“Questions are what it is all about. Awakening doesn’t set out to provide the answers, rather to bridge the gulf between lab science and the mainstream, and to share an incredible world of discovery.”
http://www.signalsblog.ca/awakening-in-toronto-stem-cell-images/
“I scooted down on Thursday afternoon to check out an exhibit of large scale photography of stem cells. It was so trippy and appealed to me in a number of ways – bright colours, big sizes, science and art in one, and it was free to check out! How great is that? I stared and stared at these awesome pictures and just couldn’t get my head around the idea that all this is happening inside my body right now and always. It also made me wonder, are AI researchers searching for the analogue of stem cells for robots? Is there a quest for a bit of totipotent machinery or programming? Or is biomimicry not so helpful at this point?”
Knob Portrait: Mayor Ford
(983 cabinet door knobs + 1 table top)
IKEA, the ubiquitous furniture manufacturer teamed up with the Design Exchange and some of Toronto’s best creatives, including Paul Raff Studio, for a unique fundraiser. The designers were given a $500 budget to go shopping at IKEA; then deconstruct and reassemble their purchases in any way they liked. Inspired by Andy Warhol’s portraits of celebrities such as Chairman Mao and Marilyn Monroe, Paul Raff Studio created “Knob Portrait: Mayor Ford.” The artwork garnered the highest bid, and the funds are going to support Canada’s only museum dedicated exclusively to the pursuit of design excellence and preservation of design heritage.
Combining the Power of Art and Scientific Discovery to Challenge Viewers To See the Unseen
Exhibition at Toronto Image Works Gallery //// From December 11- February 16, 2013 A unique body of work of cell photographs is on display at Toronto Image Works Gallery
By Toronto Artist & Scientist Radha Chaddah.
The beauty and complexity of the cellular world is explored in Radha Chaddah’s photographs.
By growing, lighting and imaging stem cells, she combines the power of art and scientific discovery to challenge viewers to see the unseen.
Radha Chaddah, cell photographer, mixed media artist, Toronto, Ontario
“I make my art because I wish to explore the beauty and complexity of the cellular world using the power of scientific discovery and methodology. I choose to present the unseen for consideration. The cells in these photographs have
been grown from different kinds of stem cells, and represent a progression in the accumulation of knowledge that has led us to this moment, where scientists now understand how to reprogram adult cells to become embryonic-like stem cells. There are gaps in this understanding as it relates to our ability to cure disease
and degeneration. These dark places are where human imagination lies, teeming with desire to control our biology for myriad ends. Crawling over the abyss is the cell, growing in a dish liberated from the control of the body, tiny unit of ourselves and all living things.”
