Baitul Ma’mur: House of Angels Joe Davis (US), Sarah Khan (PK)
Ours has been a project to keep 2.417 quintillion angels on the head of a pin. We have been inspired by repeating geometries and nested calligraphies of Islamic art to demonstrate a similarly recursive scheme for DNA information-keeping. DNA molecules having 3 base-pairs or more simultaneously hold 3 unique numbers, and a coding strategy based on these numbers combines several different layers of informational symmetry. Our example is a molecule holding multiple encodings of “Subhan Allah” (سبحان الله ), an Arabic phrase said to have been repeated for more than 1000 years as an invocation associated with creating angels. Tradition holds that any number of angels can be generated in this way and that it makes no difference whether the phrase is spoken, written, or caused to be printed. Using technology to reliably synthesize DNA, we created iterations of “Subhan Allah” in astronomical numbers of DNA molecules to show that symbolism about changing the demographic of heaven can be elegantly aligned with capabilities for high density information storage in DNA. Each of our encoded DNA molecules contain 19.5 repeats of “Subhan Allah” so that a 1mm layer of DNA on the 0.75mm head of an average straight pin can hold over two hundred million billion angels. We hope our gesture of generating so many angels may provide comfort in times of a pandemic that has claimed millions of lives. This has been an exercise in bridge building, between art, mathematics, science, and spirituality across multiple expressions. We see humanity as one tribe, confronting the chaotic forces of nature, the accumulating toll of human impacts on our shared environment, and the problematic nature of our “best intentions,” behind which all too often lurk the terribly violent and destructive impulses that have shaped human history.
2.417 quintillion (2.417 X 10^18) angels in a 1mm layer of DNA on the head of a typical straight pin:
2.417 quintillion angels = 6E23 x 1 x pi x 0.752 x 1E-3/(330 x 258/19.5)
Photo: Tom Mesic
Baitul Ma’mur: House of Angels Joe Davis (US), Sarah Khan (PK)
Ours has been a project to keep 2.417 quintillion angels on the head of a pin. We have been inspired by repeating geometries and nested calligraphies of Islamic art to demonstrate a similarly recursive scheme for DNA information-keeping. DNA molecules having 3 base-pairs or more simultaneously hold 3 unique numbers, and a coding strategy based on these numbers combines several different layers of informational symmetry. Our example is a molecule holding multiple encodings of “Subhan Allah” (سبحان الله ), an Arabic phrase said to have been repeated for more than 1000 years as an invocation associated with creating angels. Tradition holds that any number of angels can be generated in this way and that it makes no difference whether the phrase is spoken, written, or caused to be printed. Using technology to reliably synthesize DNA, we created iterations of “Subhan Allah” in astronomical numbers of DNA molecules to show that symbolism about changing the demographic of heaven can be elegantly aligned with capabilities for high density information storage in DNA. Each of our encoded DNA molecules contain 19.5 repeats of “Subhan Allah” so that a 1mm layer of DNA on the 0.75mm head of an average straight pin can hold over two hundred million billion angels. We hope our gesture of generating so many angels may provide comfort in times of a pandemic that has claimed millions of lives. This has been an exercise in bridge building, between art, mathematics, science, and spirituality across multiple expressions. We see humanity as one tribe, confronting the chaotic forces of nature, the accumulating toll of human impacts on our shared environment, and the problematic nature of our “best intentions,” behind which all too often lurk the terribly violent and destructive impulses that have shaped human history.
2.417 quintillion (2.417 X 10^18) angels in a 1mm layer of DNA on the head of a typical straight pin:
2.417 quintillion angels = 6E23 x 1 x pi x 0.752 x 1E-3/(330 x 258/19.5)
Photo: Tom Mesic