AUTOPHAGY UNVEILED ON CANVAS: ON THE ART & SCIENCE OF SELF-DEGRADATION

By Dorotea Fracchiolla & Ayelen Valko

WHEN

Vernissage on November 29 at 18:00 h

WHERE

Main hall at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics
Max-von-Laue-Straße 3, 60438 Frankfurt am Main

THE EXHIBITION

This visual journey is centered around the fascinating world of autophagy—a crucial biological process wherein cells respond to stress stimuli by embarking on a self-eating mechanism to ensure their survival. This paradoxical phenomenon—a degradative process and yet vital for cell survival—possesses a philosophical beauty, as it mirrors the delicate equilibrium governing life, resonating from individual cells to entire ecosystems. This intriguing biological dance inspired the artists and scientists Dorotea Fracchiolla and Ayelen Valko, who employ a wide array of resources and techniques to craft their artwork. Furthermore, through the limited use of metaphors and symbolisms, the artists enhance the emotional links with the artworks, making biological knowledge accessible across dimensions—from tissues and cells to the very molecules that shape them.

THE ARTISTS

Dorotea Fracchiolla, an Italian-born scientist, holds a lifelong passion for visual arts and communication. She earned her degree in Medical Biotechnology from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome and the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”. Her Doctoral studies at the University of Vienna led her to the lab of Prof. Sascha Martens, where she delved into selective autophagy in budding yeast. She works as a scientist and a freelance artist, as new scientific discoveries continue feeding her artistic intuition. Guided by the motto “If you can draw it, you understood it to the very detail”, Dorotea finds joy in collaborating with other scientists to illustrate their science and help them elaborate new questions and research avenues.

Ayelen Valko is an Argentine artist and cellular biologist exploring the intersection of art and science. After studying Biology at the University of Buenos Aires, she completed her Ph.D. at the Leloir Institute in Argentina. She joined Sebastian Schuck’s Laboratory at Heidelberg University as a postdoctoral fellow, a journey that continued until late 2022. In parallel to her scientific training, she was trained in different art techniques at the National University of Art in Argentina and subsequently, she specialized in scientific and naturalistic illustration. Currently, she is focused on creating science-inspired cover images for scientific journals, curating exhibitions, spearheading science popularization initiatives, and writing articles that interweave art and science.

OUR INVITED ARTIST

Live music by Cozy Atticus. Born and raised in Athens (Greece), he is a molecular biologist and composer for classical guitar and string ensembles. His musical landscapes portray the melancholic shade(s) of art. Within an ethereal plane of arpeggios, his dark complexion of aesthetics encodes elegant stories of the human condition in order to remind us of the sublime; all the things that we don’t know that we know.

CATALOG OF PAINTINGS
(click to know more about the artwork)

• “Autophagosome biogenesis”, 2019. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Anthropomorphic Interpretation of Lysosome 1”, 2023. By Ayelen Valko.
• “PI3K-WIPI2 feedback loop activates LC3 lipidation”, 2020. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Autolysosome: exploration of textures 1”, 2022. By Ayelen Valko.
• “The autophagy cascade”, 2020. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Autolysosome: exploration of textures 2”, 2022. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Recycling”, 2022. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Autophagy 1”, 2018. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Pre-synaptic autophagy”, 2022. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Autophagy 2”, 2018. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Cargo receptors”, 2021. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Autophagy 4”, 2020. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Regulatory Megacomplex”, 2023. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Micro-ER-phagy 1”, 2020. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Lab life”, 2020. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Imaginary Autolysosome”, 2020. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Atg9 vesicle”, 2019. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Composition: imaginary autolysosome”, 2020. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Autophagy in the yeast cell”, 2016. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Autophagy in fat body cells”, 2021. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Coronavirus goes on a journey”, 2020. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Equilibrium”, 2021. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Step-by-step PDK1 activation”, 2022. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Salivary Gland”, 2019. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Pop art cargo”, 2021. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Anthropo-lysosome 1″, 2023. By Ayelen Valko.
• “N-glycosylation”, 2022. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Atompunk biochemistry”, 2022. By Ayelen Valko.
 • “Seeing through PINK1 lenses”, 2023. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “S. pombe mutant”, 2018. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Mitophagy”, 2023. By Dorotea Fracchiolla.
• “Malpighian tubules”, 2019. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Microinjection”, 2019. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Larva with Lymph Gland”, 2020. By Ayelen Valko.
• “Lymph Gland”, 2020. By Ayelen Valko.