Client: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Overview

This 60 piece petri dish painting installation was designed and created to fit a 21foot by 9 foot wall in a large open office space. Each petri dish is unique and hung on the wall with steel rods of varying length, evoking depth and motion. Klari’s petri dish paintings are made of epoxy polymer within a real plexiglass petri dish. She uses the three standard sized petris typical to biological research labs.

Goals

Klari was commissioned to create a bespoke installation for the distinguished new office space. 60 brightly colored petri dish paintings were created and hung in a horizontal flow mimicking DNA sequencing. At the request of the client, one piece was specifically created to depict the immortal cell line most used in scientific research - the HeLa cell. This was an important requested visual reference to the specific research group. The goal of the successful installation was to enliven and create a sense of movement, wonder, and joy.

Process

Klari worked with art consultant, Heather Marx, curating the selection of 60 pieces for the space. A computer graphic mock up of the layout of the pieces was created so that we all would know and be able to approve the final piece. A to-scale template was printed to be used as a guide on installation day. Installation involves drilling a hole for each piece, screwing in the provided steel rod, and then connecting the hardware on each dish to the rod.

Additional Information

Many of the paintings are created with colorful transparent backgrounds that cast colored shadows, and move across the piece depending on the natural light of the day.