My MFA Experience

Thesis

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Fine Arts

in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

By

Axel Cuevas Santamaría

Graduate Program in Art

The Ohio State University 2018

Master’s Examination Committee:

Ken Rinaldo, Adviser

Amy Youngs

Alex Oliszewski

Copyright by

Axel Cuevas Santamaría

2018 Abstract

This MFA thesis explores the threshold of phenomenological perception, audience attention and the mystery of imaginary worlds I perceive between microscopic and macroscopic dimensions. In the BioArt projects and digital immersive environments I present in this thesis, I have found the potential to explore real and imaginary landscapes. This exploration further expands, adding new physical and virtual layers to my work that activate the audience. My work incorporates the synthesis of projection mapping, biological living systems and interactive multimedia. It is the vehicle I use to contemplate the impermanence of time and the illusion of reality.

i Dedication

To the inspiring artists, dancers, doctors, musicians, philosophers, scientists, and friends I crossed paths with during my MFA at The Ohio State University

Ken Rinaldo, Amy Youngs, Alex Oliszewski, Norah Zuniga Shaw, Michael Mercil, Ann Hamilton,

Trademark Gunderson, Dr. Sarah Iles Johnston, Dani Opossum Restack, Todd Slaughter,

Jason Slot, Roger Beebe, George Rush, Kurt Hentschlager, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Theresa

Schubert, Andrew Adamatzky, Andrew Frueh, Nate Gorgen, Federico Cuatlacuatl, Florence

Gouvrit Montoyo, Tess Elliot, Jessica Ann, Cameron Sharp, Kyle Downs, Sa'dia Rehman, Ph.D.

Jose Orlando Combita-Heredia, Pelham Johnston, Lynn Kim, Jacklyn Brickman, Mel Mark,

Ashlee Daniels Taylor, James D. MacDonald III, Katie Coughlin, Elaine Buss, Max Fletcher,

Alicia Little, Eun Young Cho, Morteza Khakshoor, Catelyn Mailloux, Niko Dimitrijevic, Jeff

Hazelden, Natalia Sanchez, Terry Hanlon, Travis Casper, Caitlin Waters, Joey Pigg.

ii Vita

2009 ...... B.A. with Major in Arts UAEM, Mexico

2015 - 2018 ...... Graduate Teaching Associate,

The Ohio State University

Awards

2017 Curator’s Choice Award 2017 Digital Graffiti Arts Festival, Alys Beach Florida. ​ ​

Exhibitions and Screenings

2018 EVA18 Politics of the Machine, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 15 – 17

Digital Arts Biennale Hybrid Languages, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, March 26 - April 26 2018

Digital Arts Biennale Hybrid Languages, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 05 - March 18 2018

Immersive Film Festival, Espinho Planetarium, Portugal, December 1st - 3rd 2017

DigiEYE, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus OH USA, March 8th 2017, March 21st 2018 ​ ​

Fields of study

Major field: Art

iii Table of Contents

Abstract...... i

Dedication...... ii

Vita...... iii

List of figures...... v

Chapter 1: first_contact...... 1 ​ ​ ​ Chapter 2: Protoplasmic routes...... 5 ​ ​ ​ The complete voice-over text for Protoplasmic routes...... 18 ​ ​ Chapter 3: Microbial skins...... 22 ​ ​ ​ Chapter 4: Shavasana Dome...... 25 ​ ​ ​ Chapter 5: Stillness...... 29 ​ ​ ​ Poems for Stillness...... 41 ​ ​ The audio synthesis process for Stillness...... 47 ​ ​ Chapter 6: Artists and inspirations...... 51 ​ Bibliography ...... 61

Appendix A: BioPresence Exhibition Review: The New York Arts Magazine...... 63 ​ ​

iv List of figures

Figure 1.1: first_contact audiovisual installation during Does this Work for Everyone? Exhibition, Hopkins ​ ​ ​ ​ Hall Gallery, February 2016...... 1

Figure 1.2: Axel Cuevas Santamaría at first_contact audiovisual installation during BioPresence ​ ​ ​ Exhibition, Hopkins Hall Gallery, December 2015...... 2

Figure 1.3: Max/MSP & Jitter patch developed for first_contact BioArt project...... 3 ​ ​

Figure 1.4: Axel Cuevas Santamaría and Ph.D. Jose Orlando Combita-Heredia analyzing microscopic particles of Physarum polycephalum. Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, ​ ​ The Ohio State University...... 4

Figure 2.1: A colony of Physarum polycephalum growing inside an acrylic maze placed on a Petri dish..5 ​ ​

Figure 2.2: Audience interacting with Protoplasmic routes audiovisual installation during Hybrid ​ ​ ​ Languages: Digital Art Biennale Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. February 05 – March 18, 2018...... 6 ​

Figure 2.3: Audience interacting with Protoplasmic routes audiovisual installation during Hybrid ​ ​ ​ Languages: Digital Art Biennale Belo Horizonte, Brasil. March 26 – April 26, 2018...... 7 ​

Figure 2.4: Axel Cuevas Santamaría placing acrylic mazes inside Petri dishes and making Agar-based medium with Jason Slot at The Plant Pathology Department, The Ohio State University...... 8

Figure 2.5: Protoplasmic routes "Curator's choice award" audiovisual installation during Digital Graffiti ​ ​ Arts Festival, Alys Beach, Florida. May 19 - 21, 2016...... 9

Figure 2.6: Slime mold Physarum polycephalum growing inside-out from the center of a multicursal maze ​ ​ inside a Petri dish previously prepared with an Agar-based medium...... 10

Figure 2.7: Axel Cuevas Santamaría looking at a digital print on metal of slime mold Physarum ​ polycephalum jumping the borders of a multicursal maze. From the series: Protoplasmic routes digital ​ ​ prints...... 11 ​

Figure 2.8: A circular evolutionary tree shows diversification of species from their common ancestor. The evolutionary paths taken to arrive at present day slime molds and humans is traced in orange, having diverged approximately one billion years ago...... 13

Figure 2.9: Slime mold Physarum polycephalum jumping the borders of a multicursal maze. From the ​ ​ series: Protoplasmic routes digital prints...... 14 ​ ​

v Figure 2.10: Axel Cuevas Santamaría installing Protoplasmic routes for Relative to You Exhibition ​ ​ ​ ​ Sherman Arts Center, Columbus OH, USA. August 22nd, 2016...... 16

Figure 2.11: Protoplasmic routes audiovisual installation during Relative to You Exhibition ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Sherman Arts Center, Columbus OH, USA. August 22nd, 2016...... 17

Figure 3.1: Maria Palazzi interacting with Microbial mirror during ACCAD's Annual Open House ​ ​ Exhibition 2016...... 22

Figure 3.2: Ashlee Daniels-Taylor, MFA in Dance performing for 360 Skin, from the series Microbial ​ skins...... 23 ​ ​

Figure 3.3: Mel Mark and Ashlee Daniels-Taylor performing for 360 Skin, from the series Microbial ​ skins...... 24 ​ ​

Figure 4.1: Audience experiencing Shavasana dome during Filter Bubble Exhibition December 7-9 2016, ​ ​ ​ ​ Hopkins Hall gallery, Columbus OH Photo: Jordan K Reynolds...... 25 ​

Figure 4.2: Audience experiencing Liquid Flow 360 during IMERSA Summit Center of Science and ​ ​ ​ ​ Industry Planetarium, Columbus OH, February 26th 2018...... 26

Figure 4.3: Audience experiencing Shavasana dome during Filter Bubble Exhibition December 7-9 2016, ​ ​ ​ ​ Hopkins Hall gallery, Columbus OH Photo: Jordan K Reynolds...... 27

Figure 4.4: 3D render visualizations of a geodesic dome installation using Cinema 4D 3D modeling software...... 28

Figure 5.1: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 OSU Urban Arts Space, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ February 20 - March 18, 2018 Photo: Jeff Hazelden...... 29

Figure 5.2: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show Opening Reception at OSU ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 Photo: Andrew Savage...... 30 ​

Figure 5.3: Imagery of pollen visualizations in molecular scale used in Stillness. Fulldome video still.....31 ​ ​

Figure 5.4: Screenshot of Blendy Dome VJ fulldome software interfase playing contents for Stillness...32 ​

Figure 5.5: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 OSU Urban Arts Space, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ March 3, 2018 Photo: Jeff Hazelden...... 34

Figure 5.6: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 Opening Reception at ​ ​ ​ ​ OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 Photo: Kate Sweeney...... 35 ​

vi Figure 5.7: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 OSU Urban Arts Space, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ February 20 - March 18, 2018 Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría...... 36

Figure 5.8: Ken Rinaldo, Amy Youngs and Dr. Sarah Iles Johnston experiencing Stillness during ​ ​ OSU MFA Thesis Show Opening Reception at OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 Photo: Andrew ​ ​ ​ Savage...... 37

Figure 5.9: Blueprint for the frequency four geodesic dome designed for Stillness installation by Axel ​ ​ Cuevas Santamaría...... 38

Figure 5.10: Ken Rinaldo, Axel Cuevas Santamaría and Dr. Sarah Iles Johnston during OSU MFA Thesis ​ Show Opening Reception at OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 Photo: Kate Sweeney...... 40 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Figure 5.11: Screenshot of Ableton Live session interface used to compose the audio for Stillness. Image ​ ​ ​ ​ courtesy of James D. MacDonald III...... 48

Figure 5.12: Max/MSP patch playing the four-channel audio composition for Stillness. Image courtesy of ​ ​ ​ ​ James D. MacDonald III...... 49

Figure 6.1: Axel Cuevas Santamaría experiencing MORPHOS Artist Residency Showcase, Otterbox ​ ​ Digital Dome Theater, Fort Collins Colorado, October 7th 2016...... 52

Figure 6.2: Audience experiencing Samskara fulldome show. Fiske Planetarium, Boulder Colorado, ​ ​ October 8th 2016. Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría...... 53

