A still image of a human lacrimal gland organoid. Blue shows a cell nucleus. Red shows a dividing cell. Green shows a water channel by which water is secreted.
“Emergence: Art from Life” will be on view from Oct. 8 to Dec. 15 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro St. in Little Tokyo.
“Emergence” is singular among PST ART exhibitions for its presentation of living biological artworks and projects created in collaboration with a global cohort of synthetic biologists and medical researchers. Visitors will encounter human bones grown from synthetic mother-of-pearl; objects dyed with bioengineered indigo pigment; and living, microscopic human tear glands that cry.
These works invite us to consider what it means to be human now: our aspirations, follies, entanglements, and impacts on symbiotic life forms, each other, and the planet.
“We all have a stake in our biological futures,” says exhibition curator Stacy Switzer, “and this is the conversation of ‘Emergence.’ How do we want to live, and how can we connect more deeply with each other around this question?”
Contributors to the exhibition and catalog include cancer researchers, choreographers, sculptors, designers, Afrofuturist scholars, STEAM educators, community and DIY-bio advocates, and biopolicy leaders.
Visit on opening weekend, Oct. 12-13, to meet with the artists, scientists, curators, and collaborators who brought this exhibition to life.
For more information, visit fathomers.org/emergence. RSVP for opening weekend here: www.eventbrite.com/e/opening-week-end-emergence-art-from-life-tick-ets-1029188349057
“Emergence” is among more than 70 exhibitions and programs presented as part of PST ART: Art & Science Collide. The latest edition of this landmark regional event explores the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information, visit pst.art.