Epigenetic Landscapes: Drawings as Metaphor

Synopsis

Devised in the 1940s by the biologist C. H. Waddington, the epigenetic landscape is a metaphor for how gene regulation modulates cellular development. As a scientific model, it fell out of use in the late 1960s but returned at the beginning of the twenty-first century with the advent of big-data genomic research because of its utility among scientists across the life sciences to think more creatively about and to discuss genetics. In Epigenetic Landscapes Susan Merrill Squier follows the model's cultural trail, from its first visualization by the artist John Piper to its use beyond science. Squier examines three cases in which the metaphor has been imaginatively deployed to illustrate complex systems that link scientific and cultural practices: graphic medicine, landscape architecture, and bioArt. Challenging reductive understandings of epigenetics, Squier boldly reclaims the broader significance of the epigenetic landscape as a figure at the nexus of art, design, and science. -- from back cover. Introduction : figuring development beyond the gene -- The epigenetic landscape -- A new landscape of thought : behind appearance -- Embryo -- The graphic embryo -- The river in the landscape -- Designing rivers -- A complex system of interactions : Art Laboratory Berlin as an epigenetic landscape -- Conclusion : anastomosis. Susan Merrill Squier. Includes bibliographical references and index.