Michael Takeo Magruder
“Casper Zebrafish [expanded]” is a sculptural-cinematic artwork that has been generated from 36,890 image slices of a whole tissue-cleared adult specimen. The 1.7TB of raw scientific data was captured and processed with a custom MesoSPIM light-sheet microscope system then aesthetically transformed using a combination of traditional digital cinema techniques and the latest generation of AI image-processing models.
This work is a creative dialogue between Art and Science that was produced during the artist’s yearlong residency at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) as part of the institute’s “Arts Meets Science” programme. It is an exploration of the possibilities that arise from the intersection of advanced scientific research, leading-edge imaging and AI technologies, and experimental media arts practice.
Michael Takeo Magruder (b.1974, US/UK, www.takeo.org) is a visual artist and researcher who works with emerging media including real-time data, VR environments, mobile devices, digital archives, and AI processes. His practice explores concepts ranging from media criticism and aesthetic journalism to digital formalism and computational aesthetics, deploying Information Age technologies and systems to examine our networked, media-rich world.
In the last 25 years, Michael’s projects have been showcased in over 300 exhibitions in 35 countries, including the British Library, London; Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid; the Courtauld Institute of Art, London; EAST International, Norwich; Eastside Projects, Birmingham; FACT, Liverpool; Georges Pompidou Center, Paris; KIBLA Multimedijski Center, Maribor; Museum of London; Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul; QUAD, Derby; SESI’ Cultural Centre, São Paulo; Somerset House, London; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; and Trans-Media-Akademie, Hellerau. His art has been funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Arts Council England; the British Council; the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation; the EU Culture Programme; the Leverhulme Trust; the National Endowment for the Arts, US; and the National Lottery, UK. Michael has been commissioned by numerous public galleries in the UK and abroad and by the leading Internet Art portal Turbulence.org. He is represented by Gazelli Art House in Mayfair, London.