Figure 6.3: Installation view of Jon Rafman's L'Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) and ​ ​ View of Pariser Platz, 2016. Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría...... 54 ​

Figure 6.4: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Apostasis, 2008 Photo: Antimodular Research...... 55 ​ ​

Figure 6.5: Figure 6.5: Montreal Biosphère, Parc Jean-Drapeau, March 2018 Photo: Axel Cuevas ​ ​ ​ ​ Santamaría...... 56

Figure 6.6: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 Opening Reception at ​ ​ ​ ​ OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 Photo: Kate Sweeney...... 57 ​

Figure 6.7: View of Where rocks are fed to trees installation by Trent Bailey, Brandon Ball, Katherine ​ ​ Beigel, Gaopeng Chen, Tyler Collins, Sarah Hockman, Shatae Johnson, Eric Lo, Jacob Markusic, Iris Meier, Yoni Mizrachi, Julianne Panzo, Edwin Rice, Ethan Schaefer, Aaron Theesfeld, Robert Ward, and Amy Youngs. Loving the Obligate Symbiont Exhibition, 2016. Image courtesy of Amy Youngs...... 58 ​ ​

vii Figure 6.8: Sunset viewing of James Turrell's Meeting at MoMA PS1 New York, February 04, 2017 ​ ​ ​ ​ Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría...... 60

Figure A.1: Protoplasmic nutrients flowing over the veins of slime mold Physarum polycephalum. ​ ​ Video still frame from first_contact...... 64 ​ ​

Figure A.2: Axel Cuevas Santamaría at first_contact audiovisual installation during BioPresence ​ ​ ​ Exhibition, Hopkins Hall Gallery, December 2015...... 65

viii

Chapter 1: first_contact ​

What isn’t there, in front of our eyes, is usually more real than what is. We can see that at every level of existence.1 – Peter Kingsley

Figure 1.1: first_contact audiovisual installation during ​ ​ Does this Work for Everyone? Exhibition, Hopkins Hall Gallery, February 2016 ​

1 Peter Kingsley, In the Dark places of Wisdom. (Inverness Press California: Golden Sufi Center, 1999) pp.33 ​ 1

first_contact BioArt project is an audiovisual exploration of microscopic particles found ​ in the veins of slime mold Physarum polycephalum. This living organism is not a Fungi, ​ ​ Animalia or Plantae, but rather something in between. For this project, I use microscopic digital video recordings of slime mold Physarum polycephalum to create a visual expansion in ​ ​ scale through sonification and projection mapping. The sound is composed mainly of high-intensity low frequency variations of 28 Hz to 125 Hz . These low sound waves intensify ​ ​ the possibility of an immersive relation with the microscopic digital recordings through the physical sensation of bass vibrations in our body. The visual narrative is projected onto four circular floating screens in darkness along with the audio composition. This art installation informs of the growth, movement and behaviour of this microscopic organism via the amplification of both image and sound in an immersive audiovisual environment.

Figure 1.2: Axel Cuevas Santamaría at first_contact audiovisual installation during ​ ​ BioPresence Exhibition, Hopkins Hall Gallery, December 2015 ​ 2

I use the programming language of Max MSP and Jitter for the detection of blobs, data analysis, and modular audio synthesis. Physarum polycephalum is an emergent form of ​ ​ consciousness. In essence, with this project I intend to give voice and presence to this microscopic organism by translating its growth into sound. The sonification process is based in variations of pitch and tone of high-intensity, low audio frequencies. These frequencies are based in the analysis of the size, number, and behavior of microscopic nutrient particles running in the veins of Physarum polycephalum viewed through the microscope. I discovered ​ ​ a sense of empathy with this organism as I studied its growth, solitude and silence.

Figure 1.3: Max/MSP & Jitter patch developed for first_contact BioArt project ​ ​

3

first_contact was part of BioPresence Exhibition, December 2015 and reviewed by ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Ph.D. Annie Jacobson for The New York Arts Magazine. This review is included in the

Appendix A of this document. This work was also part of the exhibition Does This Work For ​ Everyone?, February 2016 at Hopkins Hall Gallery. The microscopic visual dimension of the ​ nutrient particles flowing inside the protoplasmic veins, reminds me of my own blood flow. ​ ​ Since I was first introduced to this living organism at the Department of Plant Pathology at The

Ohio State University, it has opened my perspective to believe that revelations for our human evolution and coexistence might come in the language-code of non-human forms of life. This belief stands at the heart of my BioArt experiments, exploring the subtle overlapping between science, technology, poetry, and art.

Figure 1.4: Axel Cuevas Santamaría and Ph.D. Jose Orlando Combita-Heredia analyzing microscopic particles of Physarum polycephalum. Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, ​ ​ The Ohio State University

4

Chapter 2: Protoplasmic routes ​ ​ A post-human vision of livability and co-existence

Figure 2.1: A colony of Physarum polycephalum growing inside an acrylic maze placed on a Petri dish ​ ​

5

Protoplasmic routes is an audiovisual BioArt project in collaboration with Jason C. Slot ​ Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University. It focuses on the evolution of humanity and our vital relation with technology and microorganisms from a posthuman perspective. Microorganisms have been our symbionts and co-travelers ever since our species emerged millions of years ago. The exploration of the complex interactions of the growth, movement, and learning of slime mold Physarum polycephalum inside multicursal ​ ​ acrylic mazes is the focal point of this art-science project.

Figure 2.2: Audience interacting with Protoplasmic routes audiovisual installation during ​ ​ Hybrid Languages: Digital Art Biennale Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. February 05 – March 18, 2018 ​

6

Figure 2.3: Audience interacting with Protoplasmic routes audiovisual installation during ​ ​ Hybrid Languages: Digital Art Biennale Belo Horizonte, Brasil. March 26 – April 26, 2018 ​

7

I construct acrylic mazes inside Petri dishes previously prepared with an Agar-based medium. In the center of the mazes and the peripheral regions, I put raw oat flakes. At the center I set a chip of dry sclerotium with a dormant colony of Physarum polycephalum. ​ ​ Oatmeal seems to be a gourmet delicacy for slime mold. The high-concentration of carbohydrates allows it to be nourished and proliferate. This multi-nucleated protoplasm grows approximately one centimeter every hour. It connects food source-points, from the inside-out of the acrylic mazes. It creeps underneath, above and through the border walls.

Figure 2.4: Axel Cuevas Santamaría placing acrylic mazes inside Petri dishes and making Agar-based medium with Jason Slot at The Plant Pathology Department, The Ohio State University

8

This nonconformist act of "jumping" border walls reveals a metaphorical transformation of the multicursal maze into a unicursal labyrinth. I find this nonconformist act and metaphorical change envisioning and inspiring. I set up an automated digital scanner to photograph its growth every five minutes. The high-resolution time-lapse photography I obtain, allows me to create large-scale video projections of Physarum's behavior inside the acrylic ​ ​ mazes. Ava, the American English computerized female voice from OSX text-to-speech synthesizer, is the voice that reads the complete voice-over text I wrote for Protoplasmic ​ routes. The computerized voice in Three-story robots by Ken Rinaldo was an inspiration for ​ ​ ​ this work. The synthetic feeling, robotic tone and rhythm of the text-to-speech synthesizer, deliver a futuristic feeling.

Figure 2.5: Protoplasmic routes "Curator's choice award" audiovisual installation during ​ ​ Digital Graffiti Arts Festival, Alys Beach, Florida. May 19 - 21, 2016

9

Watch how I grow. My network of growing structures are composed with protoplasmic fluids. I create network patterns and reveal an emergent intelligence. Network patterns with recent human scientific experiments, find the wisdom of my communication that reveals my intelligence. I can solve in days your transportation routes that would take years to engineer. Watch how I creep for food. Watch how I creep for survival. The food that you see in my home labyrinths is oatmeal. Oatmeal is my favorite dish and my gourmet delicacy. My feast of carbohydrates.2

Figure 2.6: Slime mold Physarum polycephalum growing inside-out from the center of a multicursal maze ​ ​ inside a Petri dish previously prepared with an Agar-based medium

2 Excerpt from Protoplasmic routes story by Axel Cuevas Santamaría ​ ​ ​ 10

Unicursal labyrinths are an ancient means of developing and refining human intelligence, tools for focusing the mind through a single path in meditation. Multicursal mazes challenge memory and pattern recognition by presenting multiple route choices during navigation. In the story of the Labyrinth as told by the Hellenes in ancient Greek mythology, the skillful craftsman and innovator in many arts, Daedalus builds a multicursal labyrinth for king Minos, who needed it to imprison his wife's son the Minotaur. Short story told, the hero

Theseus is challenged to kill the Minotaur finding his way through the labyrinth with the help of princess Ariadne's ball of string. Theseus ties one end of the string around a pillar at the entrance and then goes inside the labyrinth to face the Minotaur. After he finds and kills the beast, he uses the string to find his way out. I find an analogy between this myth and my act of placing oat-flakes over the acrylic mazes to allow Physarum polycephalum to grow inside-out. ​ ​

Figure 2.7: Axel Cuevas Santamaría looking at a digital print on metal of slime mold Physarum ​ polycephalum jumping the borders of a multicursal maze. ​ From the series: Protoplasmic routes digital prints ​

11

As we witness Physarum's subtle disregard for the established rules and the unraveling ​ ​ of the mazes as a Gordian Knot during the time lapse videos made for Protoplasmic routes, we ​ ​ ​ ​ access a temporal reality of microscopic dimension. The computerized aesthetic tone of the narration of the story facilitates the access to this temporal reality. Ava’s digital voice, personifying a biological living organism, represents an elder consciousness3. I envision the ​ self-awareness of Physarum as it undertakes the nonconformist act of conquering minor ​ ​ obstacles represented by the acrylic maze-walls. If it is self-aware, then it is uninterested in the artificial acrylic borders I crafted. The contemplation of this self-awareness and the conquering of constraints, builds compassion between this species and our own. Yet while Physarum is ​ ​ our contemporary, the electrochemical processes underpinning its movements and decisions reach a billion years deep in time to our common ancestors; our own new brand of intelligence based on internalized models of reality may reach back a mere 5 million years to our divergence from chimpanzees (Di Fiore 2015), or 75 million years to our divergence from those that became mice (dos Reis 2015).

