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VIK MUNIZ: Shifts in scale, photographic manipulation and unexpected materials

Muniz_Microscope_CreditBarryHetherington

At MIT, artist Vik Muniz has pursued his interests in image production and visual literacy, working with researchers in biology, optics and engineering.


In collaboration with Marcelo Coelho, a PhD candidate in the Fluid Interfaces Group, and Rehmi Post, a Visiting Scientist at the Center for Bits and Atoms, Muniz developed a process to machine microscopic images onto millimeter-wide grains of sand. The images were later transformed into large, high-resolution prints.


With Tal Danino, a Postdoctoral Associate in Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia’s lab at the Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research, Muniz used bacteria, cancer and liver cells as the medium for a series of patterns and portraits. They used the bacteria as “paint” in much the same way that stencils or silk-screens are made. Muniz and Danino hope these images will increase awareness of the importance of microscopic organisms, which are vital to life and also can be designed to diagnose and treat disease.


Presented by MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and the MIT Media Lab.


To learn more about Vik’s residency at MIT, click here.