eCONSCIOUSNESS 

part of the SCIENCE ART project

September 18-22, 2013

at the Central House of Artists

Крымский Вал 10, Moscow, Russia, 119049

http://www.science-art.ru/e.php

“Un Requiem pour Flocons de neige Blessés“

 Year: 2009/12. Medium: Projected Video

 www.facebook.com/ScienceArtFest

Project curator: Semen Erokhin (Moscow State University)eCONSCIOUSNESS exhibition is the third exhibition held as part of the SCIENCE ARTinternational project implemented by the Central House of Artists and Lomonosov Moscow State University. The project aims at creating a transdisciplinary science art platform that could provide productive collaboration between artists and scientists, and bring the integration of art, science, and technology to a new level.

State-of-the-art artistic research projects are found at the “intersection” of art and biology, chemistry, physics, nanosciences, robotics and other areas of scientific knowledge. At the intersection of actual art and environmental science, ECOLOGICAL ART is formed as a global science art trend. Its philosophy is based on the idea of developing the environmental consciousness, harmonic coexistence of the human kind and natural ecosystems.

Although some of the projects displayed at the exhibition aim at attracting the public attention to environmental issues (The 21st Century Cultural Layer by RECYCLE group, Russia; Parásitos Urbanos by Gilberto Esparza, Mexico) falling into the domain of Environmental Art, the array of issues covered by the exhibition is much wider. It covers the entire range of environmental issues (in the sense of Ernst Haeckel): from the relations among living organisms and their communities to their relations with the environment (Deformed Amphibians by Brandon Ballengée, USA; Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot by Garnet Hertz, USA; Decon by Marta de Menezes, Portugal).

Russian and foreign artists and researchers will not only demonstrate various approaches to artistic apprehension of environmental issues but also possible ways of addressing them using technologies based on achievements of contemporary science, including synthetic biology (Plantas Nómadas by Gilberto Esparza; Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robot Series by James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau, UK).

In some projects synthetic biology technologies were used (Decon; Impulse by Juan Castro, Colombia-Japan). Expansion of technologies that involve the design and creation of biological systems that do not naturally exist and are able to speed up natural evolutionary processes million-fold raises a whole number of ethical issues, particularly, whether the man may interfere in the processes of creation of living organisms in such a radical way. These issues will be discussed at the international workshop conference Synthetic Biology Technologies in Actual Art: Aesthetical and Ethical Aspects. Participants of the conference will include philosophers, art critics, representatives of natural sciences as well as artists, including those who use synthetic biology technologies in their practice.

The exhibition and research programs will be accompanied by an education program for the widest audience (open lectures, master classes, round tables, meetings with curators, artists, and scientists) and a special program intended for kids: works of the younger generation of artists and researchers created as part of the Animals of the Future project will be presented by the Studio of Art Designing, Moscow (art director Nikolay Selivanov).

The choice of the subject of the third international science art exhibition as research of integration of ecology and art was not accidental: 2013 was announced the Year of Environmental Protection in the Russian Federation.

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SCIENCE ART is a long-term program of exhibitions and education activities. If you wish to take part in upcoming events, please feel free to contact program curator Semen Erokhin (serohine@gmail.com) and program coordinator Anush Zeynalyan (+7 985 122 12 27, a_anush@bk.ru).

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Parallel program of: 17 INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR ART MOSCOW The Fifth Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art Press contacts: PR Department of the Central House of Artists (Elizaveta Antipenkova): +7 926 112 75-25, pr.cha.moscow@gmail.com

 

 

Augures D’innocence at Chateau de Chamarande will be closing at the end of the month. This is Ballengée’s first solo exhibition in France and presents a large survey of work that recounts the artist’s path since his exhibition debut in 1996. The exhibition was named after the poem Auguries of Innocence by William Blake written in 1803.

Selected work with artist notes:

Early Life
2001-2002

“The images are representations of the first eight days of life of two species of amphibians. Wood frogs were once one of the most abundant frogs in New England. Over the past century populations have plummeted making wood frogs one of the more rare frogs encountered in the region and protected in New York State. Spotted salamanders begin their pilgrimage to breeding pools in the late winter. For the salamanders to successfully reproduce they need unmoving clean water that does not contain predatory fish. This species has declined because of introduced game fish that feed on mating adults and their larval offspring.”

 

Photo by Laurence Godart

 

Domaine de Chamarande Eco-Displacement
2013

“This sculptural installation literally is a living cross-section of the nearby Cressonnière wetland. Such wetlands and the drama of the lives of their inhabitants is to most of us a mystery- the birthplaces of all life yet shrouded in the unknown and often the under appreciated. Here organisms (plants, animals, plankton) and found materials (detritus, water) from the Cressonnière form a freestanding ecosystem- displaced but functioning within a glass vitrine made originally to protect precious art objects. Within this vitrine, snails, fish, aquatic organisms become characters in a displayed theatre of live acting naturally- eating, breeding, living, dying and struggling as they would in the wild.

