tools 2009

tools #1 - #10 (2009)

Artists: Herwig Turk, Paulo Pereira

Lamdaprint mounted on aluminium

Dimension: 65 x 45 cm

The photographs on the series tools describe and summarize, like an instructions’ manual or a story board the various stages of a western blot, from cleaning of the plates to the switch off of the power supply unit. A western blot is common technique in cell biology that allows detection and identification of proteins. In these photographs a scientist was asked to reproduce the different steps in this technique but in the absence of the objects and tools that would normally be required to complete this task. Detached of their function and of their movement sequence, the gestures remain floating in an intermediate relationship between the position and the sign. It is partially possible to recognize some function to the gesture: a hand supports an hypothetic container, while the other pours a virtual liquid. At the same time, the gestures appear to signal another reality where, for example, a finger indicates a direction or points to an invisible object instead of turning off a machine. This is reminiscent of a conversation in deaf sign language occurring simultaneously with a verbal conversation, but without sharing the same subject.