Inner Cloud

Inner Cloud consists of my own DNA, precipitated in an ethanol containing tube, forming a structure similar to a cloud.

 

I have noticed that when DNA is isolated from tissues, the DNA molecules precipitate forming a cloud-like structure, floating in ethanol. It is conceptually interesting to note that at that point DNA molecules can be directly seen with the naked eye.

 

This project was also influenced by Portuguese Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago’s novel “Baltasar and Blimunda”. Some of the characters in the novel, construct a flying machine during the black plague epidemic in Europe, by imprisoning the soul from dying people. These souls are described as having the appearance of a cloud.

 

It is curious that our own DNA can be visualized as a cloud: our inner cloud.

 

Does our soul reside in the DNA?

 

Innercloud
Developed with help from Dr. Bruno Silva Santos IMM-Faculty of Medicine – University of Lisbon.

Tags: DNA, installation, art, biology, bioart, conceptual art.

Keywords: DNA, identity, portrait