Apart from the sculpture set in the court (URANKER) and other b/w photo-exhibits (THE BIG CONTAINER), reliefs etc. – the focus of the Exhibition-opening was the media performance HIT AND RUN, which describes one of the two essential mechanisms for the courses of infection. On this occasion the artist placed a droplet of blood from her fingertip under a dark field microscopy using a video camera connected to a computer. This microscopical recording was visible using a 2000x magnification with computer monitors and additional projection screens. During the performance the artist conducted blood tests with various substances. The reaction in the blood and the movement of minute particles of the symbionts was carried out by means of specially developed software which was analyzed in real-time and at the same time both audibly and visually transcribed. The programming was implemented by RV Realtime visions GmbH. The audio and sound were created together with Dr. Paul Modler, an academic professional for sound and acoustic at the University for Design in Karlsruhe.
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For Sabine Kacunko, the presentation of bacterial time cultures permitted a holistic world and outlook on life. The focus of the exhibition-project Looping Life opened up and advanced the discovery of the Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865): Semmelweis was not only responsible for the discovery of bacteria as the causes of disease but also knew how they could be prevented through appropriate hygiene and ensured until today with his discovery that many lives could be saved. Looping Life was the continuation of Sabine Kacunko´s ‘Bacteria Art’ over the past years, for which she’s developed a specialized presentation method that can also be utilized for diagnostic medicine or for biofilm research.
The exhibition was opened with the performance HIT AND RUN: The dance performers; Mata Sakka and Joris Camelin delivered imaginative possibilities of an interpretation of the bacterial movements found in the blood and transformed them forth into the physical world. The artist placed a drop of blood taken from her fingertip under a dark field microscope fitted with a video camera and connected to a PC. The microscopic images were enlarged to 1000x their size and made visible to visitors on a monitor and other projection surfaces. During the performance, the artist added various substances to the drop of blood. Reactions in the blood and the movement of the tiniest particles, or “endosymbionts,” were analyzed with the help of specially developed software, which translated the transformations both visually and acoustically, live and in real time. In English, the epithet “hit and run” is used to refer to one of the two main mechanisms of the infection process.
During the HIT AND RUN performance, the chemical reactions of various substances interacting with the artist’s blood were generated as real-time audiovisual data. A microscopic image of my skin—that highly sensitive interface between the external world and the body— was projected onto the glass façade of the .CHB. Skin is not only sensitive to environmental changes; it also serves as an indicator of physical and psychological equilibrium. The appearance of the skin renders pathological conditions visible, thereby acting as the body’s “natural” alarm system. During the performance, various chemical substances were introduced into a blood sample; using specially developed software, the resulting reactions are projected live onto the “skin image,” allowing visitors to experience them in an audiovisual format.
The term HIT AND RUN refers to a concept derived from medicine; the performance begins after sunset and concludes before sunrise. Using a dark-field microscope, the movements of the “primordial germs of life”—tiny phosphorus particles found within the artist’s own blood—are rendered into an immersive audiovisual experience. To this end, Kacunko has developed a novel diagnostic method that enables blood analyses to be visualized audiovisually with greater precision and efficiency.
In medicine, the term “hit-and-run mechanism” (from the English “hit and run”—literally “strike and flee”)—also referred to as a “transient infection”—denotes one of the two primary types of infection courses.
Although the performance HIT AND RUN draws upon an autobiographical background of Sabine Kacunko, its underlying concept serves as a continuation of the artist’s “bacterial art” of recent years, operating at the interface of nature, technology, and art. Through the combined means of art and science, living matter is utilized within an artistic context and brought into the sharp focus of public attention.
