A Guided Sublimation at Vanderbilt Museum Planetarium

Studio Press Release: Vanderbilt Museum Premiere

‍A Guided Sublimation is an immersive planetarium experience that explores the interconnectedness of micro and macro worlds. The project, which draws its conceptual underpinnings from emerging research in genetics, plays with the aesthetics of the residual, capturing the word’s meaning in both an abstract, ethereal sense and in its biological specificity.

Splan and her collaborators take inspiration from cutting-edge research in epigenetics, or the influence of the environment over gene expression. Together, they present a work that explores the complex relationships that exist between what is invisible and in plain sight, nature and nurture, past and present. Such a relational matrix unfolds as an artful meditation on the microcosms of molecular bodies that are situated in a liminal space that is at once biological, technological, and cosmological.

The narration, written and read by Splan, uses conventions of guided meditation and educational planetarium programming to lead viewers through a series of biophysical mechanisms. These mechanisms, which range from DNA methylation to the organization of DNA inside cells, are all intimate processes that texture the narrative journey of the work. Portions of the text are inspired by emerging epigenetics research on the transgenerational inheritance of sensitivities to environmental stimuli such as scent. Splan’s poetic exploration of molecular phenomena also includes AI-generated text interspersed with excerpts from Gloria Vanderbilt’s 1955 book “Love Poems,” a nod to the planetarium’s association with the Vanderbilt family.

A Guided Sublimation’s animations include scientific visualizations and computational simulations from theoretical biophysicist Adam Lamson’s research. Splan and Lamson created 3D animations as part of their “Sticky Settings” collaboration, exploring technological translations of the biological world. One data-driven animation uses Lamson’s code and equations from his chromatin simulations to drive the fluctuating movement of forms. Other animations were created using 3D molecular models of nucleosomes that reflect AI-generated landscapes made using scientific text prompts from epigenetics research. The text excerpts were chosen in collaboration with Hannah Lui Park (UC Irvine School of Medicine Park Lab) from her lab’s studies of DNA methylation markers that indicate pesticide exposure. The mirrored surfaces of histones and DNA reflect the idyllic AI landscapes that are otherwise invisible in the animations.

The star projector sequences by Vanderbilt Planetarium director Dave Bush provide a unique experience by combining molecular and cosmological scales. A Guided Sublimation traverses magnitudes of space and time in a format conventionally used to represent the breadth of the cosmos.

The accompanying spatialized soundscape was created with synthesized sonifications that were composed with MIDI conversions of sound waves that Lamson generated from his chromatin simulations. Biotech lab instrumentation engineer and musician Frank Masciocchi created an electric guitar composition inspired by a symphonic structure. Heavy metal musician Jared Warren (Big Business, Melvins) contributed vocals that punctuate select moments in the animations. A special version of the soundscape will be released as a limited-edition double LP in collaboration with arts technologist KamranV of CyKiK using Phonocut, a unique push button vinyl recording device he developed. Splan produced elements of the sound and animations while in residence as NEW INC Artist-in-Residence at EY at the New Museum, where she is collaborating with creative technologist Danielle McPhatter to explore hybrid reality experiences.

Additional Collaborators

science advisor: Hannah Lui Park / UCI Park Lab
script advisor: Reuben Lorch-Miller
creative technology advisor: Danielle McPhatter
limited edition vinyl production: KamranV / CyKiK / Phonocut
communications: The Hybrid Studio

Research Sources for AI Generated Images and Narration Script

Rachel M. Lucia, Wei-Lin Huang, Khyatiben V. Pathak, Marissa McGilvrey, Victoria David-Dirgo, Andrea Alvarez, Deborah Goodman https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2006-8718, Irene Masunaka, Andrew O. Odegaard, Argyrios Ziogas, Patrick Pirrotte, Trina M. Norden-Krichmar, and Hannah Lui Park. 4 April 2022. "Association of Glyphosate Exposure with Blood DNA Methylation in a Cross-Sectional Study of Postmenopausal Women". Environmental Health Perspectives. Volume 130, Issue 4. CID: 047001. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10174

Park, Hannah Lui. 2020. "Epigenetic Biomarkers for Environmental Exposures and Personalized Breast Cancer Prevention". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17, no. 4: 1181. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041181

Dias, B., Ressler, K. 2014. "Parental olfactory experience influences behavior and neural structure in subsequent generations". Nat Neurosci. 17, 89–96. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3594

Vanderbilt, Gloria. 1955. "Love Poems". The World Publishing Company. Illustrations by Ann Bridges.