"A lung tissue section of about 200 mm was stained with SYTOX green dye and fluorescent phalloidin to visualize the cell nuclei (...) and the cell cytoskeleton (...), respectively. The technique used to visualize these two structures is known as fluorescent microscopy. In the image it is possible to see the collagens (...). [...] The collagens have been visualized by using a special technique, known as Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy, which takes advantage of complex non linear optical phenomena."

The original image was glitched to alter the actual state of the image internal skeleton and the structures by which the pixels are together. The technic used for the glitch is called databending, a process by which it is possible, thanks to the use of various softwares not especially designed for image editing like hex editor and music softwares, to add, substitute or delete the fundamental binary data that constitutes a digital file. The image file format was converted and glitched in this sequence from a starting .jpg only to be converted again to a .jpg to be published online. The sequence is: .jpg > .jpf > .psd > .rgb > .tga > .psd > .rgb > .tga > .tif

The aim of this project is to put together a scientific research method like staining and a glitch art technic like databending as both have the goal of revealing the beauty of invisible universes to human eyes.

This work is a collaboration with Valeria Panzetta, Junior Postdoc at the Italian Institute of Technology