Interconnecting four different disciplines—the visual arts, philosophy, medicine, and education—this new exhibition by the Venezuelan artist Beatriz Inglessis, is the fruit of a collaboration between four people: Suzanne McCullagh, a philosopher with a keen interest in practical philosophy and in particular its affects on health and education; Renee Jackson, an education specialist who has a distinct interest in the arts (and an artist in her own right); the curator, as an outside observer and the occasional “voice of objectivity;” and of course, Inglessis herself, who was driving this entire collaboration with ever-lasting enthusiasm and commitment.

The process in which artistic, educational, medical, and philosophical ideas came together was organic, and sometimes mysterious. Late night conference conversations and early morning exchanges of emails generated associative communication that progressed from abstraction to something quite concrete. I have taken the decision to publish parts of the email correspondence as I still find the evolution of this project quite miraculous. It is by sharing these conversations that one can start to get an insight into how ideas and thoughts facilitated the development of a final piece of art. Ideas were bouncing back and forth: from the philosophical to the aesthetic, from the educational to the medical, and from the medical back to the philosophical, in a cycle that often made little sense (and seemed, really, quite confusing.) But, also created a very genuine alliance between individuals who were truly interested to learn from each other.

Vector (2013), was initially evolved through philosophical discussions about animals and the notion of a “giver-and-taker,” a vector and a host, as a tool to transmit diseases. The discussions and experiments cultivated many interesting findings, but the one that was eventually explored was the discovery that the infection cycle between mosquitoes and humans is sometimes infinite. Thus, the vector can also become a host, and the host can become a vector.

The final sculptural piece you would find at The Container started as a two-dimensional collage Inglessis has constructed from over 30 SEM images (Scanning Electronic Microscope,) some of which have been colored individually by the artist. These images recreated an enlarged and anatomically accurate likeness of the layers of the human skin, as well as a mosquito head and sting, at the moment of biting to transmit disease. The complete image then was taken apart, and each of the layers was re-cut from construction paper. As we made the decision to preset the final product as a sculptural piece, we deliberately resolved to shuffle the layers, both because it made more sense aesthetically, but also to highlight the delicate and extensive labor that went into producing the final creation.