Spring 2019 Bio Design

Welcome, everyone! My name is Miranda Chun, I am in my third year as a photography and liberal arts student at UNM, and I’ll be honest - I am completely new to all things Bio Design. But regardless, I’m fascinated! My interests in this early phase of the semester are geared especially towards research and explorations within the realm of materials. As an art student, I am intrigued with the notion of producing hands-on work which innovates sustainably and self-sufficiently. My ultimate objective in this regard is to discover uses for materials in both creation and daily life which lessen the burden of humanity on our world and do so elegantly. I am particularly excited to delve into the use of biological materials - to create work which is alive, from life itself.

“Homage” - In Progress Documentation

Recently attached to this repository are the latest scans I have produced from the leaves I have been exposing under negatives. The exposure time thus far totals around two weeks, and one is able to see more and more variation in tone across their surfaces at this point due to the manipulation of photosynthetic activity within and throughout their celluloid.

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BDC Final Presentation - “Homage” (Revised)

In the context of this revised final project, I photographed two subjects I am close to with articles of clothing belonging to loved ones they have lost in natural environments which carry significance to their respective relationships with them, and am in the process of utilizing an organic alternative photography process based on light sensitivity of chlorophyll in leaves. I obtained leaves on which I am printing these images from these environments, and have been continuously exposing them to sunlight under positive transparencies of these portraits. # Exposures are currently in progress, as the chlorophyll printing process typically takes months in keeping with the material’s absorption of ambient energy via photosynthesis. I have also been noting amidst series of trial and error variations in exposure which work best for each species of leaf - in these cases, daffodil and yucca - as weather and natural differences in the concentration of pigments within these leaves affect the overall outcome. Once legible as prints, the leaves will be preserved, waxed, and displayed alongside flowers in bloom whose fragrances carry personal significance for my subjects (in these specific cases, lavender and rose). # My current body of work in this regard consists of in progress documentation, but I hope to display a series of at least ten printed organic materials in frames within the context of this project. # Recently attached to this repository is a video presentation outlining my current progess. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKy4xEoONr4

BDC Proposal UPDATE

As I have progressed further in the process of generating a bio art project, I am deciding to shift the overall premise of my proposal to a photography-based installation. I am now planning to utilize the light-sensitivity of chlorophyll to impart photographic images onto plant matter in the creation of an aromatic exhibition exploring themes of sensory memory and the relationship between life and death. I have photographed individuals I know personally who have experienced loss with articles of clothing left behind by their late loved ones, each within natural, outdoor spaces which carry meaning to their respective relationships with those who have passed. From these environments I will obtain the plant material upon which these images will be printed. The process is as follows: # TO EXPOSE - (1) clean surface of leaf. (2) fit to frame. (3) place negative and leaf in frame. (4) expose to sulight until clear areas of the negative appear yellow. TO FIX - (1) 5g copper sulfate, 1L distilled water. (2) wash leaf in solution for three minutes. (3) wax leaf. # The resultant prints will be framed with floral elements which carry symbolic meaning for each of my subjects with regards to their personal feelings/experiences. The articles of clothing featured will be hung alongside the prints to further illustrate the explored interrelationship between objectivity, olfaction, and memory.

BDC Proposal

My concept for the Bio Design Challenge, titled “Homage to an Ideal,” is essentially to design a garden installation comprised of flowers implanted with human scent compounds, derived from sentimental objects (most likely clothing) of romantic partners. The project will evoke the relationship between olfaction and love, and explore a parallel between human and botanical biological systems. The basic methodology I propose is to isolate chemical compounds from the samples of participants and to use CRISPR technology to implant human DNA into the area of the flowers’ genome responsible for scent production. With regards to documentation, as the plants will take time to grow, the work will displayed in a “work in progress” format within the context of the Bio Design Challenge. Cultures will be photographed at regular intervals, as will the plants along their progression. Information about each participant, on scientific and personal levels, will be collected and considered alongside the progress of the project. Photographic representations of participants will serve as an artistic element of the installation, as will the scented articles themselves. Recently attached to this repository are images detailing my inspiration for the project, including documentation of Eduardo Kac’s 2003-2008 creation of his Edunia flower, as well as a PDF file of the beginnings of my research into pheromone functionality in the human body.

