the colour of repitition
String of Gestures
by Gabriel Flückiger
by Gabriel Flückiger
"String of Gestures", created by Gabriel Flückiger, takes its starting point in the daily laboratory routines of molecular biologist Raffaele Altamura. Repetitive gestures, precise movements and familiar research procedures are gradually freed from their scientific context. Through careful editing, they begin to reveal an unexpected poetic and almost choreographic quality.
A sound composition by musician Fabian Gutscher accompanies this transformation. Drawing largely on acoustic string instruments, the music creates its own dialogue with the movements on screen.
Science emerges as a string of routines and gestures — but also as rhythm, choreography and musical experiment.
String of Gestures was created as part of a collaboration between Art of Molecule at the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering and Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering was a research initiative funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and hosted by the University of Basel and ETH Zurich.
Artist: Gabriel Flückiger
Scientist: Raffaele Altamura
Music: Fabian Gutscher
Year: 2017
A sound composition by musician Fabian Gutscher accompanies this transformation. Drawing largely on acoustic string instruments, the music creates its own dialogue with the movements on screen.
Science emerges as a string of routines and gestures — but also as rhythm, choreography and musical experiment.
String of Gestures was created as part of a collaboration between Art of Molecule at the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering and Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering was a research initiative funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and hosted by the University of Basel and ETH Zurich.
Artist: Gabriel Flückiger
Scientist: Raffaele Altamura
Music: Fabian Gutscher
Year: 2017
The Colour of Repetition
by Gabriel Flückiger and Esther Mathis
by Gabriel Flückiger and Esther Mathis
The Colour of Repetition is the result of an intensive collaboration between artists Gabriel Flückiger and Esther Mathis and molecular scientists Raffaele Altamura and Bartolomeo Angelici.
Developed through an ongoing exchange between artists' studios and scientific laboratories, the project grew out of conversations, mutual observation, and a shared curiosity about each other's ways of working. These encounters became the foundation for an experimental cinematic portrait that explores the rhythms, gestures, and manual practices of everyday laboratory life.
By shifting scientific procedures into an artistic context, the film reveals the anonymous beauty and quiet choreography hidden within research. The soundtrack moves beyond the laboratory, weaving together personal reflections on social rituals, repetition, and the relationship between scientific work and everyday life.
Rather than explaining science, The Colour of Repetition invites viewers to experience it through movement, sound, and atmosphere—opening a space where artistic perception and scientific practice meet.
Artists: Gabriel Flückiger & Esther Mathis
Scientists: Raffaele Altamura & Bartolomeo Angelici
Year: 2017
Developed through an ongoing exchange between artists' studios and scientific laboratories, the project grew out of conversations, mutual observation, and a shared curiosity about each other's ways of working. These encounters became the foundation for an experimental cinematic portrait that explores the rhythms, gestures, and manual practices of everyday laboratory life.
By shifting scientific procedures into an artistic context, the film reveals the anonymous beauty and quiet choreography hidden within research. The soundtrack moves beyond the laboratory, weaving together personal reflections on social rituals, repetition, and the relationship between scientific work and everyday life.
Rather than explaining science, The Colour of Repetition invites viewers to experience it through movement, sound, and atmosphere—opening a space where artistic perception and scientific practice meet.
Artists: Gabriel Flückiger & Esther Mathis
Scientists: Raffaele Altamura & Bartolomeo Angelici
Year: 2017