This work brings life into the Museum space- a place usually designated for art and human made artifacts, time-less objects associated with monetary value. This work asks what is the value of life, even if we don’t know of it’s existence nor does it have any monetary value- also how does the drama of actual living with constant change and struggle challenge our idea of enduring art? Following the exhibition, all organisms will be ceremonially freed back in the Cressonnière wetlands they came from.”

 

Historic Specimens from Collection du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris

Photo by Laurence Godart

 

Malamp: The Occurrence of Deformities in Amphibians
1996-Ongoing

“For more than a decade, a central praxis of my primary biological research and subject of my artworks has been the declines and potential causes of deformities among amphibian populations. As an artist and biologist, I have studied amphibians internationally involving collaborations with numerous other researchers and hundreds of participating members of the public.”

Photo by Laurence Godart

 

Reliquaries
2001/current

“Malamp Reliquaries and are created by chemically “clearing and staining” terminally deformed frogs. This process will obscures direct representation- as I do not want to exhibit large images of “monsters”, which would be frightening and be exploitative to the organisms. This process was followed by high-resolution scanner photography of each specimen to create individual portraits. These portraits will be printed as unique watercolor ink prints (IRIS) and each individual frog will be centered appearing to “float” in what looks to be clouds. This otherworldly quality will be reinforced by the titles named after an ancient character from Greek mythology. The titles were made in collaboration the Parisian poet KuyDelair and other collaborators over the paste several years. In the images the frogs are scaled so appear approximately the size of a human toddler, in an attempt to invoke empathy in the viewer instead of detachment or fear: if they are too small they will dismissed but if they are too large they will become monsters. Each finished artwork will be unique and never editioned, to recall the individual animal and become a reliquary to a short-lived non-human life.”

 

Styx
1996/12

Installation: 9 preserved cleared and stained deformed Pacific Treefrog specimens on sculptural light box.

Photo by Laurence Godart

“Styx is a sculptural expression of complex sensations derived from finding the abnormal frogs in nature. Named after the legendary river from Greek mythology that moved between the worlds of the Living and the Dead. To create Styx, tiny actual specimens are carefully post-fixed cleared and stained and displayed on large dark structures- to resemble fallen obelisks. The specimens are small, out of our normal human-scale for bodily association, but through precisely illuminated glass dishes they become the ‘light’ and focal point. Viewed up close they resemble gems or the stained-glass windows found in some cathedrals. There is something familiar about them, enchanting but terrible.”

Photo by Laurence Godart

 

The Cry of Silent Forms
2009-ongoing

“To study deformed amphibians it is necessary to raise tadpoles in laboratory settings to monitor their development. For this research my colleagues and I have created experiments to better understand what is happening to amphibians in the today’s environments. This has involved growing tadpoles in the presence of predators, parasites, polluted water and sediments to monitor how the these environmental factors may impact normal development and contribute to deformities. Often in experiments tadpoles, are injured by predatory fish, insect larvae, parasites, even tadpoles attacking one another- these behaviors are natural yet in the lab we can record and analyze them to better understand what is happening in nature. Often these experiments are difficult to watch but imperative to understanding the cause or causes for amphibian deformations in the wild.

These films or works of “moving image” were all recorded within laboratories or during biological studies. Generally while performing experiments a researcher must focus on documentation, evidence collection and strict scientific methodologies. These recordings on the other hand are attempts to “preserve” finite moments that were outside of primary research. These ephemeral instants in time we as humans would not normally even notice. Likewise, while working in a laboratory as a scientist we must stay focused and objective however what we often see is incredible, beautiful, sometimes gruesome and tragic.

Even from a scientific distance research events have emotional resonance- these films attempt to bear witness to this complex psychological dichotomy and encapsulate the drama inherent to survival in hostile environments. For example, Prāṇa captures the throat of a metamorphic frog taking her last breaths before dying as a result of a predatory injury. For Origine du monde a “mother/father” leech gracefully fans her underside bringing oxygen to cloned offspring that are parasitizing her. In Consume once dossal toad tadpoles begin to attack one another in rampant unexpected cannibalism. These and the other short films (8 minutes each) intentionally lack narratives as they are moments captured and repeated, in an effort to make them timeless. The sounds for each film are streams, waterfalls or other forms of running water.”

 

Prelude to the Collapse of the North Atlantic
2013

This work is a sculptural response to the global crisis of the world’s fisheries and the current threat of to many species found in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Over-fishing, climate change, oil and other pollutants and overall habitat degradation are among the numerous factors that has lead to marine diversity decline. Likewise, these species declines alter natural trophic or food webs causing further impact to the natural function of aquatic ecosystems. Recent studies have shown in the world’s oceans every trophic level in the food web has been altered over the last two centuries. In addition upper tier species (top predators) are among those most currently threatened with extinction.

Photo by Laurence Godart

In the northeast Atlantic the European Environmental Agency (EEA) has reported that several popular seafood species are currently being fished out of biological safety limits, including Cod, Anglerfish, Hake, Mackerel, Sardine, Sole and others. The intergovernmental organization ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) has called for a 40% reduction in fishing fleets to reduce threats of species collapse. Of the approx. 1100 species of fish identified in the northeast Atlantic no one is certain the overall level of decline among all these populations.