A circular evolutionary tree traces the independent paths taken by Physarum and ​ ​ humans since we diverged from our common ancestor approximately 1 billion years ago. Since this time, our ancestors went through many forms and new ways of sensing and exploring their environment, while the slime mold may have continued to refine its tried and true ways. The story I wrote in 2016 for this project, makes this multi-nucleated protoplasm stand as an individual actor. I recognize Physarum polycephalum as an individual and my intention with ​ ​ this work is to give it voice and presence in our modern consciousness.

3 Plasmodial slime molds emerged as long ago as a billion years (Parfrey et al. 2011) ​ ​ 12

I and you humans share a common ancestor. An old entity whose evolution led into creating different branches of the same tree. You and I were once part of the same living system, called the unikonts. We were once members of the same taxonomic group. You evolved into human beings. We, the elder, remained the same. We were once members of the same taxonomic group. You evolved into human beings. We, the elder, remained the same. This multi cellular division made panspermia and your theories of reproduction, a biological beginning of an inferior developed form of consciousness.4

Figure 2.8: A circular evolutionary tree shows diversification of species from their common ancestor. The evolutionary paths taken to arrive at present day slime molds and humans is traced in orange, having diverged approximately one billion years ago.

4 Excerpt from Protoplasmic routes story by Axel Cuevas Santamaría ​ ​ ​ 13

I find the physical manifestation of this organism’s external decision-making, extralligence (Adamatzky and Schubert, 2013), quite lovely and extraordinary. Its ​ living-network, dynamic behaviour and highly distributed sensorial mechanisms with embedded dynamic architecture of massively parallel computing processors offer a glimpse of our post-human technologies. Physarum senses its environment largely through chemical ​ ​ cues released into the air by living and decaying organisms. It adjusts its rate of protoplasmic pulsing in order to spread toward or away from these signals (DeLacy Costello and Adamatzky

2013). As our own human linguistic intelligence explores and interfaces with other members of our species, in the highly branched and reticulated electronic medium of the Internet, I foresee through Physarum the emergence of patterns that are more recapitulative than cutting-edge.

Figure 2.9: Slime mold Physarum polycephalum jumping the borders of a multicursal maze. ​ ​ From the series: Protoplasmic routes digital prints ​

14

The ability of this protist organism to overcome multicursal paths and physical borders makes me think about my own constraints and social freedom. This further develops my empathy with all forms of life. Humans descended from organisms that achieved success by separating themselves from the earth, to travel farther and higher to escape threats and exploit new opportunities. The ways we gained freedom and dominance have made us vulnerable to new threats, which have dethroned the least humble species of the past.

For ten days I contemplated the growth of this mold. Its behavior did not follow my original intention to demonstrate a primitive intelligence capable of solving mazes. Instead, it opened my perspective to the possibility of non-human forms of life having a quality of conscious awareness instead of just self-awareness. This art-science exploration made me value the impermanence of biological life and allowed me to more deeply explore my fears of the irreversible alterations of our ecosystem. This realization serves as a metaphor to rediscover my spirituality and the vital importance of contemplating nature. The beauty of impermanence revealed through this act of observation, reminds me that the present moment is inevitable and impermanent. The post-human vision of contemporary human existence throughout my work aims to bring a hopeful, and perhaps even humorous approach to our future coexistence with all forms of life.

My protoplasmic routes, contain clues for the shift of these systems after they collapse. The shift of your quartz based computers into wet, humid, living, and self-replicating agents. These agents will be the architects of the the humid, soft walls of the future. Your means of transportation will breathe. Your means of communication will be silent. Telepathy. Meditation. 5 ​

5 Excerpt from Protoplasmic routes story by Axel Cuevas Santamaría ​ ​ ​ 15

The structure of power I represent by digitally documenting the vital cycle of this biological living growing network, while imposing mazes, led me into an ethical dilemma.

Death became very tangible in this project. The close exploration of this process gave me ideas about my coexistence with all forms of life, and evolution of the human race. I used these as inspiration for the complete voice-over text I wrote for this project.

Figure 2.10: Axel Cuevas Santamaría installing Protoplasmic routes for Relative to You ​ ​ ​ ​ Exhibition Sherman Arts Center, Columbus OH, USA. August 22nd, 2016

16

Figure 2.11: Protoplasmic routes audiovisual installation during Relative to You Exhibition ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Sherman Arts Center, Columbus OH, USA. August 22nd, 2016

Behold right now, in this ceremonial act of gathering that you are taking place, a sacred moment. Celebrate life. Praise the stars. Connect with all living creatures of this planet and beyond. Meet yourself and you will meet the universe. You human beings have already reached the end of times. Enjoy. Dance. Celebrate. And may all living beings of this planet reach happiness. Aho.6

6 Excerpt from Protoplasmic routes story by Axel Cuevas Santamaría ​ ​ ​ 17

The complete voice-over text for Protoplasmic routes ​ by Axel Cuevas Santamaría

I am the black sheep of the mycological world. I am not a fungus, a plant or an animal, but something in between. I belong to several kinds of unrelated organisms, living freely as single cells and aggregating together to form complex organisms. I am both individual and community. Watch how I grow. My network of growing structures are composed with protoplasmic fluids. I create network patterns and reveal an emergent intelligence. Network patterns with recent human scientific experiments, find the wisdom of my communication that reveals my intelligence. I can solve in days your transportation routes that would take years to engineer.

Watch how I creep for food. Watch how I creep for survival. The food that you see in my home labyrinths is oatmeal. Oatmeal is my favorite dish and my gourmet delicacy. My feast of carbohydrates. I creep through humidity and darkness allowing me to connect food sources and I always find the shortest routes through my protoplasmic fingers. I have memory. Watch me test the boundaries of my home maze. Watch how I connect the oatmeal placed by human in different parts of my home labyrinth. While I have no central brain or nervous system as your own, I can think. I think and make decisions. My thoughts are not a result of a mental behavior like your own though a distributed intelligence.

My consciousness is older than your human thoughts and understanding. I exist on a very subtle periphery of your knowledge. We, the micro organic living systems and fungi, are what you don’t see. We are here but you don’t sense us. We live in the darkness of your consciousness. In the shades of trees and rotten logs. We see, we feel, we communicate and learn through complex connections of mycelial networks. Watch how the growth of my protoplasmic routes resemble your own blood coursing through your veins. Watch how my protoplasmic routes resemble your own energetic channels and your nervous and circulatory systems.

18

My presence and survival on this beloved planet Earth is fifteen hundred million years old. This period in time, hypothetically explained by your theories of evolution, is the time of anaerobic bacteria.

Carbon dioxide was in the air and algae was ruling. Watch how I creep to the peripheries and borders of these acrylic labyrinths seeking for oxygen. Watch how I crawl through the walls and boundaries of these maze systems. I and you humans share a common ancestor. An old entity whose evolution led into creating different branches of the same tree. You and I were once part of the same living system, called the unikonts. We were once members of the same taxonomic group. You evolved into human beings.

We, the elder, remained the same. This multi-cellular division made Panspermia and your theories of reproduction, a biological beginning of an inferior developed form of consciousness.

Your human wars. Your individual desires. Your different languages. Your faith in Gods outside from your inner-self. Your lack of connection with nature. Your spread knowledge. You are a separated race. Your love for power is your doom. The development of the most prosperous thoughts of your societies have reached the utopian ideas of collectivism. Your civilizations will prosper only when your consciousness understands that human race is not the only race. We protist organisms and multicellular agents, are not as different from you; carbon based biological forms of life. We are not so different in the virtual world. Prepare to see the rise of the virtual reality societies. Your human singularity and technological developments will meet through us. In this upcoming reality, our common existences will merge. Today we stream similar substances into the torrents of our systems to assure survival. Watch how my veins look like yours. Watch how I survive like you. I also seek for better life conditions. I also travel. I also dream. I creep through darkness.

19

The labyrinths of the systems that reign your lives respond to higher intelligences that have you running in circles. These higher intelligences feed from your vital energy and from one of the oldest elements on planet Earth, the element Gold. This element drives the power of the supercomputers used for inter galactic traveling. These supra intelligent species that rule your societies are older intelligences.

Superior forces that feed from the element gold. Gold, since many civilizations before your contemporary human existence, has been the fuel of your evolutionary process.

We protist organisms and fungi have been growing and multiplying, while witnessing the several cycles of planet Earth since our first spores landed aeons ago from neighbor galaxies. We have seen the rise and fall of numerous attempts to make the homo sapiens sapiens reach higher levels of consciousness and survival. All attempts. All failures. Nature is not yet part of your conscious thought.

Your theories of sustainability are not possible until you reach your next form of evolution where your minds are merged with the technium.

My paraphyletic group referred to as kingdom Protista counts more than 900 species of our same slime mould structure all over the world. Watch how my growth resembles the fauna. Watch how my reproduction resembles the flora. My organic life cycles appear as gelatinous "slime”, mostly seen with the myxogastria. Watch how my microscopic “presence” resembles the “macroscopic”. Watch how this microscopic level shares the same texture than many planetary systems and galaxies from where our first sporangia was born and shipped from. Textures of unknown planets. Flow of protoplasmic nutrients.

Bloodstream.

