Jess Holz: Microscopic Art Blends Science and Emotion
Artist Jess Holz transforms scientific observation into emotionally charged art, working across photography, microscopy, moving image, and installation. She documents living aquatic microorganisms from New England using a Leica DMRB microscope, employing timelapse, fluorescence, and high-speed video. Her work explores permeability, unstable boundaries, and the continuity between human biology and microscopic systems. A key piece, Plankton Painting 4/14/25 #16, Charles River, captures decay in a Chydorus water flea as an active, generative process. Holz has accumulated eight terabytes of plankton footage over two years. She plans larger immersive installations with projection, sculptural surfaces, and responsive lighting. Influences include Man Ray and Jean Painlevé. She works as a neuroscience research fellow performing electron microscopy for connectome research at MIT's imaging core facility.
Key facts
- Jess Holz uses a Leica DMRB microscope to document copepods, ciliates, rotifers, and other microorganisms from New England waters.
- Her work Plankton Painting 4/14/25 #16, Charles River depicts decay in a Chydorus water flea as generative.
- She has accumulated eight terabytes of plankton footage over two years.
- Holz plans immersive installations with projection, sculptural surfaces, and responsive lighting.
- She cites Man Ray and Jean Painlevé as formative inspirations.
- Holz works as a neuroscience research fellow performing electron microscopy for connectome research.
- She previously worked at an imaging core facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Her Umbra series features insect and plant fragments as surreal black-and-white compositions.
Entities
Artists
- Jess Holz
- Man Ray
- Jean Painlevé
- Marn Lucas
Institutions
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- AATONAU
Locations
- New England
- Massachusetts
- Charles River
Sources
- AATONAU —