Transpositions (2018-2019) was a multimedia project that consisted of a performance, an artist book, and a sound piece. The work takes inspiration from the American geneticist Barbara McClintock’s discovery of transposition, of so-called ‘jumping genes’, in her experiments with maize. In genetics, transposition describes horizontal gene transfers, not from parent to offspring but, for example, from one organism to another through copying, implanting, and inserting. Transposition also describes the deletion, imbrication, and shifting positions of genetic material within a chromosome. In music, transposition means to translate a melody, chord, or interval into a different key.

The poetic text, performance, and a concertina artist book were structured around seven metaphorical transpositions. The work reflects on the concept and choreography of transposition, feminist and queer kinship, kinship beyond the family and across species, ritual, the ritornello, and the cross-pollinating possibilities of flowery metaphors and of planting queer objects. Part of a set of seven, each artist book was used as a prop in performance and—when unfolded—formed tiles in an abstract field, thus making a ‘portable cornfield’. The format of the book was inspired by Elisabeth Tonnard’s One Swimming Pool (2013), in turn inspired by Ed Ruscha’s Nine swimming pools and a broken glass (1968, printed 1976).

Transpositions was commissioned by Sarah Franklin and Lucy van de Wiel and funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Cambridge Sociology Department. The performance was presented at the New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge, on 24 October 2018. A sound piece, the artist book, and the costume were included in an installation for Art Night 2019 at the Francis Crick Institute.

Description: hard-bound artist book in a concertina fold Material: paper, cloth, embossed text in gold