Crystal Z Campbell

I Live to Fight (No More) Forever

ARTERICAMBI

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...................................................................................

WWW.ARTERICAMBI.COM

..............................................

..............................................

Tomorrow,Today,Yesterday..........

Set di 5 visori unici nel loro genere che rappresentano altrettanti intimi inviti scritti a mano a mettere in questione il valore, l'immortalità, la vita, la morte e il desiderio.

Slide Viewers, pittura, �lm5,3x5,3x6,4 cm, 2013

Opening 22 june 2013 at 6 pm25.06.2013 - 10.08.2013

While I Live to Fight (No More) Forever is an art and science initiative, it is also a project about perception––does value reside in the mine or the mind? The project is currently in-progress, with the next phase being presented at the Rijksakademie Open Studios in Amsterdam in November 2013. Meanwhile, the project is dedicated to the lost, the living and those who live forever.

Special thanks to The Campbell Family, Dr. C. Backendorf, G. Lamers, Goeun Bae, Karishma D’Souza, Kees Reedijk, Arend Nijkamp, Wytske Visser, Martijntje Hallmann, Roy Taylor, Seamus Cater, Anna Longo, Luciano de Zulian, Illaria Decimo and Artericambi: Francesco Pandian and Giorgia Longo Turri.

I Live to Fight (No More) Forever is supported by the Amsterdam Funds for the Arts, Stichting Stokroos and the Rijksakademie van beeldende Kunsten.

Crystal Z Campbell

Tomorrow,Today,Yesterday..........

Set di 5 visori unici nel loro genere che rappresentano altrettanti intimi inviti scritti a mano a mettere in questione il valore, l'immortalità, la vita, la morte e il desiderio.

Slide Viewers, pittura, �lm5,3x5,3x6,4 cm, 2013

Crystal Z Campbell is an Amsterdam based artist from Oklahoma. Her multidisciplinary practice includes sound, performance, �lm, video, porcelain, and drawings, which investigate the role of the witness in historical instants. Campbell received an MFA from the University of California, San Diego and an MA in Africana Studies from the University at Albany-State University of New York. Campbell’s work has been exhibited at Project Row Houses in Texas, Institute of Contemporary Art Philadel-phia, Cabinet, de Appel in the Netherlands and the Studio Museum of Harlem in New York amongst others. Campbell is a 2003 graduate of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and a 2010–11 Van Lier Fellow in Studio Art at the Whitney Independent Study Program. Campbell is currently a second-year artist in residence at the Rijksakademie van beeldende Kunsten in Amster-dam.

Crystal z Campbell.............

Go Back and Fetch It (SANKOFA)............

A limited edition silent video of HeLa cells growing on diamonds. Upon close inspection, cell behavior such as cell division and apoptosis

(programmed cell death) can be observed.

Still Image from Digital Video Loop, Silent

(Video Produced with Dr. C. Backendorf ) (2:00) Minutes Edition of 5 + AP, 2013

I LIVE TO FIGHT (NO MORE) FOREVER..........

Modeled after a famous diamond company’s advertisementwhich claims that diamonds are forever.

The image shows a rougher diamond with more occlusionsthan a stone that would be used for advertising.

The diamond and the HeLa cell together posit questionsabout the value of immortality and the value of forever.

Photo Documentation of HeLa cells Growing on Diamonds, C-‐Print 2012 (Work-‐In-‐Progress with Dr. C. Backendorf & G. Lamers)

THE PROTOTYPE (detail)...........

A drawing done directly on top of scienti�c documenta-tion of HeLa cells growing on diamonds is a visual

interpretation of in�nitude and mutation. The drawing is one element from The Prototype (see next image).

In False Positives, the artist interrupts objective scienti�c imagery by drawing directly on top of documentation from the HeLa-diamond project. Each drawing is

unique.

Xerox Paper, Graphite, Acrylic Paint, Clips, Crayon21cm x 29.7cm (Unique Drawings on A4 paper), 2013

FALSE POSITIVES (detail)..............

THE PROTOTYPE ......

The Prototype is a precarious model for a symbolic shrine to those persons, such as

Henrietta Lacks, whose biological material have been used for scienti�c means.

