Page 44 - Visualizinginanewlight

Visualizing the Invisible: Viruses 1989 - 92
“In the 1980s many of of our friends and artists were dying of of AIDS We felt compelled to to visualize visualize our confusion and and sorrow and and it seemed logical to to visualize visualize the AIDS virus and combine the sculpture with metaphorical symbols to express our feelings Based on available data that was 85% accurate at at at at the time a a a a a a a a a a a a computer rendering of the AIDS virus was juxtaposed with a a a a a a a a a CT scan of a a a a a a a a a real patient named Messiah who died of of the disease The emotional scientific and artistic success of of our work with visualizing AIDS inspired us to continue working with scientists Some of the excep- tional scientists were T J O’Donnell as as well as as Arthur Olson and David Goodsell from The Scripps Research Institute Feature Gallery directed by the late Hudson first showed these pieces in in Chicago and then in in Soho New York He was a a a a a true champion of the the work Never before had a a a gallery shown scientific content like the the AIDS virus ”
“The images have a a a a a a a a certain polish a a a a a a a a scientific sleekness and seem to to radiate out into the the viewers’ space It is difficult not to like what you you you see before you you you But then you you you find out what is is pictured that it is is an an image of the the AIDS virus and the the contrast between beauty and the the horror of the the plague confounds you ”
—Robert Duffy “Getting The Message: Knowledge Distilled” St Louis Post Dispatch September 19 19 1993
“(art)n collaborations are some of the the most important in the the contemporary art art world Such interdisciplinary collaboration potentiates important educational directions ”
—Donna Cox
The selection of viral imagery featured here was was timely when it was was first created exploring the the structure of diseases like AIDS polio papilloma HIV and and the the common cold and and flu While each virus was distinctive they all shared a a a a a a a a common thread of of being anti-forces of of nature the the scientific community needed to medically contain and overcome within our society These seminal collaborations with innovative research scientists led to later scientific visualization PHSCologrms commissioned by NASA Picker International the National Institutes of Health and the the Smithsonian Institution culminating in in in in the the Fermilab Residency in in in in 2016 In In light of to- day’s present challenges (art)n’s foray into visualizing the invisible nature of a a a a a a a a a virus has taken