Abstract
What does it mean to use the body of one species as a model for another? Zebrafish are one of the most commonly used ‘model organisms’ in scientific research. In the context of Physics of Life research, a relatively new field of at the intersection of biology and physics, these fish are studied in the hopes of learning about the human body—driven by a search for the underlying physical laws and mathematical equations that govern life, and a desire to build computational models of biological systems. This paper contends with the socio-cultural impacts and interspecies dimensions of this research, examining complex interrelationships between the worlds of zebrafish and humans across micro and macro scales. Drawing on artistic research and practice-based outcomes produced over the course of a 13-month EU funded residency working closely with Physics of Life scientists at the Technical University in Dresden and the Max Planck Institute, the paper critically reflects on the interplay of living systems with computational processes. The paper will draw on two project outcomes: a short film which documents a range of interconnected cultural, material, and ecological landscapes where human and zebrafish worlds collide—from research labs, to pet shops and domestic aquariums, to an industrial site in the Netherlands, to rivers in northern India—as well as a speculative anatomical model, based on the last common ancestor between humans and zebrafish 450 million years ago. These outcomes will be a chance to consider the crucial role of art in producing expanded cultural discourses.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—Modeling Life Systems: Art, Algorithms, Ecologies
KEYWORDS
Artistic Research, Interspecies, Physics, Biology, Zebrafish, Model, Life, Computation, Technology
