When Forms do not Become Attitude: Encounters between Biology and Contemporary Art
当形式不成为态度：生物学和当代艺术的相遇
Date: 2016.7.2-8.27
Location: Ars Electronica (Campus Exhibition), Linz, Austria
Curator: Jo WEI
Artists：Ben Fry, Julian Voss-Andreae
日期：2016年7月2日-8月27日
地点：中央美术学院美术馆，北京，中国
策展人：魏颖
艺术家：本·弗莱、朱利安·沃斯-安德鲁
Curatorial Text | 展览前言
The discovery of DNA in the 1960s marked the beginning of golden age of biology. Since the new millennium, with the completion of The Human Genome Project and the recent developments of CRISPER-Cas9 (a gene-editing technique), biology is increasingly impacting the lives of individuals, and with these scientific strides, new issues surrounding the conflict between biotechnologies and social order, and biopolitics in new era are emerging. This impact also influences art, bringing into existence artworks that focus on biological topics and means. This exhibition selects two groups of artworks that examine molecular biology. These pieces, in their forms, resemble well-known classical works in art history, but convey a new perspective of artists in “Post Genomic Era”.
Ben Fry is an artist and major in Genomic Cartography. He is also co-creators of the world-popular programming platform - Processing. His piece Chromosome 21 sorts the 48 million bases on chromosome 21 into an abstract visual representation where different colors mark the different effectiveness levels of bases. The minimalist approach of Chromosome 21 is highly similar to artist Agnes Martin’s work, but the latter’s lined paintings are more indicative of religious-like practice.
Another artist Julian Voss-Andreae is a sculptor who was also trained in Quantum Physics. His works often transform the structures of proteins found in the nature (such as Melittin) into large outdoor sculptures. These pieces, with their hard-edged lines and monochrome colors, resemble the works of “Master of the Monumentalists”Tony Smith.
Fry and Voss-Andreae’s works, despite taking on forms to classic abstractism, are in fact a new kind of “realism”, we can term as “Scientific Realism”. Those pieces are reconstructions of micro-scale gene and protein in a new macro context; within abstraction, they are truthful representations of reality. As for Agnes Martin and Tony Smith, both are post-war artists situated in the period of art transformation, their focuses were aimed towards creating new forms in their respective fields - painting and sculpture - that deviated from previous classical modernist traditions. This comparison does not only signify a coincidence in art history, but also foresees the beginning of a new ArtSci methodology.
上世纪60年代DNA的发现，标志着生物学进入了飞速发展的黄金时期。进入新千年后，人类基因组测序的完成以及CRISPR–Cas9基因编辑技术的出现，深刻改变着个人的生活方式，并引发了关于生物技术对社会秩序的冲击、新世代下的生命政治等深刻讨论。这种影响也触及艺术创作领域，由此出现了一系列以生物学作为题材和手段的作品。本展览选取了两组基于分子生物学理论的作品，它们虽然与艺术史上经典抽象作品拥有相同的形式，却代表了“后基因组时代”的艺术家切入创作的全新视角。
致力于“基因制图学”的艺术家本·弗莱，同时也是风靡全球的图形交互软件“Processing”的发明者。《染色体21号》是将人体第21号染色体上的4800万个碱基，通过对其有效性或无效性的色彩解码，将其转为一幅冷静肃穆的巨型抽象画。 《染色体21号》的画面和极简主义艺术家艾格尼丝·马丁的作品极其相似，但后者以线条描绘画面的初衷却是作为宗教般的日常修炼。
另一位参展艺术家朱利安·沃斯-安德里亚则是一位拥有量子物理学专业背景的雕塑家。他擅长将自然界中真实存在的蛋白质分子（比如蜂毒肽），通过建立其三维结构模型后转为巨型户外雕塑作品。这些雕塑线条硬朗且色彩单一鲜明，外观酷似“纪念碑大师”托尼·史密斯的作品。
弗莱和沃斯-安德里亚的作品，尽管拥有抽象艺术的经典形式，但实际上却是一种新的“现实主义”，可称之为“科学现实主义”。它们都是对构成生命的微观元素（基因和蛋白质）的宏观化再现，这种抽象的形式下包含的是一种对于世界的超级写实。而作为参照的两位艺术家——艾格尼丝·马丁和托尼·史密斯所处的时代均为二战后艺术转型期，他们所关注的是在各自媒介（绘画和雕塑）上创造出区别于经典现代主义的作品。这种对比和呼应不仅只是艺术史上的巧合，也预示着一种全新的科学世界观和艺术价值观在未来的可能性。
更多信息，请查看：
当形式不成为态度：生物学和当代艺术的相遇 (中央美术学院美术馆)
项目空间发布会 (中央美术学院美术馆)
Photos of Scene | 现场
Information | 展览信息
Artists
Ben Fry
Born in 1975, works and lives in Boston. Ben Fry received his doctoral degree from the Aesthetics + Computation Group at the MIT Media Laboratory. After completing his thesis, he spent time developing tools for visualization of genetic data as a postdoc. With Casey Reas of UCLA, he currently develops Processing, an open source programming environment for teaching computational design and sketching interactive media software that won a Golden Nica from the Prix Ars Electronica in 2005. Processing 1.0 was released in November 2008, and is used by tens of thousands of people every week.
