Bio Morphe

Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts' fall 2025 exhibition focuses on the topic of biomorphism—artistic styles that use occurring patterns or shapes inspired by nature— as seen through the lens of seven international artists. 

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The exhibit’s artists play beautifully with the tensions between organic and artificial, using plastics, acrylics, and digital tools to create lifelike forms captured in the midst of some strange transformation.  The dancers and I used the rippling, twisting, gridded, twisted, spiky imagery as inspiration for generating movement —  along with the artists’ words from interviews. The movement  that emerged led me, somewhat unexpectedly, to think about artificial intelligence and how it is changing what it means to be human.  What are AI technologies doing to our minds?  What does it mean to invite them into our lives with so little understanding of the potential or the risks? 

 

And so the choreography I have created for Bio Morphe echoes artist Tishan Hsu’s statement that, “Technology is coming like a wave, whether we want it or not”.  The dancers seem to be transforming before our eyes into a new species – one whose future is ambiguous, but coming up fast.