Private Project

IntraBeing

IntraBeing confronts the boundaries of imaging the human body to imagine a boundless and intra-active sense of being. During the STEAM III Residency, Eli Joteva worked remotely with researchers at Fraunhofer MEVIS to investigate the capacities of medical imaging and simulation procedures and locate enigmatic spaces that emerge at the limits of their resolution and computation. She conducted a series of full body MRI scans and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) scans, commonly used only to show connectivity in the brain, to instead uncover nerve fibers in the chest, feet and pelvic regions of her body. She drew inspiration from the fact that hydrogen atoms, which MRI processing relies on, are also in constant flux on a nano-second time-scale and thus evade accurate measurement. These components are key elements in the artwork which exhibits an oscillating inner landscape of hydrogen atoms, the nerves they flow along and the magnetic potentials generated between them.

The project is presented as a multi-channel video installation and a series of AR experiences.

  • Eli Joteva
    Director
  • Eli Joteva
    Lead Artists
  • Fraunhofer Mevis Joteva
    Key Collaborators
  • Project Type:
    Installation, Augmented Reality, Other
  • Runtime:
    1 minute 3 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Ars Electronica
    Linz
    Austria
    September 7, 2021
    European Premiere
    Official Exhibition
  • UCLA Art Sci Gallery
    Los Angeles
    United States
    April 11, 2022
    North American Premiere
    Solo Exhibition
  • COME ALIVE
    Utrecht
    Netherlands
    June 16, 2022
    Official Curated Selection
Director Biography - Eli Joteva

Eli Joteva is a Bulgarian intermedia artist and researcher based in LA. With a practice rooted in photography and digital media, she is influenced by contemporary research in the fields of quantum mechanics, neurophysics and machine vision. She holds an MFA from UCLA Design | Media Arts, a BA in Fine Arts from USC Roski and has completed The New Normal postgraduate research program at Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design. She has exhibited internationally in venues like Ars Electronica, Fischer Museum, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Photon Gallery, SciArt Initiative, DC I/O, Culture Hub LA, FakeMeHard, Gogbot, Currents New Media, xCoax, DA Fest, Sariev Contemporary and Queensland Center for Photography. She has been a resident artist at STEAM Imaging III with Ars Electronica & Fraunhofer MEVIS, Vermont Studio Center, ACRE, Photo+Sphere and a member of UCLA Art Sci Center | Lab. She currently teaches classes at houdini.school and leads workshops with her collective current.cam.

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Director Statement

What lies within the bounds being? IntraBeing envisions enigmatic spaces beyond the capacities of medical imaging tools. The project employs MRI-acquired data to reveal alternative time scales inside the human body; digitized flesh, nerve fibers and hydrogen atoms unveil magnetic potentials that augment our material sense of being.