Microcosmos

Proteins are the building blocks and molecular machines that make up our cells, yet a lot of their behaviors remain mysterious. Recently, proteins were found to possess the ability to phase separate, in other words, demix from the surrounding liquid and form liquid-like protein droplets of their own. From the origins of Life itself to subcellular compartmentalization, it is becoming increasingly clear that phase separation of biomolecules has played a key role in biology. With Microcosmos, Steven captures the aesthetics of this enigmatic protein behavior and brings the microscopic life of proteins to our macroscopic world. By using only reagents and chemicals found in the lab, supplemented with natural proteins sources, he recreates the phenomenal complexity and beauty of this process. We see the formation of liquid droplets, which fuse and mix together creating complex and unanticipated hues and tones. Protein aggregation, notoriously implicated in human disease, is now repurposed to create fantastic nebulas and clouds of precipitated biological matter. Just like our cells, these artworks are dynamic and ever-evolving until they succumb to entropic decay. Microcosmos puts the viewer right at the nexus of the Universe as we know it and the cosmos within ourselves / our cells, reminding us of the beauty and complexity of the natural world and of our place in it.