20

External chemical substances run in the blood of the mass populations in every human continent feeding the empty desires of the material world and collapsing human economic systems. My protoplasmic routes, contain clues for the shift of these systems after they collapse. The shift of your quartz based computers into wet, humid, living, and self-replicating agents. These agents will be the architects of the the humid, soft walls of the future. Your means of transportation will breathe. Your means of communication will be silent. Telepathy. Meditation.

The evolution of your quartz based computers will give rise to the future of the microchip. This tool created by knowledge obtained from species from neighbor stars will give rise to the new techno-human intertwined with the World Wide Web. New and inexperienced possibilities of consciousness expansion and empathy are yet to be discovered.

Your thoughts will be able to create matter. Your digital desires will replace your current biological needs by sensorial ecstasy. Your bio-tech consciousness will give birth to the rise of the machinery body of a new collective living system. Bio organisms will lead the way to the new human specie. Behold right now, in this ceremonial act of gathering that you are taking place, a sacred moment.

Celebrate life. Praise the stars. Connect with all living creatures of this planet and beyond. Meet yourself and you will meet the universe. You human beings have already reached the end of times. Enjoy. Dance.

Celebrate. And may all living beings of this planet reach happiness. Aho.

21

Chapter 3: Microbial skins ​ ​

While being a Singularitarian is not a matter of faith but one of understanding, pondering the scientific trends I've discussed in this book inescapably engenders new perspectives on the issues that traditional religions have attempted to address: the nature of mortality and immortality, the purpose of our lives, and intelligence in the universe.7 - Ray Kurzweil

Figure 3.1: Maria Palazzi interacting with Microbial mirror during ​ ​ ACCAD's Annual Open House Exhibition 2016

Microbial skins is a series of works that explore the notion of the human microbiome as ​ our mirror through the use of interactive multimedia. It proposes a visual metaphor of sensing our human form as a host for living organisms. The two works that compose the series

Microbial Skins are Microbial mirror and 360 Skin. These two works extend a metaphor, a ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

7 Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. (New York: Penguin, 2006) pp.370 ​ ​ ​ 22

retracting hypothesis, and an imaginary state that relates to the multilayered evolutionary state of our symbiotic relation with flora, fauna and microscopic organisms. I explore how digital textures of plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and protist organisms mixed with CGI animations look and feel in the skin.

Figure 3.2: Ashlee Daniels-Taylor, MFA in Dance performing for 360 Skin, from the series Microbial skins ​

These digital textures change in real-time according to the relation in space of participants using depth map geometric infrared calculations. I use Microsoft Kinect v2 and ​ ​ FRED_KinectV2_Syphon to track the movement of the faces and bodies of performers and ​ participants. I then use this data to delay and overlap the digital textures using IsadoraCore ​ USB 2.4.5b4 software. In Microbial mirror, the tracked body of participants is reflected on a ​ ​ ​ digital screen contained on a circular frame. The silhouettes are replaced by these textures generating a real-time spatial relation with these organic textures and the movement of our bodies.

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360 Skin project started as a collaboration with Mel Mark, BFA in Dance at the ​ Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design ACCAD in 2016 during our Intermedia ​ course with Norah Zuniga-Shaw and with the advice and support of Oded Huberman and Alex

Oliszewski. In 360 Skin these textures are projection mapped over the bodies of performers in ​ ​ real-time while in Microbial mirror, the textures are used as the reflections of an interactive ​ ​ digital mirror sculpture. The visual presence of organic textures of living organisms in our skin, proposes to meditate about our current relation with the irreversible alterations of our ecosystem. The adaptation of these organic textures into our human architecture, proposes to extend this meditation into what it means to be a human being in the twenty-first century. In between my utopian dreams of escaping the human form and my desire to anthropomorphize the living beings I work with, I question the purpose of my eternal being existing today in this human experience.

Figure 3.3: Mel Mark and Ashlee Daniels-Taylor performing for 360 Skin, from the series Microbial skins ​

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Chapter 4: Shavasana Dome ​ ​

Shavasana Dome is a geodesic audiovisual sculpture installation. This project is my ​ first experiment activating audience inside a geodesic structure. Inspired by Sudarshan Kriya ​ meditation and Buckminster Fuller’s iconic structures, this work aims to offer audience a moment of decompression in Shavasana pose8. ​

Figure 4.1: Audience experiencing Shavasana dome during Filter Bubble Exhibition ​ ​ ​ December 7-9 2016, Hopkins Hall gallery, Columbus OH Photo: Jordan K Reynolds

8 Shavasana, Savasana, ; ( śavāsana), or corpse pose i​ s usually done at the end of a yoga practice ​ ​ शवासन ​ ​ in which practitioners lie flat on their backs with the heels spread as wide as the yoga mat and the arms a few inches away from the body, palms facing upwards. 25

With this work I share the feeling of decompression by allowing the audience to experience my fulldome film Liquid Flow 360 9. It is like diving underwater but without leaving ​ the ground. It is the first, and only 360 movie at the time of its production focused entirely in underwater dancing and Aguahara. It has been screened internationally in venues such as ​ ​ Immersive Film Festival Espinho Planetarium, Portugal 2017 and IMERSA Summit 2018

Columbus Ohio.

Figure 4.2: Audience experiencing Liquid Flow 360 during IMERSA Summit ​ ​ ​ Center of Science and Industry Planetarium, Columbus OH, February 26th 2018

9 Liquid Flow 360 is an underwater dance film shot for 360 cinema display. This work aims to explore the ​ ​ possibility of liquidity in the flow of life we feel through the qualities we have given and learning about movement through contact, floating, improvisational dancing and music. Directed, Shot & Edited by Axel Cuevas Santamaría 26

Geodesic domes shift our phenomenological perception of space. We adjust our bodies to perceptual space and our attention shifts from the squared, sharp architecture of the room to the dome structure and audiovisual contents. I believe this shift in our perception allows a moment of inner-transformation that has no weight or gravity. The shift of perception that we experience, stimulates contemplation, self-awareness and social activation inside this geodesic environment. An array of thirteen blue-color medium-size yoga mats arranged on the floor allows audience to experience the work in Shavasana pose. ​ ​

Figure 4.3: Audience experiencing Shavasana dome during Filter Bubble Exhibition ​ ​ ​ December 7-9 2016, Hopkins Hall gallery, Columbus OH Photo: Jordan K Reynolds

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Throughout my MFA, I built a total of seven different geodesic domes varying in size, frequency and materials. Shavasana Dome is a frequency two, six foot diameter by three foot ​ ​ height, cardboard geodesic dome suspended at six foot from the ground. I design my domes using the free dome calculators of Domerama website to get the proper measures of the ​ ​ assembling parts. I start rendering the structure designs using Cinema 4D 3D modeling ​ ​ software to visualize the final output and then I generate vector designs using Adobe Illustrator. ​ ​ I cut the vector designs using a ShopBot CNC mill for assembly of all triangle pieces and then ​ ​ construct carpentry wooden frames to hold the dome structure.

Figure 4.4: 3D render visualizations of a geodesic dome installation using Cinema 4D 3D modeling software

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Chapter 5: Stillness ​ ​

Figure 5.1: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ OSU Urban Arts Space, February 20 - March 18, 2018 ​ Photo: Jeff Hazelden

Stillness is My MFA thesis fulldome sculpture installation. This work enables visitors to ​ experience relaxation, mainly to test body awareness and the phenomenological perception of the physical plane. This project is an experiment to test how it feels to enter an immersive space and engage in social interaction. This applies both for those who actively engage in the process of entering the dome, and those who watch.

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Every time new participants enter the dome space, their presence adds a layer of awareness to those already inside the dome. The dome transforms then into a social environment where people have to negotiate space, sound and behaviour. This group experience seems to offer more social interaction possibilities than the experience of the piece in solitude. The experience though, seems to have a deeper impact in our comprehension of the contents, and quality of attention when experienced without the distraction of other participants inside the installation. This changes the way in which the audience apprehends the work since the attention goes inside-out when we share the experience collectively and outside-in when we experience the work in solitude.

Figure 5.2: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show ​ ​ ​ Opening Reception at OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 ​ ​ Photo: Andrew Savage

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The storyline of this immersive installation focuses on the livability of flowers and the evolution and mutation of their pollen grains. The visual narrative of this project is composed of micro-photographic visualizations in sub-micrometer scale of pollen grains and digital scanned images of the parent flowers contained in Petri dishes. An atmosphere of additive synthesis of whispering poems reveal scientific facts about CRISPR/Cas9 genome modification technology and the adaptation of the Plantae kingdom to survive our human-altered ​ ​ ecosystem. In our continuous evolutionary process of biological and technological adaptation as human species, we encounter symbiotic relationships both with the artificial technium and ​ ​ the organic. By turning my attention to the textures and behaviours of living systems invisible to my naked eyes, I experience a hopeful comprehension of our symbiotic relationship with both the synthetic/artificial and living/organic.

Figure 5.3: Imagery of pollen visualizations in molecular scale used in Stillness. Fulldome video still. ​ ​

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One of the central elements I include in my poems for this project, is CRISPR/Cas9.

CRISPR is an abbreviation of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. It is a genetic engineering tool that uses a CRISPR sequence of DNA and its associated protein to edit the base pairs of a gene. The application of this tool for editing genomes include, but is not limited to correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases and improving crops. During my research studies and laboratory practice with the Department of

Molecular Genetics at OSU, and the two different BioArt workshops I took with artists Marta de

Menezes and Dr. Adam Zaretsky, I have found this tool to be an inspiring method to theorize about the adaptation and mutation of plants, and the future of laboratory procedures applied to pollen grains, genomes and food.

