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Proposal cover page of Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life, by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, PhD.
Theme: What if the human condition emerged from the genetic code running in our brains at a given time? As biotechnology and data science converge, will we become accustomed to perceive others and eventually ourselves as products of such information? To make tangible this ongoing redrawing of the “object-subject divide”, I propose the relational installation Deeply Superficial - Imagining the human from molecular bare life. Outlined hereafter are concept as well as video and photographs taken within three distinct to-scale 3D-models of Deeply Superficial. Modular in nature they mark a spectrum along which Deeply Superficial may be realized with location, technical possibilities and budget in mind. In all cases, soundscapes synthesized from the same data are synchronized with the respective animations and optimization algorithms thereby deduced the optimal sequence. The soundscapes’ musical score in form of a book is presented at the end of this video.
Concept (1/2): To make tangible this theme, Deeply Superficial salvages one of currently >150’000 publicly available functional genomics datasets. Its millions of light-intensity values are “readable” molecular records that encode how much of each building block of life was to be synthesized at a given location and time (see figure). The data contextualized here describes the molecular states of 172 brains obtained from individuals with and without a history of mental illness at the moment of death by suicide or other causes (see scheme). There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. – Albert Camus
Concept (2/2): On this premise, Deeply Superficial reconstitutes the last moments of each subject’s existence within a self-organizing scaffold inferred from decades of research. The resulting portraits comprehensively visualize each subject’s deviations from the remainder population in general, and specifically with respect to mental conditions and patterns associated with a will to live. A feeling or emotion is just a vague way of speaking about neurochemical events. – Mark Fisher Such data furthermore allows positioning each subject’s avatar precisely within a space. Thus all installations of Deeply Superficial express subjects’ otherness from a perspective of molecular bare life.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Galaxy installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative models, statistical and 3D-modeling, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Galaxy installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative models, statistical and 3D-modeling, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Galaxy installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative models, statistical and 3D-modeling, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Galaxy installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative models, statistical and 3D-modeling, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Floating Portraits installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Floating Portraits installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Floating Portraits installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Floating Portraits installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Searchlight installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Searchlight installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Searchlight installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Searchlight installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Excerpts from the book Last Thoughts by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, comprising the complete non-conventional sheet music and soundscapes composed for Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life.
Excerpts from the book Last Thoughts by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, comprising the complete non-conventional sheet music and soundscapes composed for Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life.
Excerpts from the book Last Thoughts by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, comprising the complete non-conventional sheet music and soundscapes composed for Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life.
Excerpts from the book Last Thoughts by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, comprising the complete non-conventional sheet music and soundscapes composed for Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life.

Proposal cover page of Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life, by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, PhD.
Theme: What if the human condition emerged from the genetic code running in our brains at a given time? As biotechnology and data science converge, will we become accustomed to perceive others and eventually ourselves as products of such information? To make tangible this ongoing redrawing of the “object-subject divide”, I propose the relational installation Deeply Superficial - Imagining the human from molecular bare life. Outlined hereafter are concept as well as video and photographs taken within three distinct to-scale 3D-models of Deeply Superficial. Modular in nature they mark a spectrum along which Deeply Superficial may be realized with location, technical possibilities and budget in mind. In all cases, soundscapes synthesized from the same data are synchronized with the respective animations and optimization algorithms thereby deduced the optimal sequence. The soundscapes’ musical score in form of a book is presented at the end of this video.
Concept (1/2): To make tangible this theme, Deeply Superficial salvages one of currently >150’000 publicly available functional genomics datasets. Its millions of light-intensity values are “readable” molecular records that encode how much of each building block of life was to be synthesized at a given location and time (see figure). The data contextualized here describes the molecular states of 172 brains obtained from individuals with and without a history of mental illness at the moment of death by suicide or other causes (see scheme). There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. – Albert Camus
Concept (2/2): On this premise, Deeply Superficial reconstitutes the last moments of each subject’s existence within a self-organizing scaffold inferred from decades of research. The resulting portraits comprehensively visualize each subject’s deviations from the remainder population in general, and specifically with respect to mental conditions and patterns associated with a will to live. A feeling or emotion is just a vague way of speaking about neurochemical events. – Mark Fisher Such data furthermore allows positioning each subject’s avatar precisely within a space. Thus all installations of Deeply Superficial express subjects’ otherness from a perspective of molecular bare life.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Galaxy installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative models, statistical and 3D-modeling, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Galaxy installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative models, statistical and 3D-modeling, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Galaxy installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative models, statistical and 3D-modeling, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Galaxy installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative models, statistical and 3D-modeling, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Floating Portraits installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Floating Portraits installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Floating Portraits installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Floating Portraits installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Searchlight installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Searchlight installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Searchlight installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Virtual exhibition tour taken within the to-scale 3D-model of Deeply Superficial’s Searchlight installation. Within this multimedia installation, artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu imagines the human from molecular bare life and investigates the current redrawing of the object-subject divide ensuing the genomics revolution and the convergence of biotechnology and data science. In addition to having developed innovative methodologies enabling molecular portraiture form genomic information collected from the brain of individuals, in this installation he also merges generative and statistical models, video, machine learning-based curation and musical composition on the basis of biological big data to create an immersive experience.
Excerpts from the book Last Thoughts by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, comprising the complete non-conventional sheet music and soundscapes composed for Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life.
Excerpts from the book Last Thoughts by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, comprising the complete non-conventional sheet music and soundscapes composed for Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life.
Excerpts from the book Last Thoughts by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, comprising the complete non-conventional sheet music and soundscapes composed for Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life.
Excerpts from the book Last Thoughts by artist and scientist Nicolas Delaleu, comprising the complete non-conventional sheet music and soundscapes composed for Deeply Superficial – Imagining the human from molecular bare life.
© 2026 I Nicolas Delaleu
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