Concept
“Punctuated Equilibrium” is a theory proposed by the evolutionary biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge. “By studying the fossils of organisms found in subsequent geological layers, Gould and Eldredge found long intervals in which nothing changed (“equilibrium”), “punctuated” by short, revolutionary transitions, in which species became extinct and replaced by wholly new forms. Instead of a slow, continuous movement, evolution tends to be characterized by long periods of virtual standstill (“equilibrium”), “punctuated” by episodes of very fast development.” [1]
[1]. F. Heylighen “Punctuated Equilibrium” from “Principia Cybernetica”, July 22, 1999
Installation
In the installation “Mutations” I utilize photographs and highly realistic illustrations to construct a “universal creature”. Part microscopic organism, part plant and part human, this organism represents a creature both modern and ancient, existing at any point in evolutionary time.
The image of the creature is displayed on a flat-panel monitor, hanging on the wall like a static print. Parts of the image are changing sequentially and very slowly, thereby simulating the “equilibrium” phase of the evolutionary process. By pressing the mouse, (located on a pedestal a few feet in front of the monitor), the viewer/user causes parts of the creature to metamorphose very rapidly, as in an accelerated mutation, thereby simulating the “punctuation” phase of evolution. An element of surprise results from the viewer’s discovery that the image can be altered—that the process of mutation and the spawning of strangely connected creatures can be controlled by the viewer’s intervention.
Shifts in meaning occur when one part of the image changes in relation to the whole. Different parts add up to mean different things. The resulting tension between wholeness and fragmentation (hopefully) engages the viewer to intervene again, much in the way that a successful experiment motivates the scientist into further exploration. This constitutes a kind of gameplay, the goal being to discover a continuous stream of unexpected results.
The relevance of this simulation to contemporary science is twofold:
Genetic engineering is altering the process of evolution artificially, not by random mutation and natural selection, but by human intervention. Secondly, by the genetic manipulation of specific individuals, a compression of the evolutionary process occurs. What may have taken millennia to evolve, can now occur within one generation—a veritable nanosecond of evolutionary time. Thus, many interesting questions arise. What effect will this rapid, artificial “punctuation” have on the evolution of humans and on living things in general? What will guide our choices in deciding how to mutate a species; the short-term benefit of such a manipulation or the long-term effects on present and future evolution, which may be unknowable?