Brian Knep : Journal

Aging Project Starting Up

As the residency at the Department of Systems Biology (DSB) at Harvard Medical School (HMS) wrapped up last year, I felt like it had been incomplete. I had done a lot of talking, listening and learning, but not much actual doing. With their encouragement and enthusiasm, I’ve decided to stay another year to get my hands dirty.

Their use of living organisms to study the inner workings of the cell is fascinating, and I’ve decided to use the same organisms to create pieces about change and aging. I’ll be filming the cycle of birth, growth and death, and use the resulting footage in manipulated stills, videos and interactive work. Although I have some concrete pieces in mind, I’m trying to stay open to where the research leads.

Wonderfully, it’s possible that the software I write or the results themselves might be of value to scientists for research or educational purposes. DSB is even directly funding some of the work, in addition to allowing me use of lab space and equipment. I also hope to show the work at the Judi Rotenberg Gallery in Spring 2007 if it gets done in time.

I see this as an experiment: Will I find a way to keep the scientific and artistic goals from interfering with each other? How will I feel working with living organisms?