This sculpture represents less than 5% of the overall biodiversity known to the northeast Atlantic. The specimen jars are meant to recall natural history collections as well as glass coffins stacked to create this massive pyramid. This pyramid attempts to represent both, the biological reality of northeast Atlantic trophic interconnection and visually recall the structures of ancient Egyptian and other tombs. Empty containers represent species in severe decline or those already lost to extinction.

Photo by Laurence Godart

 

Tears of Ochún
2012

Cleared and stained Grass shrimp (Palaemonetes species) collected for the Gulf of Mexico in fall 2012.

Unique specimen as biological sculpture in a series of 500, examined as part a pilot study by the artist/ biologist.

“The 2010 Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill was the largest environmental disaster in the history of the United States. Literally billions of organisms were impacted. British Petroleum claims all is well but the Gulf ecosystems continue to show the devastating effects of the spill and teratological dispersants used to “clean” the oil. In the spring of 2012 (2 years after the spill and “clean up”) numerous cases of shrimp and other seafood with lesions, missing eyes and other abnormalities were found in fisherman’s catches.

Photo by Laurence Godart

For this pilot project, we examined and compared 688 Grass shrimp (Palaemonetes species) collected in the fall of 2012 from sites in Louisiana that were heavily exposed to DWH effluents compared to those sampled from sites in Florida with minimal exposure. All shrimps were analyzed for obvious developmental abnormalities and 500 were cleared and stained to further examine morphologies. The results of this pilot study showed that shrimps sampled from areas with direct exposure to BP pollutants had a ten-fold increase (79.4%) in abnormalities compared to those collected at sites with minimal exposure (7.6%). The Louisiana populations showed the most severe abnormalities, including a single shrimp, which appears to have developed ectopic limbs growing from the abdomen. Further research is needed to better understand the far-reaching impact of the BP spill, resultant high levels of deformities among Gulf wildlife and the potential impact they have for humans consuming them as seafood.”

 

Commited
2012

Video

“Committed offered rebuttals to claims made in BP advertisements. Here, scientific studies, government documents and other published materials factually contradict what BP has said in their commercials and other public relation attempts. Through the piece you see a complete collision of “realities”: On one hand you have the reassuring words of the carrying and apologetic former CEO Tony Hayward promising to “make this right” followed by visions of white sands with vibrant blue water, thrilled sunbathing tourists, thriving revitalized gulf communities and wildlife, even a recipe for succulent shrimp gumbo. On the other- the world of scientists, analysts and Gulf residents- you see a different picture reported, with damaged beaches with sands used to cover oil, delays in clean up and restoration efforts, cover up attempts for loss of wildlife, DWH effluents bio-accumulating into different trophic layers of the gulf food chain, health threats from consuming contaminated seafood, and an ongoing environmental catastrophe that has lacked systemic large-scale remediation.”

 

Frameworks of Absence : The Extinct Birds of John James Audubon
2006-ongoing

Photo by Laurence Godart

“Responding to avian species loss, I physically cut the birds from historic John James Audubon prints. Acquired over several years, original prints were chosen from the time when the depicted bird species became extinct. For example, in RIP Pied or Labrador Duck (2007) the birds were removed from an original 1856 Royal Octavo (hand-colored by one of Audubon’s sons) printed at the same point in history the actual species became extinct. The resulting image minus the subject is what I refer to as a framework for absence.”

Photo by Laurence Godart

 

A Habit of Deciding Influence: Pigeons from Charles Darwin’s Breeding Experiments
2003/09

“Charles Darwin enthusiastically began researching English pigeons in 1855. He studied, observed and even selectively bred them in experiments to create numerous color, shape, size and behavioral variations, determining that all fancy pigeons descended from the Columba livia, the common rock pigeon. This understanding of ‘artificial’ selection was invaluable to his later theory on species change in natural environments.

As an artist-in-residence at the Natural History Museum in London in 2003, I photographed ‘bones’ and ‘skins’ from Darwin’s personal collection of pigeon specimens. Later, the ‘birds’ were digitally collaged on backgrounds created from microscopic scans of medical cotton. The finished photographic works were printed in pigmented ink on watercolor paper. The intention was to recall 19th century paintings by J.M. W. Turner and others.”

Photo by Laurence Godard

 

Apparitions
2013

Historic taxidermy specimens from the collection the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature displaced by the artist. Sound works by Andrew Diluvian.

1. Magpie. 2011. Sound work, 16 minutes.

2. Final Eye. 2012. Sound work, 8 minutes.

Photo by Laurence Godart

In Magpie, Diluvian uses digital techniques to crudely “cut into” and discard the sounds of extinct birds from a collage of historic field recordings. Only traces and the faint “edges” of bird sounds within these recordings may be heard, leaving the listener with an ineffective experience and a heightened awareness of absence. The extinct species used are the Dusky Seaside Sparrow, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, and the Kaua’i O’o.