Figure 5.4: Screenshot of Blendy Dome VJ fulldome software interfase playing contents for Stillness ​

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I came up with the idea of working with molecular visualizations of pollen grains for my

MFA thesis show after taking the art-science studio course From molecules to ecosystems ​ co-taught by Amy Youngs and Dr. Iris Meier in Autumn 2017. During this course and in collaboration with Dr. Anna Dobritsa, I found that the natural mutation of the pollen wall and the plant's adaptation to the environment can be sped-up using CRISPR. If the natural adaptation of the different plant species we were working with, specifically Alstroemeria (Lavender),

Oriental Lily (Stargazer), Goldenrod (Solidago), Delphinium and Snapdragon, can be sped-up, what about applying the same techniques to our own species and modify our natural human adaptations to the techno driven, and rapidly increasing modifications in our human-altered ecosystems?

For this project I use Nikon NIS Elements Viewer software, which allows the optical ​ ​ ​ ​ sectioning of these flower pollen samples. This reconstruction of three-dimensional structures of the multiple two-dimensional images at different depths was obtained using a sophisticated confocal microscope at The Department of Molecular Genetics with the support and collaboration of Dr. Anna Dobritsa. I believe that the textures of the pollen grain mutations viewed in molecular level hold entire dimensions to our understanding of biological life and to the mysteries beyond the physical plane. I believe that the aesthetic impact of this piece allows the audience to feel the presence of both the biological and the synthetic. Stillness is ​ ​ like getting enveloped by a biological plant material at molecular scale, after laboratory alteration and digital manipulation.

I am the vital pulse in a world invisible to most eyes. Our earliest fossil pollen grains, are recovered from 120 million years ago. I can remain unaltered in a "mummified state" for millions of years. I protect the vegetative transit to the stigmatic surface of the pistil.10

10 Poems for Stillness, Chapter 5.1 of this thesis ​ ​ 33

The shadows of visitors that cast inside the geodesic dome generate a feeling of physical presence and attention to the present moment. This moment is a personal, special moment that offers audience the feel of the digital audiovisual contents on their own skin.

Figure 5.5: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ OSU Urban Arts Space, February 20 - March 18, 2018 ​ Photo: Jeff Hazelden

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Audience members entering the dome experience a particular face of expression. We get affected and to some degree transformed. I find this immersive installation as generator of awe quite interesting. I find in these moments, the effectiveness of the immersive experience as a tension tamer and as a tool for reducing blood pressure by experiencing it laying down at ground level. Interactants become aware of their active participation and of their own collective experience by acknowledging the fact of being watched by those outside the dome.

This moment offers a great opportunity to study social behavior and audience attention. The visual access to the molecular dimension of flower pollen used in this work raise the collective perception of spectators to new heights of immersive bliss.

Figure 5.6: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 ​ ​ ​ Opening Reception at OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 ​ ​ Photo: Kate Sweeney

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I would like to suggest that using domes on an everyday basis could change us, just as other commodities and practices are changing us already. Like the regular practice of Yoga,

Thai Yoga Massage, or Sudarshan Kriya meditation change our biochemical structure, domes can change our perceptual structure. For instance, I am convinced that the use of airplanes has changed our perception of time and the use of telescopes has changed our perception of space. I can imagine domes having a strong impact in the near future in some part of our perception of reality too.

Figure 5.7: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ OSU Urban Arts Space, February 20 - March 18, 2018 ​ Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría

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Stillness is a thirteen foot translucent fulldome sculpture installation, composed of ​ ​ ​ molecular visualizations of flower pollen grains, a four channel surround audio system, close-up digital scans of parent flowers, and a twelve foot cotton white round carpet. The activation of the audience members who enter the dome starts by the act of removing their shoes to lie down in the round carpet. The following phenomenological experience is catnip for the eye and an experiential rush for an institution badly in need of non-traditional experiences. To lie down inside this activated social environment, results in a seductive experience of immersion and a window to modern absorption experiences.

Figure 5.8: Ken Rinaldo, Amy Youngs and Dr. Sarah Iles Johnston experiencing Stillness during ​ ​ OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 Opening Reception at OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 ​ ​ ​ Photo: Andrew Savage

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The physical structure for Stillness fulldome sculpture installation is a thirteen-foot ​ ​ diameter, frequency four geodesic dome. This structure is double the size of the Shavasana ​ dome and I used translucent plastic instead of cardboard. This material allows the piece to serve both as an audiovisual sculpture and as an immersive space. It creates a connection between the activated audience that enters the dome and the audience that passively watches the interaction from a distance.

Figure 5.9: Blueprint for the frequency four geodesic dome designed for Stillness installation ​ ​ by Axel Cuevas Santamaría

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The audience that passively watches can also digest the visual content without entering the structure, sharing the visual experience from a further point of view. The lower-half of the dome structure is an open, breathing space, that is only interrupted by supporting wooden poles that hold the piece to the ground, to make it stable. This open space allows the audience to go in and out of the dome structure and it also provides an empty visual space that allows the dome to feel light-weight. The materials are effective providing the installation of an inner and outer experience.

The idea of this installation evolved through a starting point experimenting with black enamel paint, rocks, sand, dirt and concave mirrors. This starting point experimenting with physical materials was a useful creative exploration of the dome structure. All the experiments

I did with the different materials were approaches that led to the final designs I put together for the MFA show. I feel that the Stillness installation went very well with the space I was given for ​ ​ our MFA thesis show at OSU Urban Arts Space. When I submitted my thesis proposal, I asked for a different area in the lower gallery that had more height, since I was planning to suspend the dome from the ceiling to give it a floating effect. The illusion of physical suspension and levitation is something I plan to develop further in future works. I have been working with the formal characteristics of the circle, such as its weightless properties. The flow of the circular projection surface shape, as opposed to the tension generated by the traditional rectangular and squared forms of video projections of the past, transform our entire phenomenological relation with video.

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I am interested in the features of the fulldome format having no specific direction, straight horizon or corner-tension. After our MFA thesis show, I learned that the ideal space for this fulldome installation to be fully and thoroughly experienced must be an open, utterly dark environment that allows the audience to experience the dome floating in darkness. It has to let people go in and out at any point of the dome at any given time. The freedom embedded in the utopic geodesic structure has to be communicated ephemerally, like the wind. Stillness has to ​ ​ be free from physical walls and space constrictions. It needs to be experienced in suspension, without touching the ground, as if levitating by magic. Part of this project was an immersive soundtrack developed in collaboration with James D. MacDonald III. Below is the text, and as it plays in the work, at times it was audible and at other times quieter and more subtle.

Figure 5.10: Ken Rinaldo, Axel Cuevas Santamaría and Dr. Sarah Iles Johnston during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 Opening Reception at OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 ​ ​ ​ Photo: Kate Sweeney

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The following are the complete poems written by Axel Cuevas Santamaría in February 2018. They were digitally recorded by James D. MacDonald III using the voice of Natalia Sanchez as the primary source material for the four-channel audio synthesis composed for Stillness. ​

Poems for Stillness ​

I am Goldenrod, a paradoxical wildflower. Evicted from North American gardens as an undesirable invader, Europeans cultivate me as ornamental. My single Solidago pollen grain holds entire dimensions when viewed in molecular level.

My spiritual expression is hopeful and strength-giving. I am hardy enough to grow alongside city asphalt, and a single spike of my blossom is sufficient to heal your unbelief and melancholy.

The clarity of plastic, resembles the petrochemical nightmare. Centuries of encapsulated, million-year stratification of old forests. On this crystallized planet. A non-organic pixelated, digital breath.

An infatuated race, man and the analytical engine interacting with a faster creation of the biological medium, intertwined with synthetic technology and the World Wide Web.

The technological wings of information serve as the sex organs of your material reproduction. Appropriation of organic matter. Defining the aesthetics of exaptation.

Within the sounds and textures of our computational technological tools, unintended affections are embedded expressing the planetary pixelization of the glitches. Algorithms and fissures of my natural architecture through a synthetic visualization.

Bacteria are the greatest planetary terra formars since millions of years ago.

Far beyond climate change, the burdens of toxic plasticity. The chemical mining. Depletion of lakes and rivers. The reproducing, vast genocide of living species of this planet.

The edge of extinction and systemic collapse is today not just a metaphor.

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The diverse Earth tentacular powers and forces collected in names such as Gaia, Naga, Tangaroa, Terra, Haniyasu-hime, Pachamama, Oya, Gorgo, Raven and A'akuluujjusi

Remember the myths of immorality that become one with the dead and the extinct rests of prehistoric bones. The tissues that produce the black gold that feeds all systems.

Bacteria and fungi give us biotic and abiotic metaphors, spread through their mycelium knowledge network.

The intense, agitated systemic planetary urgencies need to be addressed within all molecular levels of biological life.

As life exists only in action, you can see the active evolution of this process.

The interspecies sex organs and communication of its entropic expenditure.

The first breath of humanity and its last exhale.

Descendants of the same gene. Nevertheless, quite different.

Verging in evolution, some of our nucleotides in our genes share homolog proteins. Equidistant, very precisely oriented, gaps or apertures.

I am Arabidopsis. Inactivate my gene, involved in formation of my slits, and my single aperture disappears.

The function of my gene is preserved, but my form accumulates mutations that put me in different micrometer trajectories measured in the thousands of a millimeter.

The development of my evolution has been shifting for aeons.

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Inactivate my gene of interest by introducing a mutation applying CRISPR technique, and you will see our ability to develop faster. You will see this change in the fruit that comes from the two carpels on my female structure.

By introducing new mutations in our kingdom, whole series of variations are created. New breeding possibilities emerge.

The urge to portray and understand flowers and plants has a long glorious history.11 Present in the decorations of the earliest pottery, celebrated within painting, dissected and closely observed in meticulous botanical illustrations.

My images adorn the surfaces that you eat from, sat upon, sleep under and adorn your clothings and paper walls.

My powerful symbols carry important messages of connection with the natural world and the dimension of my Plantae kingdom.

Following successful fertilisation by my pollen grain, my ovule develops into a ripe seed, carrying with it the full chromosome complement necessary for growing into a new diploid plant.

My kingdom was born in Spring, sprouting with its multi-faceted, ever changing, multicolored, organic transitions.

