By Biennale of Sydney
23rd Biennale of Sydney: rīvus
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. DavidsonBiennale of Sydney
About the participant
Melissa Dubbin, Born 1976 in New Mexico, United States of America
Aaron S. Davidson, Born 1971 in Wisconsin, United States of America
Based in New York and California, United States of America
Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson apply collaborative processes in their practice and engagement with materials. Their works are characterised by transformations of the biological and mechanical.
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson and Motel Picture CompanyBiennale of Sydney
Dubbin and Davidson’s most recent projects explore relations between the environment, computing, robotics and artificial life forms.
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson and Motel Picture CompanyBiennale of Sydney
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN explores connections between water, time, heat, silica and silicone, and our own beginnings as watery beings.
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson and Motel Picture CompanyBiennale of Sydney
A network of glass forms transports water and air through a series of pathways.
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson and Motel Picture CompanyBiennale of Sydney
They create a timed organism that uses water to transfer heat from a computer running a simulation of an ocean floor, to a tank holding a soft robotic manta ray.
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. DavidsonBiennale of Sydney
'The computer generates heat as a by-product of its efforts to render the simulation and is cooled by water.'
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. DavidsonBiennale of Sydney
'This warmer water becomes an environment for the artificial manta housed in its amniotic world, coupling organism and machine, chip and fetus.'
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. DavidsonBiennale of Sydney
'The story of our transformation takes place in water, inside the amnion, a bubble of protective fluid. We have no memory of this place, but our body remembers. Our middle ear retains a record of this moment, vestigial features of our time as fish.'
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. DavidsonBiennale of Sydney
'This transformation from sea to land also owes itself to silica, one of the most common substances on Earth, formed when massive stars explode.'
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. DavidsonBiennale of Sydney
'This star dust permeates our bodies and all aspects of the natural and built world through a variety of geological, technological and biological transformations.'
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. DavidsonBiennale of Sydney
'Silica deposits, transported by the water of subterranean rivers, rest deep in the earth, made solid over time.'—Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson
THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN (2022) by Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson and Motel Picture CompanyBiennale of Sydney
Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson, THE CLOUD IN THE OCEAN, 2022.
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