The audio-visual creation 'Zygote 256' 'by the LNA Collective seamlessly blends recorded footage and digital renders of their ‘zygote’ installation. The first hours in the development of a newly fertilized embryo are simulated and visualized similarly to state of the art fluorescence microscopy. At the heart of the installation is a micro-architectural structure that captures the binary cell divisions up to 256 cells. Complementary generative audio reflects cell divisions and the onset of an autonomous pulse as the embryo becomes independently viable. Zygote 256 integrates digitally simulated life, a physical structure as a canvas for cellular processes, and a reflection of these process in the auditive domain.
ARTISTS
The Zygote artists come from very contrasting backgrounds, but share a passion for ambitious excursions into experimental territories of digital and new media art. Nina is a young architect seeking to develop a specialisation in constructing ephemeral structures and soon-to-be Bachelor of Visual and Media Arts. Lennart Hilbert is a researcher in Systems Biology at McGill University and creates live performances based on real-time simulations of biological, physical, and mathematical systems. Axel is an electroacoustic musician whose goal as the label owner of Shabu Recordings is to promote spacey music in the Montreal and international electronic music scene. In contrast to an ongoing trend of mistaking technological wonder for art, a leading principle of the Zygote team is to focus on strong artistic expression and an aesthetic that aligns the different parts of this interdisciplinary project.