As ephemeral as light. Like the sound of OM, the wind carries my existence through the physical dimension of my pollen grains.

May you call me with different names, but in silence is when I respond.

11 Kesseler, Rob (2009) Pollen: The Secret Sexuality of Flowers, Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, pp. 149 ​ 43

Warm rays of sunlight, energy of life.

May my photosynthesis ecology oxygen, be your silent breath.

With the textures of my molecules I open this cycle that will nurture you forever in the ecology of life.

A breath. An inhalation of oxygen. Life starts.

An exhale. Releasing of CO2. An infinite transition into the pathways of ever changing existence.

My breath is made of oxygen, take it deep into your system. I made it for you.

The mutation of my pollen walls is a natural adaptation process to the polluted, contaminated environment in which you breed.

We are both part of this process. We both exist.

To incubate is to lie down in a place. An enclosed space, like a cave. Surrendering to your living condition and doing absolutely nothing. Entering a state of utter stillness, to cultivate another level of awareness.

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My sporopollenin is the toughest plant substance known.12 No wonder it's called the "diamond" of the Plantae world.

I am a crosslinked biomacromolecule, which makes me resistant to enzymatic attacks and laboratory procedures.13

I am the vital pulse in a world invisible to most eyes. Our earliest fossil pollen grains, are recovered from 120 million years ago.

I can remain unaltered in a "mummified state" for millions of years. I protect the vegetative transit to the stigmatic surface of the pistil.

The retinal response of my digital presence shows a detailed study of my dissected anatomy, revealing unimaginable diversity yet to be discovered.

During hot summer, we play host to the cosmopolitan frenezy of insect visitors. My nectar scent results irresistible.

Introducing the virtual sexual potency through the nervous system of androgynous insect bodies with disposable exoskeletons.

The slight breeze is wonderful, my hermaphrodite sisters agree.

Passively carried away by the tides across the grass, curled around, and encountering female stigmas.

12 Kesseler, Rob (2009) Pollen: The Secret Sexuality of Flowers, Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, pp.44 ​ 13 Kesseler, Rob (2009) Pollen: The Secret Sexuality of Flowers, Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, pp.261 ​

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We have evolved, creating splendid nectaries that every insect brush past my anthers remains impregnated forever with my floral odour.

A subtle instance. A feeling of plenitude.

My pollen transfers in the wind from one blossom to another. It feels like flower petals, like an initiation into another intensely, private world.

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The audio synthesis process for Stillness ​

The following text describes the creative process for the audio synthesis composition for Stillness as described by the artist James D. MacDonald III. ​ ​

In composing the music for Stillness, both Axel and I wanted some sound that would pair well ​ ​ with the images and heighten the overall immersive experience of laying inside the dome. Several factors contributed to the process of composing the audio. Axel and I met one day to discuss the sound. He showed me some examples of the approximate sound he was looking for, some videos of the projections in the dome, and verbally described the overall sound he was looking for. He described wanting an atmospheric texture that would seem to be constantly evolving and also constantly enveloping the listener. He also showed me a document containing texts that he wrote as a part of the work, relating to pollen, plant life, genetics, and other related topics. We decided to meet a few days later to record someone speaking the audio, and requested that I create some sounds prior to recording.

Stillness is not the first collaborative project that I had worked on where I sought to create ​ atmospheric textures from voice recordings; I did something quite similar in creating the sound for the piece I am and I’m by choreographer Anna Vomacka in the Spring of 2017. Despite using similar source ​ ​ material for both projects, there were several differences between the two. Vomacka's choreography explores extremely personal subjects for the dancers, where the texts are anonymous secrets written by the dancers and assigned to other dancers at random to speak for recording. Because Anna’s choreography contained a clear narrative, distinguishable sections, and explored deeply personal subjects in an open and welcoming way, the music I composed had different sections with different textures, varying levels of truncation of the voice recordings, a clear climax, and an overall brighter sound. Stillness focuses on a different subject matter. It needed to be presented in a different way since ​ it did not have a clear beginning and end, or distinguishable sections. Instead, the material seemed to be continually evolving. This posed a unique challenge for composing the sound. I needed to create an audio file that would be long enough for observers in the installation to stay inside the dome for a long period of time without experiencing repeated sounds in the audio. Per Axel’s request, the audio also needed to be a fixed audio file instead of a computer program that would continuously generate new material based on the source material. We decided that fifteen minutes of audio would be long enough when looped properly.

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I began arranging sounds the day before we recorded the voice of visual artist Natalia Sanchez reading the poems that Axel wrote for the project. In order to create ambient and atmospheric sounds, I used a piece of software known to many electroacoustic composers for creating ambient sounds, Paul’s ​ Extreme Sound Stretch. Since the easiest sound source to use for this project would be voice samples, I ​ searched previous field recordings I had made that contained clear speech. The file I chose was a recording of myself improvising on acoustic guitar, where my improvisation was paused due to a phone call from my wife. As the recorder was left running, it captured everything I said and some of what she said. I cut out as much of the guitar sounds from this recording as possible and ended up with four files of speech sounds. I placed each of these files individually into Paul’s Extreme Sound Stretch to stretch ​ ​ the files from a relatively short length (perhaps a minute or two) to a longer length (approximately fifteen minutes). I used these sounds to create the framework for the composition.

Figure 5.11: Screenshot of Ableton Live session interface used to compose the audio for ​ ​ Stillness. Image courtesy of James D. MacDonald III ​

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I layered these four files and cut them as necessary to create a fifteen-minute framework for the sound. In order to create an evolving effect with these sounds, I ran them through an audio plugin from the Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (IRCAM) called the Chromax Spectral Delay ​ ​ ​ 2, a combination of a filter and a delay, which allowed me to easily create a sound that was continually ​ evolving. I placed markers at various time points in the composition to designate where I wanted the music to reach a small climax. After recording the texts, I placed them throughout the composition as unprocessed audio files and also as source material for a variety of different spectral plugins, many of them by Michael Norris. For louder moments I would layer multiple voice recordings on top of each other ​ ​ to make the climax more chaotic and the textless intelligible.

Axel and I met a few days after recording to discuss the tech setup and to get some feedback on the sounds I had created so far. In discussing the speaker setups for the space, we decided that it would be beneficial for me to stop by and see what we could do. With the hardware available at The Urban Arts Space gallery, in addition to a small audio interface of mine and a few cables belonging to myself and Axel, we were able to create a four-channel speaker setup. This allowed us to create a more immersive sound environment which would greater compliment the installation experience.

Figure 5.12: Max/MSP patch playing the four-channel audio composition for Stillness. ​ ​ ​ Image courtesy of James D. MacDonald III

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I finished working on the sound on Thursday March 1st, 2018. Two days before the gallery opened for the MFA thesis show. We placed a standalone Max application on the iMac to play and loop the sound. A few days later, per Axel’s request and comments given to him from the gallery staff, I compressed the entire sound file to make the loud moments not as drastically different from the quiet moments. This allowed gallery staff to more easily pick an appropriate volume level for the shared gallery space and I altered the standalone application to create a crossfade in the loop of about one minute and thirty seconds long. We met to go to the gallery together the day after. Before departing, he mentioned the idea of further manipulating the voice recordings to create an overall more abstract aesthetic and avoid the linear narrative quality of the poems. To do so, I quickly added in automation for a granular synthesizer plugin from IRCAM named SOGS (Smooth Overlap Granular Synthesis) and ​ ​ ​ ​ automated the amount of unprocessed signal that passed through throughout almost all of the voice tracks throughout the piece.

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Chapter 6: Artists and inspirations ​

Many artists today are using domes and geodesic structures, and increasingly we are finding them in the fine arts context. Contemporary art venues are incorporating domes into their architecture. MOMA PS1 in New York now has a permanent geodesic dome installation, which pushes the fulldome exploration forward and into the fine arts scene. I believe over time, this non-traditional form will more thoroughly continue moving into the fine art gallery context, providing unexplored forms of storytelling.

I experienced Trading Futures (2015) by Ben Coonley in the winter of 2016 when I went ​ ​ ​ ​ with Federico Cuatlacuatl to Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art 1905–2016 exhibition at ​ ​ The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. This work uses a cardboard icosahedron to successfully integrate stereoscopic imagery with a critical view on the influence of technology on our lives. Immersive experiences create community and provide the feeling of oneness with the audiovisual content experienced.

United VJs, Pedro Zaz, and Roger Sodre are the primary source of inspiration for my projection mapping and fulldome early works since 2013, when we met at VJ University in San

Francisco CA. Since then, I started playing with Blendy Dome VJ software developed by ​ ​ Roger and Studio Avante. This was the push that my work needed to evolve from live VJing ​ ​ and projection mapping into the art of the fulldome experience. I met Pedro, Roger and Spetto again in Denver Colorado, in 2015. Since then, I believe that the fulldome experience is the natural evolution of projection mapping, while entering the world of 360 immersive content.

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On October 7th, 2016 I was invited by Ben Gondrez, the Digital Dome Manager at Fort

Collins Museum of Discovery to attend MORPHOS Digital Dome International Artist in ​ Residence Showcase at the Otterbox Digital Dome Theater in Fort Collins, Colorado. This ​ ​ ​ residence program provides workshops and individual support for artists developing immersive video art and Virtual Reality projects inside a Dome Lab environment.

Figure 6.1: Axel Cuevas Santamaría experiencing MORPHOS Artist Residency Showcase, ​ Otterbox Digital Dome Theater, Fort Collins Colorado, October 7th 2016

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During this visit to Colorado I also attended the fulldome show Samskara by Android ​ ​ ​ ​ Jones at the Fiske Planetarium in the University of Boulder. This work is the most rewarding ​ ​ fulldome experience I have had so far. This work explores the concept of mental impressions ​ or psychological imprints and the meanings behind this Vedic Hindu philosophy, particularly ​ ​ focusing in the development of the Karma theory14. The mix of digital paintings, CGI, and surround sound, are a delight to the senses. After this evening, I became completely certain that fulldome art has the potential to advance storytelling technologies.