Photo by Laurence Godart

Final Eye envisions a ragged landscape of memory within a dream being had by the last living bird of a species. All sounds in this piece are manipulated samplings of historic bird recordings.

http://bough.bandcamp.com

 

Ti-tânes
2012/2013

“In Greek mythology the Ti-tânes or Titans, were the ancient primordial deities born from Gaia or Gaiê (Earth) and Ouranos (sky). The Titans in a sense were products of primordial nature and eventually overthrown by the Olympians (the more human-like gods represented in classical Greco-Roman mythology). This paradigm shift is a strong metaphor for our Western approach towards nature and the environment, a change from revering the natural world to anthropomorphic adoration which continues to drive human-centric exploitation of natural resources and other organisms. Although the Ti-tânes were defeated by the new human-like gods they survived banished to austere lands.

Photo by Laurence Godart

In the summer of 2012 pilot surveys at wetlands within the Domaine de Chamarande for amphibian deformations were conducted. At the Cressonnière ponds numerous common Toad tadpoles and young toadlets were found with missing hind limbs and limb segments. In addition to deformed toads we also found a heavy population of Nine-spined stickleback fish (Pungitius pungitius) inhabiting the Cressonnière. Although the Cressonnière receives direct run-off and shows signs of ecologically degradation, the stickleback population appeared to be flourishing. Stickleback are well known for their aggressive activity and in my prior amphibian studies in England and Canada I have seen them attacking tadpoles literally biting of sections of tail, eyes and limb parts. Did the stickleback cause the deformities among young toads in the Cressonnière? We still do not know and this summer we will create experiments to better understand if Nine-spined stickleback could be responsible for the amphibian abnormalities found in the park.

Photo by Laurence Godart

As artworks this series of began in 2012, where I have tried to select species that firstly are ancient (in the evolutionary sense) and secondly are able to survive (perhaps even thrive) in habitats environmentally impacted by human activity. Such organisms literally have endured for millions of years and now are adapting to today’s ecological degradation. For the works in this exhibition, three Nine-spined stickleback collected from the Cressonnière were chosen as subjects and carefully stained using Alizarin red dye, which adhered to bone then cleared using digestive enzymes to make surrounding tissues transparent. From the biological research side this was done to analyze specimens for any developmental abnormalities that in life we could not have seen. Secondly, this treatment was performed as an artistic choice- as clearing and staining is a way to change the way we are able look at such organisms, how we perceive them- they are abstracted yet made more clear. Next they were photographed on coal (literally fossilized carbon) meant to recall ancient life as well as changes to today’s climate made through the continued burning of such fossil fuels.

These artworks are meant as portraits of the individual fish, as each is unique as each of us. Through size (making them larger than life) they are scaled so the human viewer sees them at the magnitude the tadpoles would in the Cressonnière. Metaphorically they are meant to recall the ancient lingering nature deities surviving in banished now degraded environs. Viewed as skeletons they are not meant to represent death but instead life persisting in ecosystems made preternatural by human activity.”

 

Dying Tree
2013

Photo by Laurence Godart

“A tree from the grounds of the castle that was dying from being parasitized. Microphones dug into the surface of the tree capture the sound of water evaporating from the varied layers of wood tissues- as the cells dry they are dying- and I would like for viewers to be able to hear this slow process of a tree drying or literally dying from the outside inwards. This work is meant as a homage to Robert Smithson.”

This exhibition takes its name from ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle’s classification of insects by their similar traits: six legs and clearly segmented or “notched” bodies.  Humans have had a long and complex relationship with insects. Their alien appearance can be jarring or off-putting, but upon closer inspection insects are works of art. They are often seen as pests or invaders; however, their critical role in our ecosystem and daily lives is increasingly clear as urban farming, gardening, and the impact of syndromes like Colony Collapse Disorder become prevalent. Insects are keen indicators of the health of our ecosystem. They help break down and decompose rotting materials, which reintroduce rich nutrients into the soil.  They are also the first line of defense against invasive plants and other harmful insects.

Comprising nearly 80% of the species on the planet, the immense diversity among this animal class has provided artists with a wealth of inspiration for centuries. Contemporary artists have been equally enamored with insects for their brilliant colors and forms, unique behaviors, environmental significance, as well as social parallels and cultural commentary. Wasps, beetles, butterflies, cicadas, ants, and crickets are some of the insects examined in the show.

Located on Arsenal lawn, Brandon Ballengée’s outdoor light installation Love Motel for Insects is intended to create interactions between nocturnal arthropods and humans. In the gallery, Joianne Bittle’s Goliath Beetle is removed from his natural surroundings and placed on a gold background, referencing religious icons from the Byzantine era. A botanic wallpaper installation by Talia Greene is inhabited by a colony of harvester ants, illustrating our vain attempts to impose order on the natural world. Faux books and records designed by Julian Montague document the hypothetical history of pest control. In her videos, Julia Oldham translates insects’ behaviors into choreographed performances. Ben Snead paints insects into geometric patterns—a personal classification system based on aesthetics rather than science. Rebecca Clark, Emilie Clark, Asuka Hishiki, Lisa Murch, and Christy Rupp also present diverse artworks that herald insects as fascinating creatures to be studied, understood and celebrated.