Painted Steel, Painted Wood, Plywood, Glass, Steel Tube, Soapstone, Xeroxed Paper, Paint, Graphite, Rust

137x107x76 cm, 2013

Up to now art and science have been poorly correlated, even that in science there is art and vice-versa. Thanks to the use of the �uorescence and confocal micro-scope is now possible to capture complex images that have a high scienti�c relevance however they also could be considered an extremely valuable art form. In my point of view, one of the aspect of art is to represent life from di�erent perspectives (appearance, emotion, imagination, etc.). Cells are part of life and now we can see, transform and imagine them. Indeed they have to be considered as an art material. HeLa cells are one of the most common cell model used in biological studies, cheap and easy to use, so they can be easily used also as art material.

I don’t see any ethic problem to use HeLa in science or in art. As I mention before HeLa’s are a cell model largely used in science, and as they are an immortalized cell line they are cheap and easy to �nd. The HeLa cells are an extremely valuable biological tool to study and to produce protein, receptor, ion channel. Thanks to their immortality, they can be continuously reproduced so HeLa cells are a great and consolidated cell model.  On the other hand, the immortalized cell line are more similar to tumor cells so they are not useful to study the intrinsic healthy cell biological properties (proliferation, maturation, di�erentiation, quiescence, etc.). Thanks to their immortality/ indestructiblity both HeLa and diamonds are a valulable tools in science. The HeLa and diamonds are immortal helpful / pleasant, but at the same time theimmortality of the cells is associated with cancer as the diamond has brought and continues to provide exploitation and death.

Ilaria Decimo is Doctor at the University of Verona and Post-doctoral Scientist at VIB: life sciences research institute in Flanders, Belgium.

Ilaria Decimo.....................

The symbolic value of the diamond is known by several centuries. The factors that have always made the diamond the preferred precious stone are many: the idea of absolute purity that springs to mind when you hear the word "diamond", the composition of the diamond: 100% pure carbon, the rarity, the fact that it is the hardest element that exists in nature and impossible to scratch. 

The idea of the diamond as a form of investment originates with the idea of diamond as a form of jewelry (amulet) then already 500 years BC. Do not forget that the diamond has been for the Jews in the form of ideal investment (great value in small space = easily transportable) and still exists the '"custom" that about one third of the capital of a Jewish family should be invested in diamonds (especially) and precious stones. Today the diamond "�nancing" is in great demand because of the extreme instability of the stock markets, bonds and more. This belief is also supported by the increase in constant value, and no ups and downs, that the diamond has had and continues to have in the last 50-60 years. Over the past 2-3 years, probably the �rst time in history in Europe, there is a greater demand for diamonds for investment purposes rather than for purposes related to jewelry.

The mine or the place of provenance of a diamond, with the same characteristics, generally do not a�ect the price of the same. One of the biggest �rms extraction of diamonds, in recent years, has put on the market the diamonds with their "personal" history , the route taken by the diamond from the mine to the safe or to the �nal user's �nger. In this case you pay the diamond a lot more but only and exclusively for the service and not for the place of origin. In fact, a trained gemologist, can easily attest to the authenticity or otherwise of a diamond, using only a 10 times magnify-ing glass. Regarding the stone view to the naked eye, from a customer in a jewelry store, the di�erence is impossible to see.

The stones of a certain value today are all certi�ed and sealed, so that the end customer can be sure that the diamond you are buying is natural and has the characteristics described in the certi�cate. Regarding investors, they prefer the natural diamond because it came from nature and it is a limited resource (factor will help to keep the price stable and continuously increasing gradually over the years). The synthetic diamond instead, that could not see its price decline, as production techniques become, with the increase in technology, faster and more economic. For this reason, the synthetic diamond is not considered by any one form of investment.

The ethics and its control all 'inside of the diamond market are regulated and controlled by the Kimberley Process. The value of the diamond is given by the law of supply and demand 'o�er and is not a�ected by ethics.

Luciano De Zulian.......................

No Signal......

A distinct pair of identical hand-painted prints mounted on aluminum panels resting on a sheet of brass, the work is illuminated by a blue ray of light. Like forensic light, the blue light provides detailed information unavailable to the

viewer under normal lighting conditions.

