Blue Morph

[2007 — Present]

Victoria Vesna in collaboration with nanoscience pioneer James Gimzewski.

[victoriavesna.com] [artsci.ucla.edu/BlueMorph]

Blue Morph is an interactive installation that uses nanoscale images and sounds derived from the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. This installation has a site specific Irish flavor with a head-piece that was commissioned and created here by crochet artist Irene Lungaard. Nanotechnology is changing our perception of life and this is symbolic in the unusual optics of the Blue Morpho butterfly. The beautiful blue color is not produced by pigment but by the patterns and structure that is the current focus of nano-photonics. Blue Morpho has intrigued scientists for generations because of its subtle optical engineering that manipulated photons. Its iridescent wings are giving rise to a market trying to mimic its wonder and create a counterfeit proof currency and credit cards. Apart from the optics the biology of metamorphosis is also rich for scientific study. The sounds of metamorphosis are not gradual but happen in sudden surges that are broken up with stillness and silence. Then there are the eight pumps or "hearts" that remain constant throughout the changes, pumping the rhythm in the background. During the transformation to emergence each flattened cell of the wing becomes a nanophotonic structure of black protein and space leading to iridescence. Nano is not only making the invisible visible but also changing our way of relating to "silence" or making the in-audible audible. With all the noise of chattering technologies and minds, we propose the interactivity to be stillness for in this empty space of nano where we can get in touch with the magic of continuous change. But most of all we embrace the absurd and recognize our limited human viewpoints. The piece emerges in sound and pattern only when the viewer is STILL and SILENT.