A series of related programs will be offered in conjunction with the exhibition Notched Bodies. Admission is free but seating is limited. To RSVP, please email artandantiquities@parks.nyc.gov.

Tuesday, October 8, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Michael Feller, Chief Naturalist at Parks’ Natural Resources Group will present a lecture on the insects you can find in New York City.

Wednesday, October 30, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Artists Joianne Bittle, Emilie Clark, Julia Oldham, and Benjamin Snead will discuss how their fascination with insects impacts their artwork.

Saturday, November 9, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. NYC Parks will present a screening of insect-themed animated shorts for children.

The Arsenal Gallery is dedicated to examining themes of nature, urban space, wildlife, New York City parks and park history.  It is located on the third floor of the Parks Department Headquarters, in Central Park, on Fifth Avenue at 64th Street.  Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.  Admission is free.  For more information on the Arsenal Gallery, please call 212-360-8163.

For more information contact: Arthur Pincus / Phil Abramson (212) 360-1311

 

Curated by Hyewon Yi

Lecture by Brandon Ballengée, Praeter Naturam: Biology Beyond Nature:                                    

Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 7 –  8pm

 

Exhibition Walkthrough with Curator:

Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 11 am

Monday, September 30, 2013, 1 pm

Wednesday, October 2, 2013, 4 pm

Gallery Hours: Monday through Thursday 12 – 5pm and by appointment

Location: Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, Campus Center, Main Level, SUNY College at Old Westbury, Route 107, Old Westbury, New York 11568

The Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at SUNY College at Old Westbury is pleased to announce a new exhibition, Signs of Existence: Biotech Art, opening September 10, 2013. The exhibition explores a diverse range of creative approaches to transforming and manipulating the processes of life. These life-science artists explore living organisms ranging from human DNA samples to marine animal subjects, altering them through subversive use of biotechnological processes. In an age of molecular biology, stem cell research, and debates over genetically modified organisms, the rapid growth of experiments in biotechnology gives rise to corresponding endeavors among life-science artists. Biotechnology has opened the way to new artistic visions of the body, resulting in a growing convergence of science and art. Through their observations and experiments in their respective fields, the five artists in this exhibition raise issues of bioethics in a world in which new relationships between human and nonhuman subjects emerge and humankind struggles for dominance over natural forces.

This exhibition emphasizes three distinct themes within Bio Art. Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Paul Vanouse utilize DNA samples for their research, drawing attention to individual rights, genetic manipulation, commodification, and the paucity of regulation of biotechnology. Under current law, people have few rights to their bodily tissue and genetic material once they leave their bodies. DNA, which provides more personal information than fingerprints, is highly vulnerable to discriminatory uses by employers, insurers, and the criminal justice system. These artists offer social commentary on genetic analysis while their methodology raises social concerns about discrimination and privacy. Brandon Ballengée and Helen J. Bullard expand upon their interests in the health of complex ecosystems. Ballengée issues a call for conservation of amphibian and avian species threatened by human activity and environmental changes. His methods are diagnostic of each species’ situation within its ecosystem. Bullard researches the complex relationship between the Atlantic horseshoe crab and biomedicine and the pharmaceutical industry. Despite their exploitation by industry, horseshoe crabs survive and return to nature. Soyo Lee’s “artistic intervention,” A Dying Art, concerns anatomical human specimens preserved at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Historical artifacts of human remains at such “medical” museums used for educational purposes suffer from neglect of maintenance. Lee proposed strategies to the museum officials that led to a yearlong collaboration between the artist and the institution, thus demonstrating the practicality of artistic institutional critique.

For this exhibition, Brandon Ballengée contributes two series of works. A Season in Hell Series: Deadly Born Cry, (2010-2012) portrays birds whose gift of flight has been taken away or never developed due to untimely death. The birds were mechanically altered in utero during laboratory experiments that prohibit wing (“limb”) development. The series also pictures young birds that for unknown reasons were found dead in their nests. Malamp: The Occurrence of Deformities in Amphibians (ongoing since 1996) represents a central praxis of Ballengée’s artworks¾the decline in numbers and potential causes of deformities among amphibian populations. A result of collaboration with other researchers and members of the public, Malamp uses two modes of representation. The first, Reliquaries (ongoing since 2001), is a series of large photographic prints of frog specimens whose terminal deformities are attributed to ecological imbalance in nature. These individual portraits, scaled to the size of a human toddler, serve as memorials. The second mode of representation, Styx (ongoing since 2007¾the title is taken from the Greek mythological river that separates the world of the living from the realm of the dead), is a sculptural installation of actual frog specimens illuminated through glass dishes against dark backgrounds. These tiny specimens were chemically cleared and stained first. Through his biological specimens turned aesthetic expressions, Ballengée links ethical engagement to heart-rending beauty.

