NANO.STASIS
2015-2017
Image Credit: Carla Ciuffo
Nano.Stasis is is an art form that explores the exquisite side of a radical new technology - spinning nanofibers. The collaboration between myself and artist Carla Ciuffo uses nanofibers fabricated by the Disease Biophysics Group's cotton candy-inspired rotary jet spinning system to create art. This groundbreaking method has yielded a nanofiber textile that is evolving for a spectrum of futuristic applications – from wound healing and tissue engineering to performance fibers and "smart" sports related products. Now, for the first time, these nanofibers are becoming art.
Carla and I worked together to transform nanofibers into small-scale canvases and large format artworks. Scanning electron microscopy reveals the otherwordly landscape of a nanofiber sheet, filled with twisting columns, crevasses, elegant tendrils and dark abysses. The microcosm captured by the SEM fits perfectly into Ciuffo's Stasis series, capturing moments between moments within ethereal composite imagery.
Preliminary results and images were presented at the Art Technology Psyche II symposium at Harvard University in April 2016, but the collaboration continues to expand and to explore radical new directions within nanofiber art.
Image courtesy of Carla Ciuffo
Cotton candy-inspired fabrication of polymer, protein, and biohybrid nanofibers. Video courtesy of Disease Biophysics Group.
Image courtesy of Carla Ciuffo
In one collaborative project, we fabricated a bioinspired nanofiber cocoon. This image shows the custom cocoon mandrel that I sculpted using Blender.
For the bioinspired nanofiber cocoon project, I 3D printed a custom cocoon mandrel on which to spin nanofibers.
For the bioinspired nanofiber cocoon collaboration, I spun a polymer nanofiber cocoon on a custom-designed mandrel.
Carla Ciuffo used my nanofiber cocoon as a basis for this art piece. The nanofibers were embellished with metallic and decorative materials to represent a chrysalis. Image and piece courtesy of Carla Ciuffo.
Here is one of the block stamps used to print images on RJS-spun nanofabrics. I cut samples from an early test to examine on stubs under the scanning electron microscope (SEM).
Harvard Arts@29Garden, April 2016. Image: The Digital Futures Consortium at Harvard University.
Image: Carla Ciuffo
Image: Carla Ciuffo
Video: Disease Biophysics Group
Image: Carla Ciuffo