Capsid

The work presents a model of a viral capsid in the process of self assembly or disassembly from a cloud of sub-unit elements.  Water-jet cut rhomboid sub-units in clear glass are suspended amid a grid of vertical nylon wires, each in individually addressed locations.  The grid structure of vertical suspension wires is integral to the technical assembly and the aesthetics of the work.  The regularity of the grid contrasts with the partially chaotic positions of the protein sub-units and the half formed viral capsid; reminiscent of the methodology and investigative technology used in the discovery of the process and form itself.  The work seeks to celebrate the biological, structural and mathematical marvel of viral capsids.  Although virus has negative connotations, of disease and infection, it is a highly sophisticated and remarkable process that is being harnessed and used creatively for the enhancement of human life.