Biological Narrative 1 thru 5 from biotica on Vimeo.
Biological Narrative 1 thru 5 (2004) a multisegmented video work whose content mediates from a convergence of biomimetic/biologically-inspired computing, biosemiotic threading and a regard for the biophilic aesthetic. The individual chapters of the work include primata, homonculus, pulmones, bushmeat and clemency. Through a convergent merger of biological modeling, artificial life visualizations and video/audio compositing these segments emulate a collective narrative of biological and environmental sensibilities that draw on a spectrum of voluntary thru involuntary response from the metabolic to the ecological. The biosemiotic foundations in the work includes the re-narration of extinction, the emergence of life, biological time, the duality of sustenance and the internal drama of pain – all parts of an internally realized narrative which runs through our cells and veins and continually define the common storylines of vulnerability between all lifeforms.
Chapter details:
Biological Narrative #1: primata’ is an iterative version of the re-narration of extinction. The competitive aria in this work takes the voices of naming two extinct families of primate ancestors who have gone before us. The voice modulation of the aria follows the pattern of a classic predator-prey ecological simulation of dominance and submission. The overlay of video composite ontoa book of origins pairs with the voice over model to arrive at a re-narration of extinctions past.
'
Biological Narrative #2: homunculus’ folds together visualizations from computer-generated artificial life with a recipe for growth of the prototype human – the homunculus and footage of specimens from roadside ‘museums.’ These sources collaboratively seek an extracted poetic from their versions of the emergence of life.
‘Biological Narrative #3: pulmones’ is metaphorically based on a bio-cyclical cadence of oxidative metabolism—a pattern of biochemical pathway that is critical to a diverse range of organisms from microbes to cetaceans. The cyclical naming of intermediates is the voice of the video loop and the motion graphic base is exchanged between a clip of running in place and expanding/contracting bronchials.
‘Biological Narrative #4: bushmeat’ is a requiem track which seeks to emulate the duality/reversal-of-fortune between our essential need for the biophilic observation and the criticality of sustenance.
‘Biological Narrative #5: clemency’ is a tribute to the internal drama of pain. The non-linear cadence of this ebb and flow is modulated through the loss of control that bridges pain and mercy.
Collectively this series established the biological narrative as a genre within the lexicon of electronic language – that is a story form or storyweb which overlays and combines biosemiotic branching and dynamics of life systems with creative multimedia sources. Establishment of the biological narrative as a delineated genre of electronic language represents an evolving form of the cybernarrative which inclusively lays down a ground for the persistence of environmental and biological awareness within an in silico context.
Project venues for this work:
2006
Korean Experimental Arts Festival 2006, Seoul, Korea
2005
New Forms Festival 05 - Ecologies, NFF 05 Cinema, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
transmediale.05, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
SeNEf 2005 - 6th Seoul Net Art & Film Festival, Seoul Art Cinema, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
MAF05 - Thailand New Media Arts Festival 2005, Alliance Francais, Bangkok, Thailand
“Personal Ecologies”, Sarai, the New Media Initiative, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, India
2004
FILE 2004 (Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica), SESI Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil
3rd International Rest Cycling Art Festival, Backfabrik, Berlin, Germany
Machinista 2004, International Arts and Technology Festival, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, Scotland
“In House”, 2004 Faculty Triennial, Myhren Gallery, University of Denver, Denver, CO