Vast amounts of genomic data are created as
part of the genome sequencing efforts ongoing
globally. This high-throughput data production
enables a shift from hypothesis driven to
discovery based science. With this shift comes
the need to create ways of extracting information
and creating knowledge from ever-increasing
amounts of data in world-wide databases. In
parallel to this trend is an increasing need
to address ever more complex questions and
problems that face us globally in the 21st
Century.
Ecce Homology
is an artwork that offers a unique and
alternative approach to visualizing and
interacting with large amounts of genomic
data. It also demonstrates the potential
for novelty that collaboration between
the arts and sciences can create and the
possibility for the arts to nurture discovery
in the sciences.
Ecce
Homology presents genomic data
through a novel visualization composed
of calligraphic forms, or pictographs,
representing the protein products encoded
by genes. The pictographs are created
by using genomic and protein data to drive
a virtual calligraphic brush.
Genes from human beings and the rice plant
that comprise the metabolic pathways for
cellular respiration (the process by which
carbohydrate is broken down into carbon
dioxide in order to release the energy
necessary for life) have been used to
create the pictographs for the installation.The
pictographs are therefore a metaphor for
the cycling of energy and carbon and the
underlying unity of life as reflected
in biological processes.
Within the installation, human genes are
presented on the vertical axis and genes
from the rice plant are presented on the
horizontal axis of a 40-foot wide
by 12-foot tall projection. A full-body
computer vision
interface enables multiple visitors
to interact with the installation and
select human genes to undergo BLAST
analysis.
