Federica Schiavo Gallery

CURATED BY MARINA WALLACE, CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS, UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, LONDON

ARTISTS: LUCY + JORGE ORTA, ROB KESSELER, ACKROYD & HARVEY, SHOBANA JEYASINGH
SCIENTISTS: TONY HYMAN, MELINA SCHUH, JAN-MICHAEL PETERS, KIM NASMYTH

OPENING, WEDNESDAY 9 JULY, H 6.00 - 8.00 PM


Federica Schiavo Gallery is pleased to present Lens On Life, an exhibition curated by Marina Wallace, on view from 10 July to 28 August 2014.

Lens On Life is aimed at disseminating the scientific knowledge acquired during the five years of MitoSys (2010-2015), a project realised with the support of the European Union under its seventh framework program (FP7). MitoSys was coordinated by the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna. Internationally leading biologists, mathematicians, biochemists and biophysicists working at thirteen research institutes including the Department of Biochemistry in Oxford, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, have collaborated to reveal how genes and proteins orchestrate mitosis in human cells.

The exhibition emerges from a dialogue, established between artists and scientists, concerning one of the fundamental mechanisms of human life – mitosis. Lens On Life is a project strongly rooted within the field of art and science. It offers a novel take on mitosis and human cell division through historical and contemporary references and an imaginative interpretation by the artists involved.

Artists Lucy + Jorge Orta, Rob Kesseler, Ackroyd & Harvey and choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh met with scientists from the MitoSys consortium –Tony Hyman, Melina Schuh, Jan-Michael Peters and Kim Nasmyth. Through visits to the scientific laboratories and the artists’ studios, artists and scientists established a common territory, made of images and metaphors, developing an open and enduring dialogue.

The works exhibited are the tangible result of these meetings and constitute a re-elaboration and experimentation aimed at providing a new perspective upon the processes of mitosis and meiosis. An important part of the exhibition is the documentary, Meetings of Minds, witnessing the various stages of the collaboration between artists and scientists.

The event on the 10th of July 2014 (17.00 - 19.00) organised in collaboration with MAXXI Museo delle Arti del XXI Secolo, will stage a panel discussion with the artists and the scientists of Lens On Life, followed by the screening of the documentary Meetings of Minds.

The exhibition in Rome (Federica Schiavo Gallery) is the first of a series of three. After Rome, Lens On Life will travel to London from 29 January to 29 February 2015 (Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins) and will end in Heidelberg (University Museum) from 16 March to 28 April 2015.

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Artakt, Central Saint Martins College of Arts & Design (UAL), curates and manages pioneering exhibitions and research led projects at a national and international level in the field of art, science and culture. At the centre of Artakt is the conviction that art, science and culture individually and, above all, collectively, can and should be communicated as creatively, accurately and widely as possible in innovative ways. Artakt’s research and collaborations result in outstanding and ground-breaking exhibitions, together with related outputs such as academic articles and publications, talks, seminars and conferences as well as performances and satellite events.

For further information: www.artakt.co.uk