EPIDERM V.2, Cycle 7

Digital technologies ushered in a new era in human history. Nanotechnology, the science of the infinitesimal, promises to have an even greater impact. The nanotech revolution makes it possible for humans to manipulate molecular structures and individual atoms on a nanometric scale - that is, to within a millionth of a millimetre. Inspired by such technological advances, Epiderm explores that which is normally imperceptible. It is a nano-optical simulation that bridges the gap between the visible and invisible world. The performance explores a universe that expands inward, approaching extremes of reduction and complexity that are difficult to fathom.

Skoltz_Kolgen chose to interpret the dynamic of an infinitely small world in an idiosyncratic way. Their piece proposes an artistic approach that is both macrovisual and sensorial in nature. Its starting point is a virtual world-fiction that gently draws the spectator in. Starting at the surface of the skin, Epiderm delves inward to take the audience on a journey towards the infinitely small: familiar things such as hair and pores give way to cells, which in turn fade to reveal a foreign landscape of atoms. The nanoworld is a system composed of microparticles that interact with each another on a scale where all known reference points cease to be relevant.