Heather Dewey-Hagborg presents her latest ongoing project, Stranger Visions, lifelike masks of human faces based on DNA extracted from hair, chewing gum, and cigarette butts discarded in public places. Using a computer program she created to decode gender, eye color, and facial traits from DNA samples, Dewey-Hagborg created her life-size heads on a 3-D printer. Employing PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), the artist studied regions of genomes that vary from person to person, what are called SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). Feeding the information through her custom computer program, she acquires data on physical traits such as gender, eye-color, hair color/baldness, hair texture, complexion, and the tendency to obesity. Dewey-Hagborg’s project contributes to studies of face morphology, generic surveillance, genome-wide association studies, and forensic DNA phenotyping. Her method calls attention to threats to our privacy, as leaving traces as simple as a shed hair can provide a stranger with clues to our identities. This exhibition also includes DNA Spoofing: DIY Counter-Surveillance, a video of the artist and friends swapping their generic material such as hair and nails. Just as tampering with Internet Protocols makes anonymous Internet browsing possible, DNA spoofing enables one to conceal one’s identity. In this way, the work offers some DIY techniques for counteracting genetic surveillance.

Helen J. Bullard presents Blood Oath, a vignette forming part of the larger research project, Blue Blood, an investigation into the relationships and environments of the Atlantic horseshoe crab. The focus of the project is on the complex connections these animals share with biomedicine and the pharmaceutical industry. In 1970, an extract found in horseshoe crab blood was licensed for use in testing the safety of vaccines, and has since become the most reliable agent in detecting pyrogens and endotoxins. The extract is also used ubiquitously by intravenous drug manufacturers due to its natural ability to clot upon the introduction of bacteria. All intravenous drugs contain it. This licensing was the turning point that signaled the mass closures of the then prevailing (but far less reliable) rabbit labs. Most crabs survive this process and are returned, after recuperation, to their natural habitats.

Soyo Lee’s A Dying Art describes a series of artistic interventions on historical human anatomy specimens at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia from April 2012 to March 2013. The Mütter Museum is one of the oldest historical medical museums in the United States, founded in 1863 by surgeon Thomas Dent Mütter for the purpose of providing a free educational resource to practitioners and students of medicine. The title of this project comes from the artist’s first impression of anatomical artifacts that were deteriorating due to lack of maintenance and public appreciation. As Lee learned of the Museum’s history and unique status as an open source for public engagement, she became concerned with conserving these fluid-preserved specimens. After studying the problems she observed, she proposed maintenance strategies to the Museum’s director and curators. Her proposals resulted in a yearlong collaboration between the artist and the Museum and a public exhibit on the conservation of fluid-preserved specimens that has been adopted for other types of artifacts at the Mütter Museum. This conservation project is also an example of the strategic use of human remains for artistic purposes.

Paul Vanouse’s Latent Figure Protocol Lightbox Instances selects a group of six lightboxes from the larger project, which takes the form of a media installation that uses DNA samples to create emergent representational images. Employing a reactive gel and an electrical current, Latent Figure Protocol produces images that reflect the DNA samples used. A kind of reverse molecular biology, Latent Figure Protocol utilizes known sequences in online databases to produce “planned” images that scientists would ordinarily use to determine an organism’s genetic sequence. Planning these images requires knowing what size DNA is required to move at the correct speed in each column of the image. DNA inserted into a 12-lane sequence gel at the bottom travels upward at varied speeds as voltage is applied to form the icon. Typically, the imaging process occurs only at the end of electrophoresis and often requires UV light protection, but Vanouse brings the imagining process of gel electrophoresis to the viewers naked eyes through a novel combination of non-hazardous DNA stain, blue light LEDs, and tinted acrylic filters. Vanouse challenges the fixed idea of “DNA fingerprinting”, misunderstood by the lay public as an unchanging sentence written by Mother Nature to correspond to each living creature. According to the artist, the DNA gel image is a cultural construct that is often naturalized. Vanouse challenges the eugenics notion of genetic destiny—the idea that DNA provides a template not only for our physiology but also for our status in society. This discredited concept has been revived over the past decade, particularly since the completion of the Human Genome Project. The images in Latent Figure Protocol cheekily address this determinist viewpoint by reproducing the subjects’ cultural iterations via their own DNA.