Mini-Projector, Paper Mounted on Aluminum Panels, Brass Plates, Paint, Graphite 91x61x61 cm, 2013

Luciano De Zulian is Director and Founder of FDI + Investment Diamond Exchange

Humans are the only species of animal to be conscious of their own mortality, and it is this awareness that we should strive to eternity. Forced into a fragile body and bound to perish, we have always turned our thoughts to a further dimension of durability and perfection, beyond the natural cycle of birth and death, in the hope that at least our spiritual side would be able to participate to the incorruptible. If religion is the most obvious aspiration of the soul to eternity, certainly Western philosophy, as the thought of being born as a contemplation of what necessarily is, and can not cease to be, what remains always equal to itself while everything changes, and becomes perishes: the idea, the essence, the substance. Similarly, the art is originally linked to this desire to resist the time to remove every thing: we have entrusted to marble the conservation of the most beautiful forms, we have produced monuments destined to cross the centuries. Traditionally, the highest value has always been attributed to what remains and is preserved, the power from which everything comes and everything returns to the absolute truth that no one can refute, the forms that persist in their perfection, that gold does not oxidize and is always brilliant, diamond, whose hardness and transparency are a challenge to corruption. It is precisely because we know that our body inevitably grows aging and dies, we are so attracted to anything that resists. This is why man has always tried to think and to do works intended to prolong its existence, that is why it has always sought to possess what is not consumed.

But why not try to keep your body beyond the limits imposed by nature? Why not try to do our mortal coil the work destined for eternity? The science and medicine seem to have found this challenge, seeking to employ the technique to prolong the life and discovering that eternity, perhaps, can be inscribed in organic matter, in that biological material usually considered more vulnerable to decay. In this regard, HeLa cells are a signi�cant and important example. It is the only line of human origin that seems to hold out inde�nitely, reproducing itself since 1951, when the �rst sample was taken from cervical cancer and in a few months killed Henrietta Lacks. Because of their ability to survive in hostile conditions and for their incredible fecundity, HeLa cells have been widely used to test vaccines and cures, or extend the knowl-edge that perhaps one day could make our immortal body.

This biological material, spread and used now in most laboratories, is regarded as an object capable of re�ecting our hopes of eternity, to entrust our desire for immortal-ity, just like a diamond. This association between the donor and the unsuspecting surviving cells combined with more durable and precious stone, is the basis of the work presented by Crystal Z. Campbell, who has raised some examples of the HeLa line on the gem incorruptible.

This work takes up the same aspiration to eternity that has always animated art, but puts it, however, under interrogation. Anyone who comes near, in fact, can not avoid feeling perturbed, perceiving the distress of which �ction plays, when it is said of corpses brought back to life, when the scientist, animated by the desire to resurrect a dead body, produces monsters that is unable to control. And this feeling is stronger if you know the story of Henrietta Lacks and the origin of the organic material, which leads us to deeper re�ection, the actual core of the proposed work by the artist. HeLa cells, in fact, are cancer cells that have resulted in the death of the uncon-scious donor, cells that have undergone a genetic mutation so much so that some say that this is an abnormal species. We could de�ne, then, the cells "monstrous", known not only for their particular resistance and genetic structure, but also for the ease with which they can contaminate the other living tissue.

The work in question therefore o�ers the public a chance to get in touch with medical and scienti�c issues that a�ect us all but which too often remain con�ned within the narrow con�nes of those who have access to specialized journals. If science seems to want to challenge the limits of the mortal nature to bring into this world forever, then art seems to warn us: what price are we willing to pay for our dreams of eternity? What is actual value of eternity? The issue is inevitably ethical: what is the limit that must be placed at the technological manipulation of the living God? The essential value of the human being resides in his desires for power and immortality or body, that sensitive, fragile and perishable �esh, which too often is medical science as an object, a tool, a perfect machine? Where is the value in this life or the next, that dream of eternity and perfection? Questions that we have the need and duty to ask ourselves and the striking image built by Campbell convey a gentle, but e�ective force.

Rigorous and meaningful work that calls for a necessary debate on the means and objectives of scienti�c research and the value of the sensitive matter of who we are often does not invite us to re�ect on our value systems and their foundation.

Anna Longo is Doctor in Philosophy at Université Paris 1 -Pan-théon Sorbonne and SUM.She deals the relationship between aesthetic knowledge and scientific knowledge.