Neurobiology Lab Visit

To gain insight into the field of neuroimaging I visited the lab of Dr. Mubarak Syed, who examines developmental neural processes in flies (Drosophila). These organisms are efficient analogs for gaining further understanding of how the human brain functions, and so Dr. Syed’s research focuses on the physical dissection and behavior analysis of Drosophila, as well as the production and study of neural imagery, which details mitosis and gene expression within fly brains and allows for comparative analysis with the functionality of the human brain. His essential methodology consists of inducing Drosophila to sleep with carbon dioxide, allowing for microscopic examination of the organisms’ brain activity. The flies are then dissected and their brains subjected to neural imaging technology under a confocal microscope, which allows for three-dimensional views of their neural structures, and using fluorescent proteins which color-code specific neurons. Newly attached to this repository is a series of example Drosophila neural imagery produced by Dr. Syed’s research.

3D Print

Recently added in this repository is a collection of screenshots taken of a simple 3D print I devised for this class using the computer program SketchUp. To accomplish my objective design, I used this software to mock up a figure prototyping my central concept of an earbud holder. The resultant model is designed to attach to the back of a cell phone and hold earbuds securely in place for easy access and use. It measures 2.5”x3” and is flexible due to my usage of the “ninja flex” filament.

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The model produced in the context of this project, though dimensionally correct and valid in its basic form, is merely speculative. Given greater time and resources, the premise guiding this specific project will ideally expand to include a variety of forms, and I will 3D scan the shapes of a diverse selection of earbud shapes to implement into this basic design.

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Current Work & Perspective

My most recent photographic explorations confront themes of transience and thresholds of perception, and in the process reference the resultant atavistic associations we develop. With minds and bones which conform to our surroundings, we, throughout the world and throughout time, are at once separate and unified. From this paradox arises within me a constant impetus to discover new representations which act less to depict and more to investigate, whether by way of a silver gelatin portrayal or a cameraless attempt to capture the essence of a fleeting identity. Darkroom materials have taken special precedence as my preferred creative agents in this regard, my present body of work being comprised largely of experimental approaches to uses of light, surface, fixity, and the photographic development process.

Projects of Interest

The central work in the Natural History of the Enigma is a ‘plantimal’, a new life form created by Eduardo Kac that he calls Edunia, a genetically engineered flower that is a hybrid of the artist and Petunia. The Edunia expresses Kac’s DNA (specifically, the isolated gene responsible for the identification of foreign entities culled from his blood) exclusively in its red veins. The new flower was invented by and produced by the artist through molecular biology. It is not found in nature.

Pioneering what she terms a “biopolitics of the senses,” Yi’s emphasis on olfaction aims to decentralize and hack our perceptual bias toward vision and make us aware of our most primordial and reflexive sense—scent. Part of the brain’s ancient limbic system, our olfactory receptors are deeply embedded with neurological systems that process our memories, moods, and behaviors. Scent and its profound relationship to identity and subjectivity forms the basis of this work which incorporated bacterial samples from 100 women that were then, with the help of M.I.T. synthetic biologist Tal Danino, synthesized into a single strand of bacteria. Yi used this literal culture of women as paint, applied onto an agar canvas. The odor permeating from this installation was quite powerful, literally and in concept, as the installation has served a deeply feminist affront to cultural biases held toward bodily odors.

This ‘victimless leather’ is grown inside a custom made perfusion chamber (an automatic dripping system which drips into the polymers and feeds the cells) from immortalised cell lines which are cultured and form a living layer of tissue supported by a biodegradable polymer matrix in the form of a miniature stitch-less coat-like shape. Growing the material problematizes the concept of garment by making it semi-living. As such, the project is intended to confront people with the moral implications of wearing parts of dead animals for protective and aesthetic reasons and confronts notions of relationships with manipulated living systems.

During his graduate research, microbiologist-turned-artist Zachary Copfer invented a new medium that combines photographic processes with microbiological practices, and coined the process bacteriography. Bacteriography consists of shooting radiation through a negative on to a petri dish covered with bacteria. The end product is a plate of bacteria that have grown to form a photographic image. The process essentially mirrors darkroom photography - the enlarger has been replaced by a radiation source and instead of photo sensitive paper this process uses a petri dish coated with a living bacterial emulsion.

Media of Interest

-Tissues -DNA -Cultures -Microorganisms -Bodily Secretions -Natural Pigments -Natural Proteins -Light-Sensitive Agents (& Light as a Catalyst) -Sculptural Elements -Neural Activity -Sound