ES: Your works show a keen sense for the aesthetic potential of scientific processes, models, and techniques. How did this sensibility for merging fields come about?
BJ: I was always interested in both art and science. As a child I was familiar with the work of artists like Yves Klein who painted with human bodies and I was fascinated with the energetic, enigmatic persona of the artist named Picasso. At the same time the theory of evolution as well as genetics of which I read in popular scientific magazines mystified me. I found them both - art and science - wondrous, mysterious, adventurous… Growing up, I thought that I had to choose between the two, and because of the very hard situation with the Yugoslav economy in the 90s, the scientific career seemed a bit more sensible solution. So I finished medical university and became an MD. However, I never stopped drawing and I developed a few bodies of work during my studies, mostly pencil and pastel on paper. When I came to the States, I worked as a biologist at Emory University before I decided to make a big step and finally turn my passion for art into a new profession. And that is when it happened. During my master’s degree studies at SCAD, Atlanta, I realized that I could merge my two greatest interests into an interdisciplinary work. It was a moment that changed everything! It was, in a way, a “what if” moment. What if I merge my interests in 3D drawing, new technologies, and the theory of evolution?
BJ: I was always interested in both art and science. As a child I was familiar with the work of artists like Yves Klein who painted with human bodies and I was fascinated with the energetic, enigmatic persona of the artist named Picasso. At the same time the theory of evolution as well as genetics of which I read in popular scientific magazines mystified me. I found them both - art and science - wondrous, mysterious, adventurous… Growing up, I thought that I had to choose between the two, and because of the very hard situation with the Yugoslav economy in the 90s, the scientific career seemed a bit more sensible solution. So I finished medical university and became an MD. However, I never stopped drawing and I developed a few bodies of work during my studies, mostly pencil and pastel on paper. When I came to the States, I worked as a biologist at Emory University before I decided to make a big step and finally turn my passion for art into a new profession. And that is when it happened. During my master’s degree studies at SCAD, Atlanta, I realized that I could merge my two greatest interests into an interdisciplinary work. It was a moment that changed everything! It was, in a way, a “what if” moment. What if I merge my interests in 3D drawing, new technologies, and the theory of evolution?
Video installation (detail): Lines, Lanes and Lineage: How Far Can We Trace a Drawing
Reflecting on the concept of DNA as a code of life I explore the idea of drawing as code. Multimedia installations reveal the process of repetition and mutation by which drawing is recoded into sculpture, sculpture into video, and video into photography. Created forms are different, but related. This generative, metamorphic process implies eternity; forms that could ever evolve one into another. Through its content, the work explores the mechanics of visual cognition, origins of thought, and the evolution of creativity… In the heart of life lies a process, and so it is with my work. The mechanism is always exposed, and process becomes work itself. The incorporation of time-based technology communicates process through sound and movement. The technology is exposed as a sculptural object as well as the functional carrier of the process. I utilize personal computers, projectors, motion sensors, video cameras, speakers, and headphones.
Through the use of materials, the work advocates for environmental healing. The installations are landscapes of light, protein, and DNA. Projected images and LED lights are combined with ephemeral sculptures made from mammalian hair (protein & DNA). The natural, biodegradable material is molded into Platonic forms – cubes and prisms, suggesting new utopias. The transparency of organic tangles invites the viewer’s gaze into the microcosms of biomaterial, the very place where we search for 21st century solutions.
Through the use of materials, the work advocates for environmental healing. The installations are landscapes of light, protein, and DNA. Projected images and LED lights are combined with ephemeral sculptures made from mammalian hair (protein & DNA). The natural, biodegradable material is molded into Platonic forms – cubes and prisms, suggesting new utopias. The transparency of organic tangles invites the viewer’s gaze into the microcosms of biomaterial, the very place where we search for 21st century solutions.
Synaptic Kiss, LED light, protein, DNA
ES: What is your research process like for the content of your installation works?
BJ: In my research, I always concentrate on mechanism. How does life work? Microsystems, such as the molecules of life have certain character traits and also tasks to perform… I work a lot with the concepts of self-replication and mutation. I use metaphor to translate concepts from the realm of biology into the realm of art. Life is a generative, transformative, metamorphic, interactive installation. So is my work.
BJ: In my research, I always concentrate on mechanism. How does life work? Microsystems, such as the molecules of life have certain character traits and also tasks to perform… I work a lot with the concepts of self-replication and mutation. I use metaphor to translate concepts from the realm of biology into the realm of art. Life is a generative, transformative, metamorphic, interactive installation. So is my work.
Multimedia Installation: Recode. Play. Loop.
ES: How would you describe the relationship between technicality and abstraction as it is played out in sci/art-works?
BJ: I think it’s different for different artists… As for me, the relationship between technicalities and abstraction is very similar to the one in mathematics, like in geometry for example. You have a concept, a set of rules, and you apply them to an abstract shape, and then you observe what happens. You change coordinates, dimensions, orientation, or how shapes interact with each other. Based on the outcome you make your conclusions. However, art is bit more adventurous since we have elements like color, texture, light. These elements stimulate not just our analytical mind but also emotion and kinesthetic sensations… For me, the conceptual installation is like a philosophical landscape that I can enter and as I work I can ask questions. Often, I get answers too. That makes it so interesting.
BJ: I think it’s different for different artists… As for me, the relationship between technicalities and abstraction is very similar to the one in mathematics, like in geometry for example. You have a concept, a set of rules, and you apply them to an abstract shape, and then you observe what happens. You change coordinates, dimensions, orientation, or how shapes interact with each other. Based on the outcome you make your conclusions. However, art is bit more adventurous since we have elements like color, texture, light. These elements stimulate not just our analytical mind but also emotion and kinesthetic sensations… For me, the conceptual installation is like a philosophical landscape that I can enter and as I work I can ask questions. Often, I get answers too. That makes it so interesting.
Bojana Ginn is one of eight finalists for the World Technology Network Award in Arts this year!
Learn more about her work at www.bojanaginn.com
Contact Bojana at [email protected]
Learn more about her work at www.bojanaginn.com
Contact Bojana at [email protected]