Anna Longo.....................

Humans are the only species of animal to be conscious of their own mortality, and it is this awareness that we should strive to eternity. Forced into a fragile body and bound to perish, we have always turned our thoughts to a further dimension of durability and perfection, beyond the natural cycle of birth and death, in the hope that at least our spiritual side would be able to participate to the incorruptible. If religion is the most obvious aspiration of the soul to eternity, certainly Western philosophy, as the thought of being born as a contemplation of what necessarily is, and can not cease to be, what remains always equal to itself while everything changes, and becomes perishes: the idea, the essence, the substance. Similarly, the art is originally linked to this desire to resist the time to remove every thing: we have entrusted to marble the conservation of the most beautiful forms, we have produced monuments destined to cross the centuries. Traditionally, the highest value has always been attributed to what remains and is preserved, the power from which everything comes and everything returns to the absolute truth that no one can refute, the forms that persist in their perfection, that gold does not oxidize and is always brilliant, diamond, whose hardness and transparency are a challenge to corruption. It is precisely because we know that our body inevitably grows aging and dies, we are so attracted to anything that resists. This is why man has always tried to think and to do works intended to prolong its existence, that is why it has always sought to possess what is not consumed.

But why not try to keep your body beyond the limits imposed by nature? Why not try to do our mortal coil the work destined for eternity? The science and medicine seem to have found this challenge, seeking to employ the technique to prolong the life and discovering that eternity, perhaps, can be inscribed in organic matter, in that biological material usually considered more vulnerable to decay. In this regard, HeLa cells are a signi�cant and important example. It is the only line of human origin that seems to hold out inde�nitely, reproducing itself since 1951, when the �rst sample was taken from cervical cancer and in a few months killed Henrietta Lacks. Because of their ability to survive in hostile conditions and for their incredible fecundity, HeLa cells have been widely used to test vaccines and cures, or extend the knowl-edge that perhaps one day could make our immortal body.

This biological material, spread and used now in most laboratories, is regarded as an object capable of re�ecting our hopes of eternity, to entrust our desire for immortal-ity, just like a diamond. This association between the donor and the unsuspecting surviving cells combined with more durable and precious stone, is the basis of the work presented by Crystal Z. Campbell, who has raised some examples of the HeLa line on the gem incorruptible.

This work takes up the same aspiration to eternity that has always animated art, but puts it, however, under interrogation. Anyone who comes near, in fact, can not avoid feeling perturbed, perceiving the distress of which �ction plays, when it is said of corpses brought back to life, when the scientist, animated by the desire to resurrect a dead body, produces monsters that is unable to control. And this feeling is stronger if you know the story of Henrietta Lacks and the origin of the organic material, which leads us to deeper re�ection, the actual core of the proposed work by the artist. HeLa cells, in fact, are cancer cells that have resulted in the death of the uncon-scious donor, cells that have undergone a genetic mutation so much so that some say that this is an abnormal species. We could de�ne, then, the cells "monstrous", known not only for their particular resistance and genetic structure, but also for the ease with which they can contaminate the other living tissue.

The work in question therefore o�ers the public a chance to get in touch with medical and scienti�c issues that a�ect us all but which too often remain con�ned within the narrow con�nes of those who have access to specialized journals. If science seems to want to challenge the limits of the mortal nature to bring into this world forever, then art seems to warn us: what price are we willing to pay for our dreams of eternity? What is actual value of eternity? The issue is inevitably ethical: what is the limit that must be placed at the technological manipulation of the living God? The essential value of the human being resides in his desires for power and immortality or body, that sensitive, fragile and perishable �esh, which too often is medical science as an object, a tool, a perfect machine? Where is the value in this life or the next, that dream of eternity and perfection? Questions that we have the need and duty to ask ourselves and the striking image built by Campbell convey a gentle, but e�ective force.

Rigorous and meaningful work that calls for a necessary debate on the means and objectives of scienti�c research and the value of the sensitive matter of who we are often does not invite us to re�ect on our value systems and their foundation.

Anna Longo is Doctor in Philosophy at Université Paris 1 -Pan-théon Sorbonne and SUM.She deals the relationship between aesthetic knowledge and scientific knowledge.

Anna Longo.....................