Figure 6.2: Audience experiencing Samskara fulldome show. ​ ​ Fiske Planetarium, Boulder Colorado, October 8th 2016. Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría

14 Karma means action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). 53

In the summer of 2016, I attended the 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. At one ​ ​ of the venues, Akademie der Künste, I experienced the VR work View of Pariser Platz by Jon ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Rafman. The ever-changing, dramatic scenes and textures of this immersive work using ​ ​ Oculus Rift was very well mixed with the violent and erotic encounters of the creatures in his ​ L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) sculpture series. Both works shared the same ​ space at this Biennale venue and they both delivered the same emotional impact through the critical perspective on our consumption of digital media. The intersection of both the physical sculptures and the virtual CGI artwork was a new way of allowing audience to access an immersive environment. I thought this piece was successful in terms of introducing VR in a gallery show as it is certainly gaining more attention and starting to become more present in fine art shows.

Figure 6.3: Installation view of Jon Rafman's L'Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) and ​ ​ View of Pariser Platz, 2016. Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría ​

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In October 2016, I went with Florence Gouvrit Montoyo to meet with Rafael

Lozano-Hemmer at his Solo Exhibition Transition States at Gund Gallery, Kenyon College in ​ ​ Ohio. After his show, and on our way to dinner, Rafael and I had a very inspiring conversation about the element of human interaction and human touch in the fulldome experience that the

VR experience lacks. Since I experienced Apostasis at the Museo Universitario de Arte ​ ​ Contemporáneo and Nave Solar at Laboratorio Arte Alameda in 2011, both works from Rafael ​ ​ in Mexico City, my perspectives on interactive installation and audience-activated-art has changed. The use of technology as a language deeply intertwined with social relations in the work of Rafael has been a source of great inspiration ever since. During our conversation at the Kenyon College in 2016, we both agreed that the alienating effect of the VR immersive experience, is greatly surpassed by the socially-integrating, dynamic experience of the fulldome immersive effect.

Figure 6.4: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Apostasis, 2008 ​ ​ Photo: Antimodular Research

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Geodesic domes are utopian structures. I find them very exciting and I believe fulldome immersion holds a powerful storytelling potential to more fully integrate audiences into immersive experiences. During my visit to the city of Montreal, in the spring break of 2018 my eyes were more fully open and my perspectives expanded in how domes can exist as part of a modern city landscape. From an architectural standpoint, the Biosphère in Montreal is a 249 ft ​ ​ diameter frequency 16 geodesic dome. It was designed by Buckminster Fuller and it shows the potential for large domes in city scapes. It offers interactive activities and exhibitions about the major environmental issues related to water, climate change, air, ecotechnologies and sustainable development. It is by nature, a utopian structure that holds utopian ideas.

Figure 6.5: Montreal Biosphère, Parc Jean-Drapeau, March 2018 ​ ​ ​ ​ Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría 56

During my visit to Montreal, I was invited by Sean Caruso, in charge of the video projects at SAT, Société des Arts Technologiques, to attend the work Liminal at the ​ ​ ​ ​ Satosphere. This work fuses contemporary dance in coastal environments, live music and 360 ​ film production. It made it clear that the future of the media arts in general, lies in the intermedia collaboration. I now more fully understand domes as immersive spaces for ​ storytelling and spaces for social activation. For me, witnessing the audience interactions inside my installation Stillness has been very rewarding. I think the future of domes is in the ​ ​ interactive, art-science immersive works that activate the audience.

Figure 6.6: Audience experiencing Stillness during OSU MFA Thesis Show 2018 ​ ​ ​ Opening Reception at OSU Urban Arts Space, March 3, 2018 ​ ​ Photo: Kate Sweeney

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In an example of an installation artwork unifying art and science, the embodied participatory experience of the installation Where rocks are fed to trees, by Amy Youngs and ​ ​ Iris Meier with students in the class “Underground Symbiosis”, is an additional inspiration that allows audience activation, while teaching science. The experience is like being inside a breathing living organism, a biological structure that represents the network of underground fungi that run the largest mining operation on the planet. I find this work successful in fully activating the audience.

Figure 6.7: View of Where rocks are fed to trees installation by Trent Bailey, Brandon Ball, Katherine ​ ​ Beigel, Gaopeng Chen, Tyler Collins, Sarah Hockman, Shatae Johnson, Eric Lo, Jacob Markusic, Iris Meier, Yoni Mizrachi, Julianne Panzo, Edwin Rice, Ethan Schaefer, Aaron Theesfeld, Robert Ward, and Amy Youngs.. Loving the Obligate Symbiont Exhibition, 2016. Image courtesy of Amy Youngs. ​ ​

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From the perspective of a contemporary light-artist, the phenomenological act of experiencing the moment sitting or laying down is something I am compelled by and is exemplified in the installations of artists James Turrell and Olafur Eliasson. Philosophically and from a spiritual standpoint, it is very important to pay attention to the "present moment". I think that the most personal, intimate moments of self-discovery come from immersive experiences that bring the importance of the present moment without any thought process or conceptual framework involved.

The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson gives me ideas for audience activation in my ​ work. What I really like about this project and overall work of Olafur Eliasson is the quality of attention that audience members experience with his work. Audience members become aware of the present moment while experiencing immersive installations without any conceptual frame or previous knowledge. Meeting by James Turrell at MOMA PS1 is another example of ​ ​ ​ ​ this. The lessons that his work offers to my own work are about the quality of attention that an audience can bring into an immersive space. This observatory installation is the most meditative and peaceful moment I have experienced to date, inside an art installation. To encounter the presence of light as a character inside a custom-built room is a subtle, simple experience but yet complex and elaborate to achieve. We were all sitting in the round room looking at the sky through a squared opening in the ceiling. The subtle light changes throughout the course of the sunset, mixed with the programmable colored lighting and the change of temperature inside the observatory room, create a minimal and poetic effect that I have only experienced through Turrell's work.

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Figure 6.8: Sunset viewing of James Turrell's Meeting at MoMA PS1 New York, February 04, 2017 ​ ​ ​ ​ Photo: Axel Cuevas Santamaría

I believe that immersive spaces transform the isolated experience of the individual, into an emotional group collective that exists in real-time. With a clear background in science and experimental experiences, this transformation on the audience decreases the critical distance to the work experienced. This is a phenomena with huge potential I have worked to emulate in my installations.

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Bibliography

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De Lacy Costello, Ben P.J., and Andrew I. Adamatzky. (2013). “Assessing the Chemotaxis Behavior of Physarum Polycephalum to a Range of Simple Volatile Organic Chemicals.” Communicative & Integrative Biology 6.5: e25030

Botermans, (2008). The book of games. New York : Viking Press

D-Fuse, (2006). VJ : audio-visual art and VJ culture. London: Laurence King

Di Fiore, Anthony, Paulo B. Chaves, Fanny M. Cornejo, Christopher A. Schmitt, Sam Shanee, Liliana Cortes-Ortiz, Valéria Fagundes, Christian Roos, and Víctor Pacheco. (2015). "The rise and fall of a genus: Complete mtDNA genomes shed light on the phylogenetic position of yellow-tailed woolly monkeys, Lagothrix flavicauda, and on the evolutionary history of the family Atelidae (Primates: Platyrrhini)." Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 82: 495-510 ​ dos Reis, M., Thawornwattana, Y., Angelis, K., Telford, M. J., Donoghue, P. C., & Yang, Z. (2015). Uncertainty in the timing of origin of animals and the limits of precision in molecular timescales. Current ​ Biology, 25(22), 2939-2950 ​ ​ ​

Hoyle, F. and Wickramasinghe, N.C.: (2000), Astronomical Origins of Life: Steps towards Panspermia, Kluwer Academic Publishers

Keller, H. W., Everhart, S. E., & Kilgore, C. M. (2017). The Myxomycetes: Introduction, Basic Biology, Life Cycles, Genetics, and Reproduction. In Myxomycetes (pp. 1-40). Academic Press

Kesseler, Rob (2009) Pollen: The Secret Sexuality of Flowers, Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books

Kingsley, Peter (1999) In the Dark places of Wisdom. Inverness Press California: Golden Sufi Center

Kurzweil, Ray (2006) The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Penguin

McKenna, (1992). The Archaic Revival. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco

Miccoli, A. (2009). Posthuman suffering and the technological embrace. Lexington Books ​ ​

Parfrey, L. W., Lahr, D. J., Knoll, A. H., & Katz, L. A. (2011). Estimating the timing of early eukaryotic diversification with multigene molecular clocks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ​ ​ 108(33), 13624-13629 ​

Sambhava, (1993). The Tibetan book of the dead. New York : Viking

Schaper & Camp, (2000). Labyrinths from the outside in. Woodstock, Vt. : SkyLight Paths Pub

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Schubert, T., & Adamatzky, A. (Eds.). (2015). Experiencing the Unconventional: Science in Art. World ​ ​ Scientific

Wang, Q., Li, Y., & Liu, P. (2017). Physiology and Biochemistry of Myxomycetes. In Myxomycetes (pp. 175-204). Academic Press

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Appendix A

BioPresence Exhibition Review: The New York Arts Magazine ​ Annie Jacobson - Assistant Editor, Walker Art Center Minneapolis, MN PhD Candidate,

The Ohio State University, History of Art Department, December 2015

On an unseasonably mild December evening, I walked across the Oval to Hopkins Hall to attend the opening BioPresence, an exhibition representing the culmination of months of planning, organizing, ​ ​ learning, and, of course, artistic exploration. Its theme encompassed the ongoing work of numerous people and entities across campus. Artists (both student and professional), were asked to create works about noticing and sensing all the living things on campus and in the local urban environment, documenting the “unique urban ecosystem” in which we all live and work. Invited to write about the show by one of the coordinators, professor Ken Rinaldo, I arrived at the opening celebration with little foreknowledge, wanting to let the exhibition speak to me on its own terms. What I found was a truly multifaceted show displaying an array of technological interventions into nature that allowed visitors unique perspectives on all types of life at Ohio State. From smorgasbords for squirrels and repurposed flea market paintings to slime mold dances and horse vision, the works in the exhibition ranged from clever and humorous to darkly striking and thought provoking.

