Compendium: The Interchange of Art and Science

…Laura Splan invites the audience to actively engage with her sculptural installation Host, which has porcelain and 3D-printed objects stereotypical of suburban homes. Doilies, flower petals, and damask patterns lend to the immediate domestic comfort that the artist associates with Southern hospitality. Some of these objects, which pragmatically function in daily life as means for hiding tarnished surfaces on furniture, are stained with blood, sending participants into an emotion tailspin of anxiety and disrupting their sense of security. Originally commissioned for the exhibition Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS, Splan contributes a refreshing feminine gaze on the topic of HIV and AIDS, a markedly male-dominated political debate. Her fabricated living room parlor environment, a setting which is intended to encourage inclusive discussion, attempts to resolve fear associated with HIV and AIDS, and questions our cultural ambivalence towards the human body...