The Cellular Fidelity
The Cellular Fidelity creates a three-dimensional aquarium that breaks its boundaries using light and sound. Audio is encoded into lasers that project through microscopic aquatic environments into the gallery space. On the floor is a cast, colorful view of what, in reality, is floating tiny and suspended above the visitors' heads. The laser reveals its sound when a visitor steps into the shared aquatic space holding a sensor. Field recordings from the collection sites of 30 groups of marine microbes fill the space—bending, humming, and distorting with the visitor's movement.
But the audio changes without a visitor, as well. Because the audio-encoded laser first travels through the microbes' environment, they are the first beings to make contact with it. When a cellular shape 'runs' across the floor, the audio reshapes in response to the actual microbe's interaction with the laser up above, picking up movement from above and making it visible and audible from below. The potential for interaction permeates this whole work. That is, interaction exists in what is visual and loud and in what is potential. If every visitor stood perfectly still, holding out their sensors, they would still hear the audio change in a memorable chorus of microbial decisions. You see, the microbes have shadowed spaces and, therefore, the option to engage with the laser.
Nobody is obligated to communicate in Cellular Fidelity. We can't talk, but we can hear each other. While one group sees, another senses. While only some microbes in these water samples are capable of sensing light, many are, and several also display different behaviors based on the volume and interference of sound. The microbes' movements create a sound for the visitors. The visitors' movements create a sound for the microbes. The light is shaped from both directions. Communication goes two ways. While one group sees, another senses. While not every microbe in these water samples can sense light, many are, and several also display different behaviors based on the volume and interference of sound. Dead and decaying cells remain motionless while their descendants' shadows distort them. Movements that would be invisible or indecipherable become visible and audible.
We can stay and spend time here. A traditional aquarium is a meeting point that is also a boundary. We observe each other in our respective three-dimensional spaces, separate and uncommunicative. Outside of the aquarium, even this limited observation is fading. We are becoming more and more separated into our individual environments and roles. We can only be aware of each other on special occasions or moments of severe harm. Everything disconnects, separate and moves on. Where is the value in being still, slow, spending time to observe and be in a relationship with another, watery, silent world? In The Cellular Fidelity, everyone is invited to step—or propel themselves—into a relationship of mutual observation.
