CONFORMATIONS
Solo exhibition by Laura Splan
Esther Klein Gallery, Philadelphia
October 17–November 23, 2019
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 17, 5:00–7:30pm

"Conformations" mines the materiality of science to reveal poetic subjectivities. Laura Splan's interdisciplinary projects destabilize notions of the presence and absence of bodies evoking the mutability of categories that delineate their status. Her work compels an intimate engagement with detail calling into question how things are made and what they are made of. During her residency in Integral Molecular’s laboratory at the Science Center, Splan created numerous photographs, sound recordings, and videos. At the end of her residency, she received 200 pounds of discarded wool from animals who are used for antibody production for human drugs. "Conformations" situates objects made with this hand-spun fiber among sculptures, images and time-based works exploring the metaphors and meta-narratives of cellular biology.

Laura Splan lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Arts & Design and Beall Center for Art + Technology. International audiences for her work have included Iceland, South Korea, England, Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Canada. Her work is included in the collections of the Thoma Art Foundation and the NYU Langone Art Collection. Her biomedical themed artworks have been commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control Foundation. She has received research funding from The Jerome Foundation and her residencies have been supported by the Knight Foundation, the Institute for Electronic Arts, Harvestworks, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. She has been a visiting lecturer at Stanford University teaching interdisciplinary courses including “Embodied Interfaces”, “Data as Material” and “Art & Biology”.