Metagenomic hybrids - new art-science collaboration
How can new life emerge in the future? What forms might new species embody? Can we speculate on novel biology by merging the DNA from current species?
These are some of the questions posed by the artist-duo Studio ThinkingHand in their sculpture series ‘HYBRIDS’, recently exhibited at Gether Contemporary Gallery in Copenhagen.
The Copenhagen SEACHANGE team contributed species detections for two speculative sculptures from metagenomic data generated from the Skagerrak as a part of Work Package 1. Using artificial intelligence tools Studio ThinkingHand took these eDNA detections and morphed them into three-dimensional digital sculptures. These digital forms were then fabricated into the final pieces to be displayed as a part of a free public exhibition for over a month in 2023.
‘We are enormously proud to have played a small role, contributing our observations of past ecosystems from the SEACHANGE project, in Studio ThinkingHand’s latest series of sculptures.’ Remarked Luke Holman, SEACHANGE Postdoctoral Researcher.
‘So often as scientists the output of our work is a read medium: journal articles, news reporting or blog & social media posts. Here, we are beginning to allow people to experience science speculatively as art. Moving beyond questions that belong in an academic setting, and instead asking people to share space with a physical manifestation of ecosystems from thousands of years ago.’