Fry's personal work has shown at the Whitney Biennial in 2002 and the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial in 2003. Other pieces have appeared in the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2001, 2008), at Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria (2000, 2002, 2005). His information graphics have also illustrated articles for the journal Nature, New York Magazine, and the The New York Times.
Julian Voss-Andreae
Born in 1970, lives and works in Portland, US. Starting out as a painter, Julian Voss-Andreae later changed course and studied physics, mathematics, and philosophy at the Universities of Berlin, Edinburgh and Vienna. Voss-Andreae pursued his graduate research in quantum physics, participating in an experiment considered one of the modern milestones of unifying our everyday intuition with the famously bizarre world of quantum physics. He moved to the United States to study Sculpture at the Pacific Northwest College of Art from where he graduated in 2004.
Voss-Andreae's work, often inspired by his background in science, has captured the attention of multiple institutions and collectors in the United States and abroad. Recent institutional commissions include large-scale outdoor monuments for Rutgers University, the University of Minnesota, and Texas Tech University. Voss-Andreae's work has been featured in print and broadcast media worldwide.
Artworks
Chromosome 21
All 48 million letters of genetic code comprise chromosome 21. Groupings of letters of genetic code that are known to have a function in the human body are called genes, which are shown in color. The darker color depicts sequences of code (called exons) are known to be used by a cell as the set of instructions for building a protein. These instructions are interrupted by unused pieces of code (introns), which here have a medium coloring. The gray areas have no currently known function. Areas that are “unreadable” by sequencing machines (and by our cell’s processes) are shown as tiny slash marks instead of letters.
Chromosome 21 is one of the shortest human chromosomes, yet this image comprises 48,129,895 letters depicting the DNA bases of which it is composed. It would take 65 images of this size to depict the genetic code in the entire human genome, which is 3.1 billion letters. Artwork by Ben Fry.
Melittin
This piece is a sculptural representation of the Melittin protein found in the nature; it is an example of “Scientific Realism” in art. Melittin is an asymmetrical linear multi-base, consisting of 26 amino acids, and is the main active substance in bee venom. In past iterations of this work, the artist constructed a 3-dimensional model of the protein, and fabricated the sculpture based on this model using metallic materials. With the piece shown in this exhibition, the artist chose to 3D print the final product. Artwork by Julian Voss-Andreae.
Nanos
The small protein MJ 25(microcin J25), synthesized by a certain strand of the common intestinal bacterium E. coli, features a most unusual structure, resembling a lasso whose tail folds over and enters the noose. It is this knotted structure that kills off other bacteria by interfering with its victims’ protein synthesis machinery. Nanos, named after the Greek word for “dwarf,” is a sculpture based on microcin’s structure. In addition to referring to the nanoscale these molecules inhabit, the name hints at the anthropomorphic character of the sculpture, with the noose on top evoking an oversized head. Artwork by Julian Voss-Andreae.
