Ephemeral, 2024

Ephemeral imagines a future where venture capitalists embrace “emotion technology,” speculating far beyond current emotion-sensing devices limited to analyzing facial expressions and biometrics. The project prototypes a transdermal implant which detects chemical levels in a user’s bloodstream and releases neuropeptides to trigger the artificial sensation of a targeted emotion—including love, excitement, or the feeling of a brand. The Ephemeral installation includes a video of a fictive conference in which a future company is promoting the implant. Intended as a provocation, the project explores the complex physiology of emotions and reminds of the uncertain future humans face with advancing biotechnologies.

→ Behind the Science

Ephemeral draws from research into neuropeptides—biochemical messengers that pass signals between neurons—and their complex effects on emotions. Consensus remains unclear as to the precise combinations of neuropeptides that produce specific emotions, given the complexity of cultural, environmental, and genetic factors influencing emotional responses. Research is currently underway to develop implant devices with the ability to sense chemical levels in the blood, such as neuropeptides, and administer tailored doses of medications directly into the bloodstream. During her residency with the Beall Center, Tapio worked with microfluidics researchers to imagine the ever-more-realistic future of such technologies.

“This work interrogates the belief that we can precisely control our living bodies through technology. We have a very limited ability to grasp very complex information, such as the layered mechanisms of emotion.” —Hege Tapio

Hege Tapio is a Norwegian artist based in Stavanger, the country’s oil capital. Tapio is currently pursuing artistic research with FeLT (Futures of Living Technologies) and is an interdisciplinary PhD fellow at the Innovation for Sustainability Program at OsloMet. Her practice examines the body as a landscape for “extreme self-mining” in bio-art installations, videos, and performances. She is the founder and director of i/o/lab – Center for Future Art, where she produced and curated a biennial from 2006–16.

→ Conversation: Hege Tapio

Ostracod Rising, 2024

Ostracod Rising explores the intertwined relationships between Earth’s rotation and atmosphere, the moon’s proximity, shifting tectonic plates, the rise and fall of sea levels, and the ebb and flow of life as envisioned over a 4.6 billion-year timeline. The project touches on previous extinctions and anticipated future extinctions, de-centering the traditional anthropocentric account of Earth’s history in favor of the populations of small creatures who have thrived on Earth for hundreds of millions of years. The ostracod is among the planet’s most numerous species, destined to emerge from the seas and take to land and sky in this speculative and hopeful future.

→ Behind the Science

We tend to make sharp distinctions between living and nonliving systems (biology, geology, physics), but they are deeply intertwined. Four billion years of geophysical forces—from the spin of the earth to tidal patterns to volcanic explosions—have profoundly influenced Earth’s life forms. Small creatures have had an overwhelming impact on this dynamic. Cyanobacteria created the oxygenated atmosphere that allowed our evolution. Innumerous bacteria inhabit our skin and our guts, support our food production, and consume our waste products. Ostracod Rising pays homage to this world of tiny beings and posits a bright future in which they reign supreme.

“The work is a story that I’ve chosen to tell about how the Earth’s systems have operated in the past, where they are now, and how they might be in the future. The emergence of new patterns and behaviors becomes obvious in this book, as do feedback loops, seen in the call and response dynamics between symbiotic species.” —Gail Wight

Gail Wight is a visual artist constructing biological allegories through book arts, video, and experimental media. She holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, where she was a Javits Fellow, and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. Wight’s art has been exhibited internationally and is held in numerous publicand private collections. She is Professor Emerita in Stanford University’s Department of Art & Art History, where she continues to teach book arts and hybrid printmaking. Hexapodarium (2017), a publication about her work, includes essays and a conversation between Wight and writer Lawrence Weschler.

→ Conversation: Gail Wight

Alphabet of Life, 2024

Alphabet of Life is an immersive art installation that explores the molecular essence of life itself: the twenty primary amino acids. These molecules are used to construct the proteins that sustain all living organisms. They are the fundamental “building blocks” of life. In the installation, the intricate beauty of each amino acid is revealed through a meticulous process. Each amino acid’s molecular structure is sourced from the Protein Data Bank, transformed into 3D printable file formats, and refined to capture its essence. These structures are then laser-etched into glass orbs, creating a visual and tactile representation of the molecules that drive life’s complexity.

Pinar Yoldas describes herself as an “infradisciplinary” designer, artist, and researcher. Her practice begins from biological sciences — often from “speculative biology” — and is realized through digital technologies, architectural installations, kinetic sculpture, sound, video and drawing. The thematic areas of her interest include posthumanism, eco-nihilism, anthropocene and feminist technoscience. Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Yoldas moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to pursue an MFA at UCLA and later a PhD at Duke University. She is an Associate Professor in the Visual Arts Department at University of California, San Diego.