Art made of IRB Barcelona science

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), in colloboration with the Fundación Quo Artis and the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, will present the first exhibition in Spain of the artist Ayse Gül Süter (Turkey, 1982). The 1-month exhibition explores the visual differences between health and diseased tissue through a site-specific installation in the old operating theatre of the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site.

“The spheres in my work reflect the cells, the miniscule building blocks that form the human body. My inspiration has come from cells because these are the smallest components of life in our bodies,” explains the artist.

The idea behind Ayse Gül Süter’s exhibition Art Made of Science – Microspheres came about during her participation in IRB Barcelona’s Artist in Residence programme. The artist worked alongside scientists who seek to unravel diseases by studying the differences between healthy and diseased liver, eye, skin and lung tissues under the microscope.

Science as a source of inspiration

The pieces in Süter’s exhibition focus mainly on the distinct appearance of these tissues. The artist adapted her observations to produce large-scale pieces of art. The work thus makes the “invisible” parts of the human body, namely cells, “visible”.

The exhibition takes advantage of daylight in the same way in which the former operating theatre of the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site did in its time. The colours of the piece change depending on the intensity of the light and can be considered a contemporary interpretation of stained glass art. 

The video “Flying above cells”, made by the artist in IRB Barcelona’s Histopathology Laboratory, will also be presented. This video allows visitors to appreciate the differences between healthy and diseased tissues and the usefulness of these images for researchers when diagnosing cancer.

Furthermore, on 14 February 2019 at 19:00 h, there will be a round table entitled “Ciencia como fuente de inspiración” (Science as a source of inspiration), in which the artist, multidisciplinary professionals in the arts field, and scientists will talk about the relationship between art and science.

Biography of the artist

Ayse Gül Süter studied Animation and Digital Arts at the Tisch School of Art of the University of New York. In 2016 and 2018 she received a Cultural Exchange Fellowship from the Turkish Cultural Foundation.

She was an artist in residence at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She has also collaborated with the Laboratory of Marine Biology in Massachusetts, US, observing marine and plant biology and turning what she saw into art projects.

During 2018, she was IRB Barcelona’s Artist in Residence, where she worked with a wide range of scientists and laboratories to gain inspiration and to develop the work presented in this exhibition.

Exhibition information

From February 12 to March 13

Place: Sala Pau Gil, Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site

Admission to the exhibition will be free of charge on the opening day (12/02 at 14:30h). On the other days, you can visit it simply by showing your ticket to the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site.  

More information: http://quoartis.org/?p=4538&lang=es