Nicole Anona Banowetz - "Incubation Effect Installation"

Nicole Banowetz makes fabric inflatable sculptures inspired by science.  Science is the systematic study of the structure of the natural world.   Nicole looks to science to find compelling stories to tell within her artwork.  She has made installations inspired by bacteria, parasitic fungus, viruses, radiolaria, rotifers, algal blooms, and rhinos.   All these forms she recreates in soft inflatable sculptures, which she designs and sews on her sewing machine.

The Incubation Effect is inspired by forms found in the insect world such as larvae, butterfly eggs, and cocoons. Nicole invites the viewer into this larger-than-life insect nursery,  engaging them in an experience similar to one felt in nature.   Nicole’s work creates a unique combination of the familiar and the strange allowing viewers to question the world around them, and become curious. The potential for transformation is all around, surreal larval creatures in all states of metamorphosis inhabit inflatable bubbles.  These larvae exist in a liminal state with the potential to become something completely new.  In the original display of The Incubation Effect at the Denver Art Museum Nicole invited viewers to design creatures that they believed the larvae would change into. Nicole gathered these drawings and created some of the large creatures you see here. Normally these insect transformations happen inside a closed space, and we only see the before and after.  There is an element of strangeness and mystery to this process that Nicole encourages the viewer to explore.  This exploration mimics the process of science.