Artist Biographies

Brandon Ballengée is a visual artist, biologist, and environmental activist based in New York. Ballengée’s research interests include proximate causes for injury and developmental deformities among natural populations of amphibians in complex ecosystems; temporal and historic fluctuation in anuran injury and hind limb deformity ratios; health of anuran larvae as a potential diagnostic model of ecosystem health; the affectivity of limited to non-invasive field-techniques for monitoring amphibian populations; and the role that public volunteers (citizen scientists) can play in amphibian conservation efforts. Since 1996, a central investigation focus has been the occurrence of developmental deformities and population declines among amphibians. In 2001, he was nominated for membership into Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. In 2009, Ballengée and SK Sessions published “Explanation for Missing Limbs in Deformed Amphibians” in the Journal of Experimental Zoology and received international media attention from the BBC and others. This scientific study was the inspiration for the book Malamp: The Occurrence of Deformities in Amphibians. Since 2009, Ballengée has continued his amphibian research as a visiting scientist at McGill University (Canada). In 2011, he was awarded a conservation leadership fellowship from the National Audubon Society’s TogetherGreen Program. Recent solo exhibitions of Ballengée’s work have been held at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, (2012, USA); Longue Vue House and Gardens (2011, USA); Parco Arte Vivente, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea (2010, Italy); Shrewsbury Museum (2009, England); Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2008, England); Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History (2007, USA) among others. His works have been included in several international biennales and festivals, including Geumgang Nature Art Biennale (2004, South Korea); Venice Biennale (2005, Italy); and Biennale for Electronic Arts Perth (2007, Australia) Currently, he is co-founding an urban bio-art laboratory in his midtown Manhattan studio while finalizing his Ph.D. through a collaborative program between the University of Plymouth (England) and Hochschule für Gestaltung Zürich (Switzerland).

Helen J. Bullard is a New York-based British artist and storyteller whose research focuses on animals. Bullard tells stories about animals, sometimes anecdotal, sometimes scientific, sometimes discordant, but always strange. Projects such as Touching the Whale and Blue Blood have focused on interspecies habitats, encroachments, and friction between cultures. Media have included written form, installation, video, sound, spoken word, and code based media. She has worked as an events organizer and gallery coordinator, and is currently teaching assistant to Professor Kathy High at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York where she is pursuing an MFA in Electronic Arts. In 2009, Bullard was commissioned to organize the conference Pidgin Langue: Animals, Birds and Us to coincide with her solo show Animus Flux. Funded research has included the study of migration in Bulgaria’s Burgas Wetlands near the Black Sea, and a loon study in the Orkney Islands. Residencies have included the University of Gothenburg; the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge; Lighthouse Digital Culture Agency, and University College London (UCL). She has been published/broadcast in Art and Research, Caught by the River, Radio Animal, and Nature Calls, Resonance FM, London, and is a member of the Advisory Board for Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture. Her forthcoming work, After the Run, will be exhibited in March 2014 at EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Centre), New York.

Heather Dewey-Hagborg is an information artist interested in exploring art as research and public inquiry. Traversing media ranging from algorithms to DNA, her work questions the fundamental assumptions underpinning perceptions of human nature, technology, and the environment. Examining culture through the lens of information, Heather creates situations and objects embodying concepts, probing for reflection and discussion. She has shown work internationally at events and venues that include the Poland Mediations Bienniale, Jaaga Art and Technology Center in Bangalore, and the Monitor Digital Festival in Guadalajara. She has exhibited nationally at PS1 MOMA, the New Museum, Eyebeam, Clocktower Gallery, 92Y Tribeca, Issue Project Room, Splatterpool in New York City, Grounds for Sculpture in New Jersey, and CEPA Gallery in Buffalo. In addition to her individual work, she has collaborated with the collective Future Archaeology and with video artist Adriana Varella. Her work has been reported in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, Il Sole 24 Ore, Science Magazine, and Time Out New York, on television on the BBC World Service, ZDF in Germany, CNN, Dan Rather Reports, and Fuji Television in Japan, on the radio on Public Radio’s Studio 360, and CBS News, among many others. Dewey-Hagborg has a BA in information arts from Bennington College and a Master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. She is currently a Ph.D. student in electronic arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Soyo Lee is an artist and researcher based in Seoul, Korea, who works with biological materials in the context of fine art. Her work emphasizes direct engagement with the aesthetic and social contexts of biological materials in their site-specific conditions. Soyo has performed artistic interventions at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the National Horticultural Research Institute, South Korea. Since 2009, Lee has exhibited at events and venues that include the Microwave International New Media Arts Festival, Hong Kong; ISEA 2012, Albuquerque; Exit Art, New York; The Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, Belgium; Retort Art Space, Amsterdam; Quartair Contemporary Art Initiatives, The Hague; and Cais Gallery, Seoul. She has published in scholarly journals that include The Biophysical Journal and Acoustic Space. Lee is also a member of the Center for PostNatural History, Pittsburgh since 2007. She has received media attention from ARTE TV, Leonardo Reviews, NRC Handelsblad, and Ad!dict Magazine. She holds a BFA in Visual Arts from the Korean National University of Arts, and has recently earned a Ph.D. at the Department of the Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a dissertation titled Aesthetics of Fluid-Preserved Animal and Human Bodies: an Example of Research-Based Art, which deals with the contemporary aesthetic value of historical fluid-preserved human and animal specimens created and used for Western medicine.