艺术作品
染色体21号
染色体21号由4800多万个碱基组成。基因是人体中具有功能性的碱基组，在本作品是有色序列：深色序列代表外显子，可在细胞中指导蛋白质合成；而浅色序代表内含子，是中断外显子的无效序列。灰色是尚未确认其功能的序列。基因测序仪（以及细胞）所“不可读”的区域则用斜线标示。
染色体21号是最短的人类染色体之一，即便如此，这个图形中也已经包含了48129895个碱基。用类似的65幅画面，也就是31亿个碱基，才能描述人类整个基因组。本·弗莱作品。
蜂毒肽
《蜂毒肽》是一件表现自然界中真实存在的物质——蜂毒肽的蛋白质结构的雕塑，可视为一件“科学写实主义”的作品。蜂毒肽是一种不对称的线性多肽，由26个氨基酸组成，是蜂毒中的主要活性物质。在过去的版本中，艺术家通过电脑程序将蜂毒肽的蛋白质建模后，转化为可进行金属切割的程序。在这个展览中，艺术家选择使用更具时代性的3D打印来呈现作品。朱利安·沃斯-安德里亚作品。
侏儒
作品表现的是肠道细菌所分泌的一种蛋白质 MJ25(小菌素J25)，它拥有非常罕见的索套结构：其尾部伸进了环状结构中，这种结构能够通过抑制其他细菌的蛋白合成机制来杀死这些竞争者。Nanos，是古希腊语“侏儒“之意，也是“纳米”一词的词源。题目《侏儒》除了暗喻MJ25的纳米级体量，也因其索套结构酷似侏儒巨大的脑袋，而具有拟人含义。朱利安·沃斯-安德里亚作品。
艺术家
本·弗莱
生于1975年，现工作和生活于美国波士顿。本·弗莱于MIT媒体实验室的美学与计算小组获得博士学位，并在毕业后继续将基因数据的可视化作为其博士后研究方向。他和凯西·瑞斯（任教于加州大学洛杉矶分校）共同研发了一种开源的程序语言及开发环境——Processing，用于程序化设计和绘制交互式的媒体软件，并于2005年赢得了电子艺术大奖中的最高奖项金尼卡奖。Processing 1.0于2008年11月发布，每天被全球范围内千万人士使用。
弗莱的作品被收藏于纽约现代艺术博物馆（MoMA）等机构，也曾展出于纽约现代艺术博物馆（2001, 2008年），林茨电子艺术节(2000, 2002, 2005年)和惠特尼双年展（2002年）。他的信息图形也为著名科学期刊《自然》，以及《纽约时报》的文章作为插图。
朱利安·沃斯-安德里亚
生于1970年，工作和生活于美国波特兰。朱利安·沃斯-安德里亚的兴趣从绘画转向之后，先后在柏林，爱丁堡和维也纳学习物理、数学和哲学，并致力于量子物理研究方向，并参与了一些意义重大的量子物理实验。2004年，他于美国的太平洋西北艺术学院获得雕塑专业学位。沃斯-安德里亚经常受到科学的启发，并受到众多艺术机构和收藏家的广泛关注。他曾为罗格斯大学、明尼苏达大学和达州大学的科研机构制作大型户外雕塑。他的作品在国际范围内受到广泛关注。
Organizing Committee of the “Project Space·Young Curators’ Lab”
Directors: Wang Huangsheng, Yu Ding
Academic Director: Wang Chunchen
Executives: Liu Xiyan, Chen Jie, Chi Zhao
Education: Ren Rui
Development: Songliang
Visual Design: Ji Yujie
Organizer: CAFA Art Museum/Institute of Arts Administration and Education, CAFA
Co-organizer: Wu Zuoren International Foundation of Fine Arts, Found of Young Curator
Supports: Beijing ZHC Art Development Co.,LTD.
Printing Support: Beijing Flying Fish Culture Development Company, Giclee Workshop
About “Wu Zuoren International Foundation of Fine Arts, Found of Young Curator”
The Young Curator Fund at the Wu Zuoren International Foundation for Fine Arts was established on July 15, 2012, with the goal of supporting and fostering young curators with international vision and professional promise. The Fund’s opening programs were a series of overseas study programs for young curators and international master curator workshops. In October 2009, it founded Project Space together with CAFA Art Museum.
“项目空间·青年策展实验室”组委会：
总策划：王璜生、余丁
学术主持：王春辰
总执行：刘希言、陈洁、迟昭
公共教育：任蕊
发展推广：宋亮
视觉总监：纪玉洁
主办：中央美术学院美术馆、中央美术学院艺术管理与教育学院
协办：吴作人国际美术基金会青年策展人专项基金
支持：北京正和诚文化发展有限公司
作品指定输出机构：北京飞行鱼文化发展有限公司艺术微喷工作室
吴作人国际美术基金会青年策展人专项基金介绍：
吴作人国际美术基金会青年策展人专项基金成立于2012年7月15日，宗旨为致力于支持和培养具有国际视野和专业素质的青年策展人。开展项目有青年策展人海外研修计划，国际策展人大师工作坊，并于2009年10月开始与中央美术学院美术馆联合创立了“项目空间”展览计划。