Looking for Philosophers’ Stone
For centuries alchemists searched for philosophers’ stone, a secret substance not only capable of changing common metals into silver or gold, but also securing agelessness, health and even immortality. Today, scientists focus on creating new molecular tools to meet the needs and ambitions of our society.
Referring to three of my artistic projects, I would like to reflex on the cultural roots of today’s scientific practices and on intersections between cultural and scientific imaginaries. The first project, “Philosophers’ stone” is related to the scientific research of iGEM Team Heidelberg (iGEM Grand Prix 2013) inspired by the potential use of non-ribosomal peptides (NRPS) in synthetic biology: from basic research and medicine to recycling gold from electronic waste. My artistic project (3D stereoscopic video installation) merges molecular processes with alchemic phases of opus magnum reminding us that philosophers’ stone, first of all, has been a metaphor for a deeper wisdom, inner transformation, and higher values.
Philosophers’ stone was related to the philosophical tradition of searching for arche, the essence of physical world and our existence. The multimedia art project “Proteios” (Greek etymology of the nameprotein) inscribed in the series “Hidden Topologies of Being” (developed with the support of NCBS in Bangalore, India) defies a common perception of a protein as a cellular robot. Instead, it treats a protein as a key to explore micro and macro relations, focusing on complex molecular geometry and its origin. “Proteo” – is an artistic model of a “living” multidimensional space-time unit evolving in a virtual incubator.
The third project (in collaboration with the International Centre for Molecular Biology in Warsaw) refers to a new sort of hybrid molecules nicknamed werewolves. Here a single molecule of RNA becomes a vibrant labyrinth of its own conformations constantly switching between identities and functions. Nothing in its world is self-determined, and the number of potential behaviours enormous. In this vibrant labyrinth driven by thermodynamics, we can recognise a state/domain of a wolf or a human or explore the opaque cloud of changing data.
New, ever-evolving technologies and methods of recording/transforming data illuminate and challenge our relation to the material/molecular realm. Through my work I am underlying the power of cultural imageries as meaningful tools in cognitive processes addressing contemporary challenges, desires and fears.
Joanna Hoffman-Dietrich is an artist, researcher and educator currently based in Berlin. Since 2009 she has had a Professorial post at the University of Arts in Poznan, Poland, where she is Leader of the Studio for Transdisciplinary Projects & Research. Hoffman-Dietrich works in the field of artists’ books, multi-media installation, sound and video animation. She has produced an extensive number of book and video works, and has her art in the collections of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Poland; London Institute, Chelsea College of Art and Design, England; The Bristol Art Library, England; the Book Art Museum, Lodz, Poland; King Stephen Museum, Szekesfeher, Hungary; Shin Gallery Collection, Hiroshima, Japan; and the International Collection of Contemporary Creative Artists’ Books, Marseille, France. Her most recent art residency was at the BioQuant Centre / DKFZ / Heidelberg University, Germany.