Working at the crossroads of genetics and art, Paul Vanouse has been creating interdisciplinary installations since 1990. His work has been exhibited widely in the United States and at international venues, including the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the Louvre in Paris; and the TePapa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. He is featured in the book Information Arts by Stephen Wilson, and his work has been funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Heinz Foundation, among others. Vanouse is a Professor of Visual Studies at the University at Buffalo, NY. He has been a Senior Artist at Banff Center, Alberta, Canada (2011), Foreign Expert at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, China (2006), Honorary Research Fellow at SymbioticA, University of Western Australia (2005), Visiting Scholar at the Center for Research and Computing in the Arts, UC San Diego (1997), and Research Fellow at the Studio for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon University (1997-2003). He holds a BFA from the University at Buffalo (1990) and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University (1996). For the past decade, Vanouse has been concerned with forcing the arcane codes of scientific communication into a broader cultural language. In The Relative Velocity Inscription Device (2002), he traces DNA from his Jamaican-American family members to explore the relationship between early twentieth century eugenics and late twentieth century human genomics. The double entendre of race highlights the obsession with “genetic fitness” within these historical endeavors. Similarly, his more recent projects, “Latent Figure Protocol,” “Ocular Revision,” and “Suspect Inversion Center,” use techniques from molecular biology to challenge “genome-hype” and to confront issues surrounding DNA fingerprinting. Recent large-scale solo exhibitions include Schering Foundation in Berlin (2011), Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana (2011), Muffathalle in Munich (2012), and Beall Center at UC Irvine, California (2013). His work has been discussed in Art Journal, Art Papers, Art News, Flash Art International, Leonardo, New Scientist, New Art Examiner, New York Times, as well as numerous academic books on art and technology.

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Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, Campus Center, Main Level, SUNY College at Old Westbury

Route 107, Old Westbury, New York 11568    tel: 516.876.3056/2709, 646.421.5863   fax: 516.876.4984. www.oldwestbury.edu.     e-mail: yih@oldwestbury.edu. amelieawallacegallery@gmail.com.

Augures d’Innocence
Exposition Personnelle – Sélection D’œuvres De 1996 A 2013
26 mai – 30 septembre 2013 

DOMAINE DÉPARTEMENTAL DE CHAMARANDE
38 rue du Commandant Arnoux
91730 Chamarande
France
Contact :  01 60 82 52 01 ou 01 60 82 26 57
chamarande@essonne.fr
www.chamarande.essonne.fr

Depuis près de vingt ans, Brandon Ballengée, à la fois artiste et biologiste, entend entend combler le fossé entre l’art et la science en combinant sa fascination pour le vivant aux techniques de représentation des beaux Arts. Sa démarche aux confins de l’art et de la biologie engendre un ensemble d’œuvres poétiques, véritables métaphores de la vie, qui éveillent nos consciences à la préciosité de l’environnement naturel qui nous entoure.

Toutes ses œuvres sont inspirées par l’étude de la biodiversité, du changement écologique et du déclin des espèces et naissent de l’expérience directe du monde biologique, des amphibiens, des oiseaux, des poissons et des insectes qui évoluent en milieu naturel ou artificiel. L’artiste mène sans relache des enquêtes de terrain participatives, aux quatres coins de monde, impliquant public lambda et chercheurs de renom. A partir du fruit de ces recherches scientifique, le bio-artiste dresse le portrait de l’état de santé de nos écosystèmes. D’un côté il diffuse les résultats de ces expériences à la communauté scientifique, de l’autre, il les expose dans de nombreuses institutions culturelles à travers le monde. En utilisant des médium aussi divers que les spécimens chimiquement altérés, la vidéo, la photographie ou le déplacement d’écosystème complet dans le cadre d’installations, l’artiste déjoue les règles de l’espace muséal, environnement statique et maîtrisé, par l’implantation de structures organiques qui reflètent le chaos inhérent aux processus d’évolution et à la nature elle-même.

Augures d’Innocence, première monographie de Brandon Ballengée en France, présente un vaste ensemble d’œuvres qui retrace le parcour de l’artiste depuis ses débuts en 1996 et témoigne d’une passion : celle de l’homme pour la nature qui l’entoure, une nature que Brandon Ballengée nous invite à regarder d’un œil nouveau, aguerri de découvertes, de constats et de combats communs.

Le projet MALAMP sera présenté à travers un ensemble d’une vingtaine d’œuvres relatives à retraçant près de quinze année de travaux sur les malformations des amphibiens engendrées par la pollution de leur environnement naturel et notamment ses plus récentes créations réalisé dans les zones humides du Domaine de Chamarande lors de sa résidence à l’été 2012.

On découvrira également une série d’œuvres témoignant de la disporatition des oiseaux et des mystères de l’évolution tout en rendant hommage aux travaux des plus grands naturalistes, de John James Audubon (1785-1851) à Charles Darwin (1809-1882) ainsi que des spécimens historiques empruntées au Muséum national d’histoire naturelle de Paris et au Musée de la chasse et de la nature.

Enfin plusieurs nouvelles créations monumentales dont Prelude to the Collapse of the North Atlantic consacrée à l’effondrement de la chaîne alimentaire et des écosystèmes marins des côtes atlantiques françaises. Elle fait écho aux récents travaux de l’artiste sur la catastrophe écologique, survenue de l’autre côté de l’Océan, dans le Golfe du Mexique, suite à l’explosion de la plate-forme pétrolière Deepwater Horizon en 2010.

http://www.ressource0.com/praeter-naturam-un-projet-de-brandon-ballengee/