Introduction

This catalog documents Julia Pollack’s exhibition “Collaborative Ecologies” which features bodies of work focused on honeybee colonies and microbial communities. Pollack, a curator, and creator at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, makes art based on her conversations and collaborations with scientists. When Pollack engages in dialogues with researchers at IGB, she immerses herself in their work and then uses that information along with related imagery to build concepts for her artistic interpretations.

Pollack’s series “Das Leben der Anderen” (The Lives of Others) explores the lives of honeybees, the most important pollinators on the planet. Bee health is seriously threatened by many factors and current research seeks to clarify how honeybees’ social interactions enable their colonies to respond to disease, which may lead to better colony management practices and increased food security. To create this series, Pollack collaborated with German scientist Tim Gernat who studies complex systems and swarm intelligence in bees. Barcode-based honeybee tracking makes it possible to automatically distinguish hundreds of individuals in digital videos and to continuously monitor and record them over long periods to increase our knowledge of bee social networks. As Pollack and Gernat talked, she thought it would be useful to document honeybee’s interactions in photographs. She writes: “Many people have aversion to bees and any swarming insect, but when you observe closely, you can see them feed each other and work together.

The fear melts away when you can see how bees care for each other and the health of the hive.” She hopes the images will bring us closer to bees to recognize our hive tendencies and unexpected similarities.

Her series “In Fragments No Longer” is inspired by the microbial world that envelops all living things. When we brush past strangers, share a hug with a friend, or kiss our loved ones, we share millions of microbes. The series is comprised of digital prints depicting Lysogeny broth (LB) plates that hold the personal microbes of Pollack and four collaborators: science writer and microbiologist Ananya Sen, IGB outreach manager Claudia Lutz, IGB director of core microscopy facilities Glenn Fried, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of microbiology Cari Vanderpool. In each pair of prints, Pollack and a collaborator imprinted their microbial communities on LB plates, which contain a nutritious jelly that helps bacteria grow— making visible the microbial world that binds us all together with a multitude of invisible connections.

Pollack’s work highlights the power and aesthetics of science imagery while revealing the hidden labor of research and knowledge production. The work in this exhibition is part of the IGB’s Art of Science program, currently in its fourteenth year. It celebrates common ground between science and art and is representative of IGB’s mission to bring science to the community.

This exhibition is organized by Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences.

Using Art to Bridge the Gap Between Science and Society

By Ananya Sen

Science Writer, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

History abounds with examples of collaborations between artists and scientists. Sometimes the same individual straddles both disciplines—consider Leonardo da Vinci, Anna Atkins, and Santiago Ramón y Cajal—and is celebrated for their work in science and revered for their artistic pursuits. In other instances, two individuals, each dedicated to their craft, come together to create something neither could have accomplished alone. One such example is the “Waking Dream” project, a collaboration between artist Catherine Yass and Mary Morrell, a professor of sleep and respiratory physiology at Imperial College London. Together, they investigated how the process of waking up impacts our bodies and minds. While Morell used a scientific approach examining changes in heart rate and blood pressure, Yass concentrated on the conscious experience. Ultimately, “Waking Dream” probed the boundary between sleep and wakefulness, questioning whether our dreams can intrude into our reality.

To many, science and art appear as disparate pursuits that embody the tension between logic and emotion. Scientists strive to elucidate how the world functions, while artists draw inspiration from their surroundings to question our perception. One could wonder, then, what is the purpose of such a collaboration? Can a coherent medium be constructed at the intersection of these divergent worldviews?

In reality, the journeys of artists and scientists have expansive overlaps. Both invest time and repeated efforts to study their subjects. Upon concluding this process, they synthesize their observations into a narrative, which is then presented to the world for feedback. Most importantly, artists and scientists are no strangers to failure. Despite the challenges encountered in each project, they persist in their quest into the unknown. This shared experience makes them empathetic collaborators.

This unconventional alliance can pave the way for enhancing the accessibility of science. Scientists are often perceived as detached individuals who manipulate nature behind closed doors for questionable purposes. This mistrust can be traced back to several factors: the complexity of scientific concepts, scientists’ inability to effectively communicate their findings to the public, and the misuse of science by those with malicious intent. These issues can be addressed by offering an authentic narrative of what scientific research entails—a messy endeavor driven by an insatiable curiosity about the world.

Over the past decade, the Art of Science program at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) has provided such insights. It uses dialogues between artists and scientists as a springboard for the public to engage with research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Julia Pollack, the Creative Program Manager at the IGB, has created several exhibits that spotlight the beauty encountered by scientists daily.

Pollack’s work covers a broad spectrum of subjects, including bacteria, plants, honeybees, rock samples, and even storms. The construction of each piece is guided by two primary questions: how to bring the mission of the research to the forefront and how artistic approaches can reveal aspects that technical communication leaves hidden. The resulting image is shaped by what the researcher deems important and

the same spaces as us. Since we cannot see them, our sense of the lives of microbes is limited, but as we enhance our observational ability by inoculating plates and studying our microbiomes, we learn about ourselves and our constant exchange of life with everything around us.”

To underscore this concept, Pollack invited her collaborators to share their microbiomes on plates with her. The series includes contributions from Cari Vanderpool, a microbiology professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who studies how bacteria use small RNAs to control their responses to stressful environments; Glenn Fried, the Director of IGB’s Core Facilities, which provides for the institution’s microscopy needs; and Claudia Lutz, who manages IGB’s outreach initiatives aimed at promoting IGB’s scientific endeavors to the community.

Collectively, these pieces reflect the shared conversations and collaborations that are a part of our daily lives. While understanding our communities is crucial, it is equally important to step outside of our comfort zones to gain a comprehensive perspective of our shared world. In the same vein, rather than confining scientists and artists to their respective fields, it is beneficial to remember that interdisciplinary collaborations can bridge the gap between science and society. As da Vinci said, “To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art; study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”