❉ Portraits of Thought
思考の肖像
The Kyoto University Museum
Kyoto, 2018-19
Diagrams: 'a Portraiture of Thought'
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 - 1914)
Portraits of Thought was an exhibition of diagrammatic drawings and installations developed through practice-led research into the poetics of scientific visualization. Created in part during a residency at Kyoto University's iCeMS (Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences), the works draw from dialogues with scientists and published research across disciplines, from subatomic structures to astronomical phenomena.
The drawings capture 'frozen snapshots' of humanity's diagrammatic attempts to map reality at every scale - ranging from delicate watercolours of the far side of the Moon to precise line renderings of ideal mathematical objects. Presented alongside a selection of historical educational charts and some of the most ambitious and enigmatic diagrams from contemporary science and mathematics, the exhibition juxtaposes past and present modes of visual knowledge production.
Supported by a Japanese Terumo grant for Art and Science projects and a Nakatsuji Foresight Foundation Research and Publication Grant (Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Studies), 'Portraits of Thought' embodies what I call a Romantic-Objectivist approach: appropriating the empirical rigor of diagrams to evoke poetic insight, transforming abstract scientific representations into contemplative portraits of human thought.
Selected Drawings:
Blue flower still life with fruit fly
(Drosophila embryonic neurons with polygon wing cell tension models)
In the genre of European still life painting, the fly was a symbol of decay, death and melancholia. In contemporary science, the common fruit fly (Drosophila Melanogaster) is one of the most studied organisms in all of biological research, and associated with eight Nobel prize winning discoveries. The flower-like structure in the centre of this drawing is based upon models for Drosophila Embryonic Neuron development. Depicted either side are two ‘simulated tension models’, created to study the biomechanics underlying wing development at the cellular level in embryonic fruit flies. 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
Blue flower still life with fruit fly
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 57.5 x 43 cm
Model for the origins of division
(DNA Helicase ribbon model in thorned structure with photosynthetic disks)
DNA helicases are a family of ancient enzymes that are essential to DNA replication. They act by location specific separation of double-stranded DNA into single strands allowing each strand to be copied or repaired. This icon-like depiction of a 6-subunit helicase molecule is based on a ribbon or Richardson diagram, one of a number of abstract schemes used to represent molecules and their processes. References: 1) C.A. Froelich, S. Kang, L.B. Epling, S.P. Bell, E.J. Enemark (2014) A conserved MCM single-stranded DNA binding element is essential for replication initiation, eLife - Biochemistry: Biophysics and structural biology 3: e01993.
Blue flower still life with fruit fly
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 57.5 x 43 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)
‘Model for first causes’ contrasts two very different types of model, one for the origins of the universe and one for the development of neurons in the human brain. In their 1997 paper, physicists Richard Gott, III and Li-Xin Li posed the question ‘Do the laws of physics prevent the Universe from being its own mother?’ Together they proposed a self-contained circular loop of space-time, capable of generating alternative universes in a branching structure. The neuronal growth model beneath explores the basic structural units that underlie the brains ability to question not only it’s own origins, but the very origins of reality itself. 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
Model for first-causes
2018, 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)
Although myosin was first thought to exist only in muscle cells, virtually all eukaryotic cells are now known to contain myosin isoforms, coded for by a huge superfamily of genes. Like Myosin, Actin is also diverse and evolutionarily ancient group of proteins and also appears to be ubiquitous in eukaryotes. The interaction of actin and myosin are responsible not only for muscle contraction but also for a variety of movements of non-muscle cells, including cell division, and the actin cytoskeleton is responsible for the crawling movements of cells across a surface, which appear to be driven directly by actin polymerization as well as actin-myosin interactions. In this drawing the superfamily trees of actin and myosin are depicted within partially open, linked tori, creating a diagrammatic icon for our investigations in to the origins of biological movement. 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 the origins of movement
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 57.5 x 43 cm
A vision in a dream: a fragment
(Cassini probe data swathes of Titan’s Xanadu region with ciliary margin-like stem cell niche generated from self-organizing human retinal tissue)
The top part of the drawing depicts a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) image obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on July 25, 2016, during its 'T-121' pass over Titan’s southern latitudes, an area nicknames ‘Xanadu’ by members of the Cassini radar team, with an interesting reference to Samuel Taylor Coleridge romantic period poem ‘Kubla Khan’. The lower part of the drawing is based upon immunofluorescent images of a recent (2014) experiment in which human embryonic stem cells were induced to create a self-organized stratified Neural Retina using new three-dimensional culture techniques. The drawing contrasts two extremes of our current notions of ‘vision’: the cutting edge, remote sensing technologies of NASA space probes (complete with romantic reference), and the laboratory creation of self-assembling visual tissues using stem cell technologies. 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 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
A vision in a dream: a fragment
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 57.5 x 43 cm
Model for dispersal and assimilation
(Early modern human migration model based on mitochondrial DNA haplogroup distributions: bio-geographical Dymaxion projection)
Buckminster Fuller developed his 1954 version of the Dymaxion map, known as the ‘Airocean World Map’, during his first collaboration with the Japanese American Architect Shoji Sadao. Projected on to the flattened surface of an icosahedron, it highlights the interconnected nature of the continents with a minimum of distortion, making it particularly well suited to mapping prehistoric human migration patterns in the search for ‘Mitochondrial eve’, the maternal ancestor of all living human beings, who lived approximately 200,000 years ago. Mitochondria are structures within cells that convert the energy from food into a form that cells can use. Human mitochondria differ from most other organelles because they have their own circular plasmid of DNA similar to that of bacteria, and reproduce independently of the cells in which they are found. Mitochondrial DNA is non-recombinant and maternally inherited, enabling genealogical researchers to trace maternal lineage far back in time. 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
Model for dispersal and assimilation
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 57.5 x 43 cm
Model for the reorganization of visual information
2018, Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 57.5 x 43 cm
Model for the reorganization of visual information
(Retinotopic visual stimuli map of primate striate visual cortex with
retinal vessel shadows)
In the genre of European still life painting, the fly was a symbol of decay, death and melancholia. In contemporary science, the common fruit fly (Drosophila Melanogaster) is one of the most studied organisms in all of biological research, and associated with eight Nobel prize winning discoveries. The flower-like structure in the centre of this drawing is based upon models for Drosophila Embryonic Neuron development. Depicted either side are two ‘simulated tension models’, created to study the biomechanics underlying wing development at the cellular level in embryonic fruit flies. 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
Installation view, Kyoto University Museum, 2018-2019