microMIMESIS
in cooperation with
Genesilico
Lab,
the International Centre for Molecular & Cell Biology in Warsaw
Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in Poznan, KNOW RNA Consortium
mircoMimesis:
is
based on the recent research on RNA molecules, and their specific
characteristics, questioning tools (scientific and cultural) we have to
apprehend processes on levels of reality inaccessible to our senses, and how the
knowledge about molecular processes
may influence our understanding of ourselves and the world we create.
microMimesis
: I-Golem Project
I-Golem,
based on the latest scientific research, activates the most important cultural
and philosophical questions about the nature and source of life but also models
of reality we create based on scientific and technological progress. It was once
the Divine Temple, the work of the Great Architect, who was then replaced by the
Great Watchmaker. In the 19th century, the industrial revolution turned the
all-eternal clock, into a Machine. The Imagination in the 20th
century, in turn, was dominated by the Supercomputer and powerful Code. What
model of reality emerges today, in the society of knowledge,
from the increasing cloud of virtual Big Data produced by science and
technology? What methodologies, scientific and cultural, do we have, or have to
produce, in order to transform it into a coherent whole? How our model of
reality we create may influence our reality?
Are
we creating New Golem(s)?
Through centuries cultural imagineries have been playing a special role in
shaping the relationship between man and his physical and mental environments,
combining the age-old desire to know the truth about the world (the domain of
science) with the expression of the human condition in this world (domain of
art).
As
an artist I believe that the exploration of the dynamics of
"molecular" perspective can contribute to the development of
new cultural interpretations and metaphors that will help us to better
understand and cope with the complexities of the world we create.
Golem
is most often associated with a creature made of clay in the shape of a man, but
devoid of soul, created by a Prague
rabbi, a native of Poznan, Jehuda Löw Bekakel.
The
word Golem appears in Bible in Ps 135: 15-17, uttered by Adam and interpreted as
embryo. However it may also mean something yet shapeless and formless. In the
Middle Ages it was identified with the Greek concept of formless matter - η
ὕλη (hyle). Part of the Jewish tradition also treats Adam, prior
he was bestowed with the breath of God, as a golem.
According
to Jewish tradition, the process of creating legendary Golem from lifeless
matter like dust or earth was based on repeating
the process of God's creation by using the respective arrangements of
letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The
golem, brought into being by a human creator, becomes a helper, a companion, or
a rescuer, but also a threat to its creator.
Today,
our creative efforts are not based
on some divine symbols but on the
alphabet of the nature, on discovering
and composing novel molecular words and sentences.
RNA
is the ancient biological molecule that probably existed before the emergence of
life in the cellular form. It is a natural 'golem' from which life
started the path of its evolution
The artistic project: microMimesis: I-Golem project comes into
being in the time when the threshold of creation on a molecular level
has been already passed, bestowing the man with new powers and
responsibilities.
The
theme of artificial life – from homunculi and cyborgs to robots and androids,
from Miller –Urey experiment to synthetic biology and AI, has inspired
generations of scientists and artists.
microMimesis:
I-Golem project is
a monument of human knowledge
and creativity,
of
the
eternal human desire to learn
the
deepest truths of nature,
to gain power over its processes or even create a new better life. At the same
time it will be an embodiment of human emotions in face of ephemerality
of the
individual life,
the
chaos of today and uncertainty
of tomorrow.
I-Golem is an
evolving virtual structure,
which, reflecting
laws
of nature,
may evolve in different and
multiple ways,
creating new narratives
and meanings.
Combining
scientific simulations with artistic
strategies and virtual
reality experiences,
Golem
will create
a bridge between sensuality and abstraction, between scientific knowledge and
cultural imagination, between rationality,
intuition
and emotions.
The
“enzyme of the beginning of life” has been an inspiration and germ of the
project. It is a short RNA molecule - ribozyme, with specific (cross) chiral
properties. Synthesized in the laboratories of Scripps Research Institute (TSRI)
molecule is a model of the first RNAs, which were probably self-replicants. They
both carried information and catalyze evolutionary processes.
The
germ of artistic virtual Golem will be a model of the original enzyme,
developing new structures, symmetries and interactions, and maybe even
new qualities of life