Virtual Immunization Project
^^virtual 'walkthrough' of the space^^
digital installation for virtual reality, 3D animation, and sound design
collaboration with Sicheng Wang, Feng Xiong, Simi Gu, and Lishen Ye
(scientific advisors: Chao Shan, Wuhan Institute of Virology - Chengchi Fan, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Premiere: Chengdu Museum
August 20, 2021 - Chengdu Museum - Chengdu, Sichuan, China
digital installation for virtual reality, 3D animation, and sound design
collaboration with Sicheng Wang, Feng Xiong, Simi Gu, and Lishen Ye
(scientific advisors: Chao Shan, Wuhan Institute of Virology - Chengchi Fan, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Premiere: Chengdu Museum
August 20, 2021 - Chengdu Museum - Chengdu, Sichuan, China
|
|
|
To say that the COVID-19 pandemic had a far-reaching impact on our lives is a massive understatement. We have been under the influence of the epidemic since late 2019, causing us to reflect, examine and question the direction of societal progression. The rapid spread of the plague highlights the development of a global infrastructure. This apparatus not only unites humanity into a whole, but also forces people to intuitively experience the concept of community-as-shared-future. Unprecedented isolation has fully demonstrated the advantages of the Internet, virtual communities, and NFT technology, and has further promoted the large-scale acceptance of the remote collaboration model. However, with the development and distribution of vaccines, the competition over supply has continued to strain human morality. Has the world become more integrated or more divided? As artists faced with crises and contradictions, we ask ourselves: What can we do?
Human beings are made up of chains of DNA working in collusion with each other. In this process, the agency of human beings is deprived; each individual becomes a different representation of their collective genome. DNA, through the translation of mRNA, transmits information and controls the assembling of living organisms. Homo sapiens are just one of these information compounds. Just as an avatar in a virtual world consists of a chain of ones and zeroes, humans are strings of biological genetic codes.
China entered the third phase of clinical trials for mRNA vaccines in May 2021. When an mRNA vaccine enters human cells, it produces and displays the characteristic spike protein of the COVID-19 virus on the surface of the cell to trigger the immune system to produce antibodies. This vaccination is the result of precise research into the protein makeup of the COVID-19 virus, leading to the replication of hundreds of proteins on the surface of coronavirus molecules. It has become particularly important to study the structure of these key proteins and the structures of DNA and RNA that record protein structure information.
With the help and support of scientific advisors Chao Shan and Chengchi Fang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, we have obtained data from the Protein Data Bank (PDB), a database of three-dimensional structural data of large biological molecules, and genetic research data models. Using the three-dimensional structural information of the coronavirus, we are creating artistic 3D virtual models of viruses, spike proteins, DNA and RNA, in order to launch the Virtual Immunization Project. In this project, we are using video, 3D modeling, installation art, sound art, and blockchain to both render the dynamic natural process of human immunity and point to the relationship between humans and viruses as one built not on pure confrontation, but on coevolution.
The intervention of modern medicine has greatly augmented the process of human natural selection. At the same time, human beings use technology to augment our own evolution. The machine enhances the body, and artificial intelligence enhances the brain. Every crisis is a driving force for evolution. The coronavirus pandemic has prompted breakthroughs in mRNA research and manifested great achievements in communication technology. Likewise, the practice of art is facing new challenges. How do we integrate with today’s technology, harness new media, and expand the boundaries of art? Through this catastrophe and challenge, our team is creating this piece in order to express our viewpoints on biological evolution, technological development, and artistic innovation.
We intend to sell these ‘virtual vaccines’ on NFT marketplaces with the goal of donating the profits to public welfare projects responding to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this process, we are asking the following questions of the NFT medium: can we creatively transform digital wealth into tangible social value by funneling capital to those places in our society in need of urgent help? Can NFTs provide the artist with more opportunities to enact social change and better our society? Can NFTs help to expand the possibilities of social intervention and advocacy in the artist’s practice? Can the commodity value of art combine with positive changes in public welfare to bring new meaning into the artwork itself? We intend for this work to give our audience interesting answers and open up dialogues in order to discuss the meanings behind our project.
