Unraveling
Unraveling is a series of animations created with SARS-CoV-2 protein structures in molecular visualization software.t
Using the specialized features of the software in unconventional ways, Laura Splan unravels and distorts the folded structure of the coronavirus spike protein. She playfully manipulates the folded protein forms, known as “conformations”, which determine biological function including infectivity. After morphing the unraveled proteins with their original conformations, she then further processes the animations using other video editing tools. The colors in each video were chosen from the software’s palette that includes references to nature such as plants, animals, and chemical elements. The video titles echo the colors’ names that are entangled with idyllic representations of the natural world such as blue skies, green forests, fruit and flowers. The series presents a mesmerizing meditation on increasing entanglements between natural and constructed worlds. Unraveling was developed in remote collaboration with scientists Edgar Davidson and Ben Doranz at biotech company Integral Molecular while “sheltering in place” for COVID-19.
Project support provided by The uCity Science Center Bioart Residency, Integral Molecular, and The Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation.
Artist Designer Name
Laura Splan is a Brooklyn-based artist whose transdisciplinary work intersects science, technology, design and culture. Her biomedical themed artworks have been commissioned by The Centers for Disease Control Foundation (Surface Tension), Gen Art New Media Art Exhibition (Doilies: SARS, HIV, Influenza…), and Davidson College (Host and Trousseau). Splan's work has been exhibited at the Museum of Arts & Design and Beall Center for Art + Technology and is represented in the collections of the Thoma Art Foundation, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the NYU Langone Art Collection. Reviews and articles including her work have appeared in The New York Times, Discover Magazine, Hyperallergic, American Craft and Frieze. Splan has received research funding from The Jerome Foundation and her residencies have been supported by The Knight Foundation, The Institute for Electronic Arts, Harvestworks, and The Pollock-Krasner Foundation. She has been a visiting lecturer at Stanford University teaching interdisciplinary courses including “Embodied Interfaces”, “Data as Material” and “Art & Biology”. Her recent SARS-CoV-2 animation collaboration with Integral Molecular was supported by the uCity Science Center and the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation. She is a Creative Science member at NEW INC, the New Museum’s cultural incubator in New York, NY. Her current solo exhibition, Unraveling, is on view at BioBAT Art Space at the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
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