magical blue color that is not pigment at all but patterns and structure. This butterfly has intrigued scientists for generations with its optical engineering – 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 currency. Today, its dazzling iridescent wings are giving rise to a market to try to mimic its wonder and create a counterfeit proof currency and charge cards. Most important of all in relation to this project is the realization that sounds of metamorphosis are not gradual or even that pleasant as we would imagine it. Rather they happen in sudden (violent) surges that are broken up with stillness and silence. It is also interesting to note that there are the eight pumps or “hearts†that remain constant throughout the changes, pumping the rhythm in the background. This juxtaposed with the abstracted images of the wings on nanoscale is pretty powerful on its own, but we wanted to make this an interactive experience that would be inverse of what one would expect.
Victoria Vesna is a media artist, professor and chair of the department of Design | Media Arts at the UCLA School of the Arts. She is also director of the recently established UCLA Art|Sci center and the UC Digital Arts Research Network. Her work can be defined as experimental creative research that resides between disciplines and technologies. She explores how communication technologies affect collective behavior and how perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation. Victoria has exhibited her work in 18 solo exhibitions, over 70 group shows, published 20+ papers and gave 100+ invited talks in the last decade. She is recipient of many grants, commissions and awards, including the Oscar Signorini award for best net artwork in 1998 and the Cine Golden Eagle for best scientific documentary in 1986.
James Gimzewski pioneered research on electrical contact with single atoms and molecules, light emission and molecular imaging using STM. His current interests are in the Nanoarchitectonics of molecular systems and cells with applications for nanomedicine. Recently, he has undertaken groundbreaking research in an entirely new field of biophysics, which he calls sonocytology of living cells. In 2005 he published the most downloaded paper in Nature on a pocket sized nuclear fusion device. Gimzewski received the 1997 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology, the 1997 The Discover Award for Emerging Fields, the 1998' Wired 25' Award from Wired magazine and the Institute of Physics "Duddell" 2001 prize and medal for his work in nanoscale science. He holds two IBM "Outstanding Innovation Awards".
http://artsci.ucla.edu/BlueMorph/
James Gimzewski pioneered research on electrical contact with single atoms and molecules, light emission and molecular imaging using STM. His current interests are in the Nanoarchitectonics of molecular systems and cells with applications for nanomedicine. Recently, he has undertaken groundbreaking research in an entirely new field of biophysics, which he calls sonocytology of living cells. In 2005 he published the most downloaded paper in Nature on a pocket sized nuclear fusion device. Gimzewski received the 1997 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology, the 1997 The Discover Award for Emerging Fields, the 1998' Wired 25' Award from Wired magazine and the Institute of Physics "Duddell" 2001 prize and medal for his work in nanoscale science. He holds two IBM "Outstanding Innovation Awards".
http://artsci.ucla.edu/BlueMorph/
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