This project is inspired by research pertaining to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. We hope to donate our profits from the sales of this work to public welfare. According to the commodity nature of the artwork and the technology of the blockchain platform, our digital artwork can receive money from each following transaction, which has a certain proportion of funds that continue to flow into the public welfare activities, so that this public welfare activity can also be developed into a long-term project. Witnessing the COVID-19 pandemic from both Wuhan and New York City, We plan to use profits from the artwork to support public welfare projects helping those in Wuhan and New York City who have been affected by the pandemic. As more funds flow into our project, we also want to support environmental protection projects like those helping to maintain the Yangtze River’s biosphere led by the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan.
Human beings are made up of chains of DNA working in collusion with each other. In this process, the agency of human beings is deprived; each individual becomes a different representation of their collective genome. DNA, through the translation of mRNA, transmits information and controls the assembling of living organisms. Homo sapiens are just one of these information compounds. Just as an avatar in a virtual world consists of a chain of ones and zeroes, humans are strings of biological genetic codes.
China entered the third phase of clinical trials for mRNA vaccines in May 2021. When an mRNA vaccine enters human cells, it produces and displays the characteristic spike protein of the COVID-19 virus on the surface of the cell to trigger the immune system to produce antibodies. This vaccination is the result of precise research into the protein makeup of the COVID-19 virus, leading to the replication of hundreds of proteins on the surface of coronavirus molecules. It has become particularly important to study the structure of these key proteins and the structures of DNA and RNA that record protein structure information.
With the help and support of scientific advisors Chao Shan and Chengchi Fang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, we have obtained data from the Protein Data Bank (PDB), a database of three-dimensional structural data of large biological molecules, and genetic research data models. Using the three-dimensional structural information of the coronavirus, we are creating artistic 3D virtual models of viruses, spike proteins, DNA and RNA, in order to launch the Virtual Immunization Project. In this project, we are using video, 3D modeling, installation art, sound art, and blockchain to both render the dynamic natural process of human immunity and point to the relationship between humans and viruses as one built not on pure confrontation, but on coevolution.
The intervention of modern medicine has greatly augmented the process of human natural selection. At the same time, human beings use technology to augment our own evolution. The machine enhances the body, and artificial intelligence enhances the brain. Every crisis is a driving force for evolution. The coronavirus pandemic has prompted breakthroughs in mRNA research and manifested great achievements in communication technology. Likewise, the practice of art is facing new challenges. How do we integrate with today’s technology, harness new media, and expand the boundaries of art? Through this catastrophe and challenge, our team is creating this piece in order to express our viewpoints on biological evolution, technological development, and artistic innovation.
We intend to sell these ‘virtual vaccines’ on NFT marketplaces with the goal of donating the profits to public welfare projects responding to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this process, we are asking the following questions of the NFT medium: can we creatively transform digital wealth into tangible social value by funneling capital to those places in our society in need of urgent help? Can NFTs provide the artist with more opportunities to enact social change and better our society? Can NFTs help to expand the possibilities of social intervention and advocacy in the artist’s practice? Can the commodity value of art combine with positive changes in public welfare to bring new meaning into the artwork itself? We intend for this work to give our audience interesting answers and open up dialogues in order to discuss the meanings behind our project.
This project is inspired by research pertaining to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. We hope to donate our profits from the sales of this work to public welfare. According to the commodity nature of the artwork and the technology of the blockchain platform, our digital artwork can receive money from each following transaction, which has a certain proportion of funds that continue to flow into the public welfare activities, so that this public welfare activity can also be developed into a long-term project. Witnessing the COVID-19 pandemic from both Wuhan and New York City, We plan to use profits from the artwork to support public welfare projects helping those in Wuhan and New York City who have been affected by the pandemic. As more funds flow into our project, we also want to support environmental protection projects like those helping to maintain the Yangtze River’s biosphere led by the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
- October 10, 2021 - Fine Arts Literature Art Centre - Wuhan, Hubei, China
- October 7, 2021 - Remote Landing - Beijing, China
- September 19, 2021 - UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai - Shanghai, China
- August 20, 2021 - Chengdu Museum - Chengdu, Sichuan, China