The Glass Knife
An installation based on the Dr. Keith Porter Archive
Location
Library and Gallery, Albin O. Kuhn
Date
May 9, 2016 – May 16, 2016 (All Day Event)
Description
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
-William Blake
Together artists Steve Bradley and Kathy Marmor curated the art installation, The Glass Knife, at the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. The title refers to the sharp wedged shaped glass tool used by Dr. Keith Porter to prepare a tissue sample.
Porter, considered the “Father of Cell Biology,” was the chair of the UMBC Biology Department from 1984 to 1988, and one of the first scientists to study whole cells with the electron microscope. At the Rockefeller Institute he produced the first image of an intact cell, made possible by his development of an innovative slicing technique and specimen preparation for viewing and photographing with the electron microscope.His in-depth experience in experimental embryology and histology, along with his talent to interpret these highly magnified images, enabled him to infer the functional activities of cell organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum, which he discovered and named, and microtubules. Porter was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1977.
Media artists Bradley and Marmor have structured their installation to illuminate Keith Porter’s life-long relationship with the micro world of cells. The Glass Knife integrates select elements from Porter’s archive to build a unified series of sculptures that allude to Porter’s workstation that “sees” the cell and its organelles and the potential applications that Porter imagined. With The Glass Knife, Bradley and Marmor propose a model of imagination that embraces a vision mediated by technology that extends our seeing. The artists as curators offer metaphoric insight into Porter’s scientific inquiry made possible with his ground-breaking use of the electron microscope that changed the world of cellular science.
“He had an almost uncanny ability to look at static electron monographs of cells and “see” what the cell was doing, or at least what it was equipped to do.”
-Dr. Lee D. Peachey
Admission to the exhibition is free and open to the public.
Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Thursdays open until 8:00 p.m.)
Saturday and Sunday: 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