The symbolic value of the diamond is known by several centuries. The factors that have always made the diamond the preferred precious stone are many: the idea of absolute purity that springs to mind when you hear the word "diamond", the composition of the diamond: 100% pure carbon, the rarity, the fact that it is the hardest element that exists in nature and impossible to scratch. 

The idea of the diamond as a form of investment originates with the idea of diamond as a form of jewelry (amulet) then already 500 years BC. Do not forget that the diamond has been for the Jews in the form of ideal investment (great value in small space = easily transportable) and still exists the '"custom" that about one third of the capital of a Jewish family should be invested in diamonds (especially) and precious stones. Today the diamond "�nancing" is in great demand because of the extreme instability of the stock markets, bonds and more. This belief is also supported by the increase in constant value, and no ups and downs, that the diamond has had and continues to have in the last 50-60 years. Over the past 2-3 years, probably the �rst time in history in Europe, there is a greater demand for diamonds for investment purposes rather than for purposes related to jewelry.

The mine or the place of provenance of a diamond, with the same characteristics, generally do not a�ect the price of the same. One of the biggest �rms extraction of diamonds, in recent years, has put on the market the diamonds with their "personal" history , the route taken by the diamond from the mine to the safe or to the �nal user's �nger. In this case you pay the diamond a lot more but only and exclusively for the service and not for the place of origin. In fact, a trained gemologist, can easily attest to the authenticity or otherwise of a diamond, using only a 10 times magnify-ing glass. Regarding the stone view to the naked eye, from a customer in a jewelry store, the di�erence is impossible to see.

The stones of a certain value today are all certi�ed and sealed, so that the end customer can be sure that the diamond you are buying is natural and has the characteristics described in the certi�cate. Regarding investors, they prefer the natural diamond because it came from nature and it is a limited resource (factor will help to keep the price stable and continuously increasing gradually over the years). The synthetic diamond instead, that could not see its price decline, as production techniques become, with the increase in technology, faster and more economic. For this reason, the synthetic diamond is not considered by any one form of investment.

The ethics and its control all 'inside of the diamond market are regulated and controlled by the Kimberley Process. The value of the diamond is given by the law of supply and demand 'o�er and is not a�ected by ethics.

Luciano De Zulian.......................

No Signal......

A distinct pair of identical hand-painted prints mounted on aluminum panels resting on a sheet of brass, the work is illuminated by a blue ray of light. Like forensic light, the blue light provides detailed information unavailable to the

viewer under normal lighting conditions.

Mini-Projector, Paper Mounted on Aluminum Panels, Brass Plates, Paint, Graphite 91x61x61 cm, 2013

Luciano De Zulian is Director and Founder of FDI + Investment Diamond Exchange

Up to now art and science have been poorly correlated, even that in science there is art and vice-versa. Thanks to the use of the �uorescence and confocal micro-scope is now possible to capture complex images that have a high scienti�c relevance however they also could be considered an extremely valuable art form. In my point of view, one of the aspect of art is to represent life from di�erent perspectives (appearance, emotion, imagination, etc.). Cells are part of life and now we can see, transform and imagine them. Indeed they have to be considered as an art material. HeLa cells are one of the most common cell model used in biological studies, cheap and easy to use, so they can be easily used also as art material.

I don’t see any ethic problem to use HeLa in science or in art. As I mention before HeLa’s are a cell model largely used in science, and as they are an immortalized cell line they are cheap and easy to �nd. The HeLa cells are an extremely valuable biological tool to study and to produce protein, receptor, ion channel. Thanks to their immortality, they can be continuously reproduced so HeLa cells are a great and consolidated cell model.  On the other hand, the immortalized cell line are more similar to tumor cells so they are not useful to study the intrinsic healthy cell biological properties (proliferation, maturation, di�erentiation, quiescence, etc.). Thanks to their immortality/ indestructiblity both HeLa and diamonds are a valulable tools in science. The HeLa and diamonds are immortal helpful / pleasant, but at the same time theimmortality of the cells is associated with cancer as the diamond has brought and continues to provide exploitation and death.

Ilaria Decimo is Doctor at the University of Verona and Post-doctoral Scientist at VIB: life sciences research institute in Flanders, Belgium.

Ilaria Decimo.....................

THE PROTOTYPE ......

