Charlie Murphy & Robin Bussell, In Search of Self (I, II, III…), 2022 – (ongoing)
450 x 400 x 250 cm. Installation view at Cooper Gallery, Barnsley. Photo by Charlie Murphy
Materials : Coloured & UV reactive glass, robotic UV lights, glue, nylon, screws, 3D printed brackets, magic arms, cheese plates. Programming and bracketry printing elements by Robin Bussell.
These wall mounted glass sculptures have been inspired by microscopic imagery showing slices of stained cerebral organoids (tiny 3D brain cell cultures grown from a small skin sample).
This mesmerising, robotic installation uses UV reactive glass colours to mimic the coloured stains used in cell biology to identify and visualise different cell types and proteins. Slowly sweeping UV lights illuminate and animate a large constellation of cellular glass sculptures.. As the light hits the glass it reveals new, different colours – a creative response to observing the tools and processes used by Professor Selina Wray at UCL’s institute of Neurology.
As with the coded colour dyes used by labs to visualise and tag cell types under the microscope, this large scale installation uses UV reactive glass to animate visualisations of health and the violent impacts and tangles of misfolding proteins.
Listen to : Artist Charlie’s introduction to this installation
Listen : Lab Scientist Tatiana Alvarez-Giovannucci responds to the artwork
Installation dimensions variable – (this first installation approx 1200x 600 x 200cm)