The exhibition, open for just one short week, filled the gallery and first floor in Hopkins Hall as well as parts of the upper floors, impressive considering that not all the works submitted to the show were selected for viewing. The arrangement of the works was carefully done, providing visitors a path to follow that also told the story of the ongoing BioPresence project—no small feat considering the number ​ ​ of works in the show. At the opening on December 8, Hopkins was filled with people weaving in and among the works, interacting with pieces that included a helmet that measures brain waves designed and created with a 3D printer by student Jer Viny, a geodesic sensory deprivation apparatus, and a computer card game featuring the oft- underappreciated bacterium. Linked with many of the artworks was documentation of the process the artist used to arrive at his or her completed piece, an addition to the show which helped the viewers more completely understand how that work fit into the show’s theme. While giving me a tour of the exhibition opening night, Rinaldo, head of the Art and Technology program in the Department of Art, suggested to me that technologies such as robotics, animation software, and video and sound recording provide contemporary artists with the most current and relevant opportunities for creativity and exploration in our time, and even with the theme to focus the works, the variety was impressive.

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Among the most mesmerizing was first_contact by Axel Cuevas Santamaría, a video and sound ​ ​ work documenting the lowly slim mold Physarum polycephalum, which was rejected by scientists from ​ ​ the Animalia, Plantae, and Fungi kingdoms. These molds are single-celled beings, but they aggregate ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ together to form reproductive structures and roll, glide, and slither around as they search for items on which to grow. Santamaría filmed in extreme close-up the molds moving gracefully across petri dishes. Then, in a small, darkened room, the recordings, featuring an array of colors from gold to green, were projected onto circular screens on the floor. The molds danced and sparkled to music electronically derived from their own movements, and the longer I watched them, the more they seemed to simultaneously resemble the surfaces of distant alien planets, the flowing forms of the lowly molds turning into powerful rivers or enormous storms.

Figure A.1: Protoplasmic nutrients flowing over the veins of slime mold Physarum polycephalum. ​ ​ Video still frame from first_contact ​

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The round projection screens seemed to float in the dark, orbiting around one another, and as I stood in the black intermediary of the room, the varying levels of magnitude from the tiniest of organisms to the unfathomable vastness of space seemed to press in on me. Even the title itself alludes to cutting edge of discovery by scientists, be they pointing their microscopes to the smallest of life on Earth or aiming telescopes into the endless depths of the universe. Easily one of the strongest pieces in the show, first_contact captures how the marriage of nature and technology can produce both aesthetic and ​ ​ philosophical beauty, enticing viewers to think beyond their environment in both large and small ways.

Figure A.2: Axel Cuevas Santamaría at first_contact audiovisual installation during ​ ​ BioPresence Exhibition, Hopkins Hall Gallery, December 2015 ​

Another highlight was the presentation of the Bioacoustic Urbanscapes, a compilation of audio ​ ​ artworks featuring animal sounds, organized in part by TradeMark Gunderson, himself an audio artist. Earlier in the year, a call went out to artists from around the world for submissions that creatively used recordings of animals sounds from the urban environment. Artists had access to over 40,000 recordings from Ohio State’s own Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, another partner in the BioPresence project, as ​ ​ well as more recent recordings from wetlands near Ohio State’s campus taken this past spring and summer. The winning works were selected by members of the art department faculty and Angelika Nelson, the curator of the Museum of Biological Diversity at the Borror Lab, and presented in an upstairs classroom with an enveloping sound system. From experimental pieces to melodic songs, the creative array of audio works was impressive, and the compilation provided a fascinating addition to the visual works in the exhibition, although its out-of-the-way location prevented a wider audience from experiencing it.

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Amy Youngs’s Strike, displayed on the windows of the second floor facing the interior courtyard ​ ​ of Hopkins Hall, was a provocative and prominent addition to the show. From a distance, it spelled out the word “strike” in large letters. The ominous word hung above the visitors heads as they viewed some of the more whimsical pieces below. Upon closer inspection, the letters were fashioned with the bodies of birds. Although I could not identify many of the bird species, it was clear that a wide range of birds were included. I imagined the birds in their live state: flying joyously through clean blue skies, searching for bits of fluff or sticks to create nests or newly-surfaced worms for a morning meal. Their dead bodies seemed deflated and sad, reinforcing the impact of the large word seen from a distance. Youngs explained that the birds themselves had died when they struck large windows, an increasingly common occurrence as more and more contemporary buildings feature wide expanses of reflective glass. Created to call attention to this phenomenon, the birds were donated to the project from the Ohio State Museum of Biological Diversity, who document where and when the birds perish and preserve them for future study. This is an issue that is being addressed around the country, as the University of San Diego recently partnered with the University of Minnesota to test a special window coating to help deflect birds from windows.

One of the highlights of the opening was Doo-sung Yoo’s untitled performance piece staged near the entrance to the gallery space. Yoo himself was integral to the planning of the exhibition and a well established artist in video production and performance. Much of his work deals with how humans and animals are interconnected and interdependent, and these themes were clearly in mind for his live piece. It was hard not to have a visceral reaction to the work—there was literally a plate of viscera sitting on a table laid out as through at a restaurant, alongside a glass of wine and a loaf of bread. The table was positioned next to an elaborate contraption consisting of two metal drawer units rigged with upright posts which held between them by means of fishing wire a GoPro camera with approximately 6 inch metal post attached to it. The fishing wire was threaded through two robotic gears that moved the camera up and down and side to side. In the grand tradition of performance art, gallery-goers were confused and intrigued by this set up. As it was his first time executing this performance, Yoo at first seemed to scramble to get the set up exactly right. When I walked up, he was down on his knees, busy transferring about 3 dozen leeches from a bucket to three glass containers of various sizes. I’m not generally a squeamish person, but, seeing the plate of viscera, I had some idea of where the performance was going, and although my stomach objected, I couldn’t tear myself away.

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Others visitors to the exhibition drifted around, impatient for the performance to start. When each element in the elaborate set-up was ready, Yoo carefully donned button down shirt and tie, sat down at the table, and began pouring himself wine. Sitting in front of the wine, bread, and large plate of raw organs, Yoo began cutting the bloody mass into smaller pieces. The plate could barely hold its contents, and some of the liquid spilled over the edge to stain the pristine white tablecloth. He transferred the pieces to a smaller plate, and after taking several drinks from the wine, stood up to move over to the robotic contraption and the leeches. Carefully placing the plate of leech delicacies on the floor, Yoo strung up the raw innards on fishing wire and began to transfer pieces of intestine, heart, and other unidentifiable organs into the glass containers, beginning the leech feast. I was both mesmerized and repulsed to see the little creatures latch on to the meats and swell as the ate their fill. Then, with the leeches clinging to the viscera, Yoo carefully pulled them from their glass jar and tied them to the camera apparatus. Some of the leeches fell onto the white cloth beneath with a soft splat, eliciting groans and squeals from the crowd. When Yoo sent the leeches flying up and down between the supports, some of them were flung dangerously close to the audience; I even had to jump back to avoid one of the little guys landing on my shoe. I had expected to see art works elucidating the relationships between human and animal, but not to have my own personal encounter with one! As the leeches flew around with the little GoPro camera (also equipped with a magnifying lens), the live feed was projected on the wall behind the machine, a large image revealing the event from the perspective of the leeches themselves. Although I was unclear on the deeper meaning Yoo intended for the performance, it was certainly entrancing. I hope that I get to see the next iteration (although I’ll go to that one on an empty stomach).

The BioPresence exhibition was part of a larger initiative that has been ongoing through the fall ​ ​ 2015 semester and connects artists, designers, scientists, and philosophers from all around campus. Representatives from the department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering and the School of Environment and Natural Resources mingled with faculty from Classics, Comparative Studies, and of course, the Department of Art. The idea for the project began with conversations between the organizers about the ways animals worlds influence the fields of the arts, sciences, and humanities—and the lack of animals studies around campus. As sustainability becomes a more and more pressing issue locally and globally, this group of faculty wanted to specifically call attention to how we co-exist with the animals and plants on the Ohio State campus.

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Spearheaded by Department of Art professors Amy Youngs and Ken Rinaldo, the group applied for a university Framework Grant from the Office of Academic Affairs. The grant is specifically for faculty who will improve the Ohio State community through “creative and collaborative place-based projects.” The goal of the project was to make the animals and their ecosystems in and around campus more visible and to get people talking about sustainability. With the money they received from their winning application, Youngs and Rinaldo were able to purchase new equipment and software for the more than 200 students that were enrolled in the fall’s Art and Tech curriculum, including such courses as 3D animation, internet art, holography, and video art. The abundance of resources showed in the great array of projects in the BioPresence exhibition, and as Professor Youngs told me, it is especially helpful for the ​ ​ young artists in the program to focus their final projects of the semester around a specific theme, as this is how a majority of professional art exhibitions are organized.

The theme of the project is a worthy one: as our planet faces great changes as a result of global climate change, we must consider how our actions on Earth affect not only ourselves, but the nearly endless multitude of other life that calls this little rock home. Artists in the exhibition spent months thinking about our urban landscape (so often only thought of as a space for human inhabitants) from the perspectives of numerous other creatures, and their works allowed viewers a chance not only to similarly delve into these other viewpoints, but also to see how artistic exploration explored through technology often results in works particularly of our early 21st century moment.

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