STEP Through the Looking Glass: Stories Told of Experimental Processes

Lorna Donlon is the 2020/2021 UCD Conway Institute artist-in-residence in University College Dublin until 30 September 2021 funded through the UCD Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund in partnership with UCD Parity Studios. The residency supports mutual exchange between the artist and Institute researchers to explore current and prospective biomedical research through the lens of artistic practice. Early in her residency, Donlon mounted an installation in the entrance foyer of the Institute called the ‘Cabinets of Everyday Curiosities’
The installation is an ongoing collaborative project in which a display of the artist’s objects has evolved into a display created by the researchers themselves and representative of their daily lives in scientific research.
This project proposal aims to produce creative new works to reflect specific activity in the areas of (a) COVID-19 related research (b) translational clinical research (c) patient involvement in cancer research. These works will form part of an exhibition with an associated digital visitor experience. Each exhibit will include; photographic image of a researcher and two objects; one that best defines their work and one that is personal to them; explanatory text, a short video of the researcher speaking about their chosen objects and a display of the physical objects themselves. An exhibition launch will include discussion between the artist and researchers on the collaborative creative process and the use of art to communicate science. The physical exhibition will display in clinical and community settings with the digital version incorporated into existing engagement programmes.