Blue Morph Exhibition

Wave(form)s - an Exhibition of Electronic Art on Governors Island
May 27 through September 25
Fridays, 11am to 4:30pm
Saturdays and Sundays, 11am to 5pm
FREE
Click here to buy membership!

Location:

THE NEW YORK ELECTRONIC ART FESTIVAL St. Cornelius Chapel
Governor's Island
Free ferry service from Manhattan and Brooklyn:
http://www.govisland.com/html/visit/directions.shtml

Blue Morph by Victoria Vesna and nanoscientist Jim Gimzewski, is an interactive installation that uses nanoscale images and sounds derived from the metamorphosis of the Blue Morpho butterfly presented in historic St. Cornelius Chapel

Nanotechnology is changing our perception of life and this is symbolic in the Blue Morpho butterfly with the optics involved -- that beautiful blue color is not pigment at all but nano-photonic patterns and structure. The optics are fascinating but the real surprise is in the discovery of the way cellular change takes place in a butterfly. Sounds of metamorphosis are not gradual but rather the cellular transformation happens in sudden surges that are broken up with stillness and silence. Nano is not only making the invisible visible but also changing our way of relating to "silence" or making the in-audible audible. With all the noise of chattering technologies and minds, we propose the interactivity to be stillness for in this empty space of nano we can get in touch with the magic of continuous change. The piece fully emerges in sound and pattern only when the participant is STILL and SILENT.

Credits:

Surround sound: Paul Geluso, Sound processing: Gil Kuno, Interactivity: Paul Geluso, Tyler Adams, Miu Ling, Danaus plexippus chrysalis recording: Andrew Pelling and Paul Wilkinson, Interactive seat construction: Romie Littrell, Knitted morph hat: Silvia Rigon
Installation Designa and Coordination: Aliki Potiris, Interns: Caitlin Morris, Nick Engel, Aliza Simons
Butterfly wing imaging: Marc Castagna, Senior Application Engineer, SEM operator. Thanks to Don Kenia, CEO of FEI Corp. for permission to use the Scanning Electron Microscope.
Morpho peleides and Danaus plexippus wings and pupa provided by Dr. Richard Stringer Department of Math, Science and Allied Health, Harrisburg Area Community College.
More information about the Blue Morph: artsci.ucla.edu/BlueMorph