Gut Feelings

Collaborative Research Project · Extended Reality (XR)

Gut Feelings (2020) explored the human gut microbiome as a model for intimacy, care, and embodied knowledge through an extended reality (XR) environment. Developed through interdisciplinary collaboration among artists, designers, and biochemistry researchers, the project investigated how biological processes and scientific data could be translated into spatial, sensory, and interactive experiences.

The proposed XR environment invited participants into an intimate virtual gut ecosystem shaped by four interacting factors—geographical, lifestyle, health, and social inputs—each influencing microbial behavior in distinct ways. Rather than presenting information abstractly, the project emphasized bodily engagement, proximity, and curiosity as modes of understanding how external forces affect internal biological systems. Concepts such as enclosure, suspension, and immersion were explored through virtual modeling and diorama-scale studies to imagine how spatial design could support feelings of closeness and vulnerability.

Although the project did not reach final physical realization due to disruptions to in-person collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic, the research and conceptual development informed subsequent works examining intimacy, accumulation, and presence in interactive systems, including Traces.

I participated as a collaborating artist, contributing to conceptual development, interaction design, and embodied research.

Collaborators:
Marta Borowska (PhD candidate, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago)
Minyoung Kang (MFA candidate, Interior Design, SAIC)

Advisors:
Erin Adams (University of Chicago)
Brenda Lopez Silva (SAIC)

Support:
Funded by the University of Chicago Art, Science, and Culture Graduate Collaboration Grant