Venus Iteration explores the human body at micro and macro levels as an ecosystem full of trans-species entanglement. The human body contains ten times as many non-human microbial cells as human ones. Microbiome coexist with human cells, having symbiotic, pathogenic, and reciprocative relationships with them. In the large scale video projection, 3D models of representative species of microbiome have been digitally animated using Sandro Botticelli’s iconic Venus (c. 1485 C.E.) as the starting point. The video zooms into the newly created Venus and navigates the virtual ecological community inhabiting the body at the microbiological level. Next to the video projection, 3D microbes crafted into tangible objects are exhibited on a table, also inviting viewers to examine their bodies through a custom-made digital microscope. Imagery of the enlarged body parts is juxtaposed with a virtual ecosystem in real-time. Our inextricable entanglement with microscopic realms suggests that the human form is not a whole entity, but rather a place where fragmented entities coexist.

I incorporated the figure of Venus into the digital world and reconfigured her in a very different context by creating a 3D model entitled 000Venus_final. The purpose was to satirize the biased representation of female body. When I mimicked the thin and long neck from the painting as manifestation of the exaggerated look that has been forced on women, certain types of glitches were generated. Those fragmented polygonal surfaces were not meant to be fixed as smooth surface, but to remain as glorious wounds. I removed her cumbersome curly hair, and changed her hands covering the genital area into an agitating gesture showing the middle finger. This newly created 3D Venus—000Venus_final, subverts the patriarchal expectations forced on women.

By adopting scientific methodology, I composed the ecology of the virtual Venus, 000Venus_final, of five representative species of human microbiome: four bacteria and one fungus—Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus warneri, Streptococcus mitis, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae—were reinterpreted and animated in the form of 3D polygons.

The direction, speed, and collision factors of these five microbiome species are determined by pre-programmed formulae. I coded the motility of the virtual microbial cells against real-world physiology. They collide, bounce, and go through each other, merge with one another, and subtract from and reflect others. In this pluralistic and unpredictable disorder, innumerable variables are created, and the structure is continually created and transformed and de-territorialized. The virtual camera zooms in on the metaphysics of the 3D Venus and navigates this digital ecological community.

Just like having dinner around an ordinary table— constantly consuming other organisms, dismantling the bionomic environments of our bodies, transplanting body fluids, and interchanging our social and cultural experiences—the audience is invited to this microbiome luncheon to examine their bodies and those of others. The participants—the aggregations of microorganisms—experience the human body through the microscope and through complex interactions with each other and MOO. The imagery of enlarged body parts is juxtaposed with a virtual ecosystem in real-time, and the corporeality of the microorganism-objects provides tangible interactions with material agency, through which the participants are led to examine the body. The virtual images, the real-time video projection, the tangible objects, and the participants are all interwoven, manifesting the notion of the body as an aggregate of fragmented entities, and highlighting the fluctuating identity of the Venus. The installation deconstructs our conventional way of perceiving the human form in represented images, suggesting a new aesthetic experience and a way of recognizing the world.