GUT FLORA

(2017)
Rigidized® Powder-coated stainless steel
NFTA’s Allen/Medical Campus Station
University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Commissioned by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Public Art Initiative

A Beneficial Bacterium!
A Marvelous Microbe!
A Cuddly Contagion!
A Viral Vector of Joie de Vivre!

GUT FLORA refers to the recent scientific determination that beneficial bacteria are essential to good health, and should be cultivated and encouraged, much like a garden. If one were to consider the tunnels, concourses and stations of the City of Buffalo’s public transportation system as analogous to the circulatory and digestive systems of the human body, it is essential that these be populated by diverse strains of organisms. Systems that ensure diversity flourish.

Evocative of DNA in appearance and color variation, GUT FLORA presents a wry, humorous and cheerful representation of that which the new medical school and its proximate, burgeoning biotech industry concerns itself. Pleasing to both children and adults alike, this ‘marvelous microbe’ presents a fun, engaging and compelling piece of eye candy installed in one of Buffalo’s most heavily trafficked and culturally vibrant locations, and is sure to induce a smile during a daily commute. And smiles are contagious.

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