The Prototype is a precarious model for a symbolic shrine to those persons, such as

Henrietta Lacks, whose biological material have been used for scienti�c means.

Painted Steel, Painted Wood, Plywood, Glass, Steel Tube, Soapstone, Xeroxed Paper, Paint, Graphite, Rust

137x107x76 cm, 2013

THE PROTOTYPE (detail)...........

A drawing done directly on top of scienti�c documenta-tion of HeLa cells growing on diamonds is a visual

interpretation of in�nitude and mutation. The drawing is one element from The Prototype (see next image).

In False Positives, the artist interrupts objective scienti�c imagery by drawing directly on top of documentation from the HeLa-diamond project. Each drawing is

unique.

Xerox Paper, Graphite, Acrylic Paint, Clips, Crayon21cm x 29.7cm (Unique Drawings on A4 paper), 2013

FALSE POSITIVES (detail)..............

I LIVE TO FIGHT (NO MORE) FOREVER..........

Modeled after a famous diamond company’s advertisementwhich claims that diamonds are forever.

The image shows a rougher diamond with more occlusionsthan a stone that would be used for advertising.

The diamond and the HeLa cell together posit questionsabout the value of immortality and the value of forever.

Photo Documentation of HeLa cells Growing on Diamonds, C-‐Print 2012 (Work-‐In-‐Progress with Dr. C. Backendorf & G. Lamers)

Go Back and Fetch It (SANKOFA)............

A limited edition silent video of HeLa cells growing on diamonds. Upon close inspection, cell behavior such as cell division and apoptosis

(programmed cell death) can be observed.

Still Image from Digital Video Loop, Silent

(Video Produced with Dr. C. Backendorf ) (2:00) Minutes Edition of 5 + AP, 2013

Crystal Z Campbell is an Amsterdam based artist from Oklahoma. Her multidisciplinary practice includes sound, performance, �lm, video, porcelain, and drawings, which investigate the role of the witness in historical instants. Campbell received an MFA from the University of California, San Diego and an MA in Africana Studies from the University at Albany-State University of New York. Campbell’s work has been exhibited at Project Row Houses in Texas, Institute of Contemporary Art Philadel-phia, Cabinet, de Appel in the Netherlands and the Studio Museum of Harlem in New York amongst others. Campbell is a 2003 graduate of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and a 2010–11 Van Lier Fellow in Studio Art at the Whitney Independent Study Program. Campbell is currently a second-year artist in residence at the Rijksakademie van beeldende Kunsten in Amster-dam.

Crystal z Campbell.............

Tomorrow,Today,Yesterday..........

One-of-a-kind set of �ve slide viewers providing intimate, hand-written invitations to question value, immortality, life, death and desire.

Slide Viewers, Paint, Film5,3x5,3x6,4 cm, 2013

Opening 22 june 2013 at 6 pm25.06.2013 - 10.08.2013

While I Live to Fight (No More) Forever is an art and science initiative, it is also a project about perception––does value reside in the mine or the mind? The project is currently in-progress, with the next phase being presented at the Rijksakademie Open Studios in Amsterdam in November 2013. Meanwhile, the project is dedicated to the lost, the living and those who live forever.

Special thanks to The Campbell Family, Dr. C. Backendorf, G. Lamers, Goeun Bae, Karishma D’Souza, Kees Reedijk, Arend Nijkamp, Wytske Visser, Martijntje Hallmann, Roy Taylor, Seamus Cater, Anna Longo, Luciano de Zulian, Illaria Decimo and Artericambi: Francesco Pandian and Giorgia Longo Turri.

I Live to Fight (No More) Forever is supported by the Amsterdam Funds for the Arts, Stichting Stokroos and the Rijksakademie van beeldende Kunsten.

Crystal Z Campbell

Tomorrow,Today,Yesterday..........

Set di 5 visori unici nel loro genere che rappresentano altrettanti intimi inviti scritti a mano a mettere in questione il valore, l'immortalità, la vita, la morte e il desiderio.

Slide Viewers, pittura, �lm5,3x5,3x6,4 cm, 2013

Crystal Z Campbell

I Live to Fight (No More) Forever

ARTERICAMBI

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

WWW.ARTERICAMBI.COM

..............................................

..............................................