Michael Whittle
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The Kyoto University Museum
December 2018 - February 2019

Press Release:

The exhibition ‘Portraits of Thought’ presents a new body of diagrammatic artworks created by the British artist and diagram researcher Michael Whittle. Developed directly from research published in scientific journals, many of these drawings were created during his time at Kyoto University’s Centre for Advanced Studies' iCeMS laboratories (Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences), where he spoke with scientists about their latest research and discoveries as part of a quest to develop what he calls a romantic-objective ‘poetics of science’.​ 

Presented alongside these works has are a collection of some of the most ambitious, creative and mysterious diagrams from historical and contemporary science and mathematics.

Interview


​Blue flower still life with fruit fly
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(Drosophila embryonic neurons with polygon wing cell tension models)

References:
1) K. Sugimura, D. Satoh, P. Estes, S. Crews, T. Uemura (2004) Development of Morphological Diversity of Dendrites in Drosophila by the BTB-Zinc Finger Protein Abrupt. Neuron, ​43: 809–822
2) K. Sugimura, S.J. Cox, I. Bonnet, Y. Bellaïche, F. Graner (2013) Comparative study of non-invasive force and stress inference methods in tissue, S. Ishihara. The European Physical Journal E: Soft Matter and Biological Physics, 36: 45
3) W.B. Grueber, L.Y. Jan, Y.N. Jan (2002) Tiling of the Drosophila epidermis by multidendritic sensory neurons,  Development, 129: 2867-2878


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2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 57.5 x 43 cm
Picture
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 124 x 124 cm


​Model for first-causes
(Gott-Li model for a self-creating universe with toroidal closed timeline curves and simulated dendritic patterning for space filling neuronal dendrites)

References:
1) J. R. Gott, III and L.X. Li, (1997) Can the Universe Create Itself? Physical Review D58, 023501
2) K. Shimono, K. Sugimura, M. Kengaku, T. Uemura and A. Mochizuki (2009) Computational modeling of dendritic tiling by diffusible extracellular suppressor. Genes to Cells, Journal compilation by the Molecular Biology Society of Japan / Blackwell
3) K. Sugimura, K. Shimono, T. Uemura, A. Mochizuki (2007) Self-organizing Mechanism for Development of Space-filling Neuronal Dendrites, PLoS Computational Biology, 3: (11) e212




​A vision in a dream: a fragment
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(Cassini probe data swathes of Titan’s Xanadu region with ciliary margin-like stem cell niche generated from self-organizing human retinal tissue)

References:
1) J. Radebaugh, et.al.  (2011) Regional geomorphology and history of Titan’s Xanadu province, Icarus, 211: 1, pp. 672-685. 
2) Generation of a ciliary margin-like stem cell niche from self-organizing human retinal tissue, A. Kuwahara, C. Ozone, T. Nakano, K. Saito, M. E. & Y. Sasai, (2015). Nature Communications 6: 6286
3) M. Eiraku, N. Takata, H. Ishibashi, M. Kawada, E. Sakakura, S. Okuda, K. Sekiguchi, T. Adachi and Y. Sasai (2011) Self-organizing optic-cup morphogenesis in three-dimensional culture, Nature 472: 51–56
Picture
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 124 x 124 cm
Picture
2017, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 124 x 124 cm.


​Model for the origins of movement ​
(Myosin and Actin molecular family trees as linked, punctured tori)

References:
1) H.V. Goodson, W.F. Hawse (2002) Molecular evolution of the actin family, Journal of Cell Science 115: 2619-2622
2) T. Hodge, M. Jamie, T. V. Cope (2000) A myosin family tree, Journal of Cell Science 113: 3353-3354




​Model for dispersal and assimilation
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(Early modern human migration model based on mitochondrial DNA haplogroup distributions: ​bio-geographical Dymaxion projection)

References:​
1) M. van Oven, M. Kayser (2009) Updated comprehensive phylogenetic tree of global human mitochondrial DNA variation, Human Mutation, 30: E386–E394
​2) P. Forster (2004) Ice Ages and the mitochondrial DNA chronology of human dispersals: a review. Philosophical Transactions, Royal Society B, Biol Sci. 359: 255–264


Picture
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 124 x 124 cm
Picture
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 124 x 124 cm


​Ulysses rapid transit
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(Model for spatial and temporal variations in the heliospheric magnetic field with neural network detected retinal vasculature, exposed fovea and optic pit)

References:
1) G. Erdős, A. Balogh (1998) The symmetry of the Heliospheric Current Sheet as observed by Ulysses during the fast latitude scan, Geophysical Research letters, 25, 3: 245-248
2) R.G. Marsden, E.J. Smith, J. F. Cooper, and C. Tranquille (1996) Ulysses at high heliographic latitudes: an introduction, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 316: 279–286
​3) M. Melinščak, Martina ; P. Prentašić, S. Lončarić  (2015) Retinal Vessel Segmentation using Deep Neural Networks.” VISAPP (10th International Conference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications). Proceedings, Vol.1


Organizer:
主催

Main Sponsor:
協賛

Supported by:

助成

Assisted by:
協力





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Translator:
翻訳
The Kyoto University Museum
京都大学総合博物館

​Terumo Foundation for Life Sciences and the Arts
 公益財団法人テルモ生命科学芸術財団


The Nakatsuji Foresight Foundation
一般財団法人  中辻創智社 ​

Higashiyama Artist Placement Service (HAPS)
東山アーティスツ・プレイスメント・サービス (HAPS)


Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Studies - 
Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS)
​京都大学高等研究院 物質–細胞統合システム拠点(iCeMS)

Kaoru Noda
野田薫

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