CIRCA Catalyst: The Glass Knife Gallery Conversation

CIRCA Catalyst with Stephen Bradley and Kathy Marmor, introduced by Dr. Thomas Roth, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biological Sciences

Artists Stephen Bradley and Kathy Marmor will speak on The Glass Knife, an exhibition that reflects on the work of Keith Porter, known as the “father of cell biology”. The title “The Glass Knife” refers to the sharp wedged-shaped glass tool used by Porter to prepare tissue samples.

Dr. Thomas Roth will introduce the program, and situate Porter’s research in the life of the young university, and in the discipline.

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.