Microvision
- Dec. 2022
- Multimedia Installation: Prints on thermal paper burned by a custom microscope; Microscope eyepiece; Microcontroller and electronics; Various leaves in sealed containers.
- sculpture: 15’’ x 15’’ x 45’’
- prints: 18’’ x 30’’ each
MicroVision is a multimedia installation consisting of detailed and delicate prints on thermal paper of plant’s cellular structures, and a custom-made microscope that concretizes gazes into burn marks. This work explores the possibilities of recreating plants’ cellular structure with generative algorithms based on the Voronoi diagram, while discussing the specific relationship between the viewer and the object being viewed under a microscope. MicroVision attempts to examine the act of ‘gazing’ in scientific studies, with a particular focus on how the power relationship between humans and plants is exercised with the assistance of scientific instruments.
Several mundane types of leaves’ microscopic photos were taken and stitched together, the result being some ultra-high resolution images. The images were then fed into an evolutionary algorithm designed based on the Voronoi diagram, which adjusts its seeds’ positions and cell regions given the pixel values of the input image. The aim is both to explore the algorithmic potential of reproducing plants’ cell structures, and to recreate the microscopic vision of a leaf without damaging the leaf itself.
The imagery was printed on thermal paper, passed through a mechanism that contains an eyepiece from a microscope, a microcontroller, a light sensor and heating boards. The heating system will be activated when a visitor looks through the eyepiece. The part of thermal paper that is being looked at will gradually be burned and turn black.
