Making Life Visible explores the processes of visualization and description in art and biology by featuring work by 16 contemporary artists and scientists, as well as historical material from the 16th to 19th centuries. In the past, biologists and artists had similar training in observation and drawing. Though the fields have diverged, individual practitioners on both sides continue to draw inspiration from one another, finding new ideas in the process of creating images. The exhibition asks: what do artists and biologists see, and how do their ways of seeing challenge and stimulate one another? Subjects addressed in the exhibition range from molecules and cells, to organisms and ecosystems, and the artists/scientists work in labs, studios, museums, and in the field.
Participating artists:
• Gemma Anderson, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
• Jaq Chartier, Seattle, WA
• David Goodsell, Scripps Institute, CA
• Inked Animal (Adam Cohen and Ben Labay), Austin, TX
• Ellie Irons, Brooklyn, NY
• Daniel Kariko, East Carolina University, NC
• Isabella Kirkland, San Francisco, CA
• Barrett Klein, University of Wisconsin, WI
• Damien Laudier, City College of New York, NY
• Tara Shukla, Grinnell, IA
• Liz Ward, Trinity University, TX
• Gail Wight, Stanford University, CA
Fred Hagstrom, Carleton College, MN