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I started to plan this piece of work many years ago, and to be honest it has gone through several versions and variations since it's inception. The blog on www.helenbirmingham.com tells the story of its journey. It was originally intended as the centrepiece of an exhibition called THREE SCORE and 10: our days are numbered. It is part of a continuation of work influenced by heredity and genetics.
If you read the blog, you will see that the installation of this version of the DNA spiral at OPO was problematic, but nonetheless an incredibly useful learning experience, and part of the evolution of the project as a whole. I thought that genetics was hard enough to get your head around but it turns out that physics and forces are not for the feint-hearted either.!
The PDF leaflet below gives an in-depth look at the project itself. Each section of the work was made by a different member of The Stitchbook Collective, and it forms almost a genetic fingerprint of the group. There is something very powerful for me in the notion of The Locard Principle. That everyone who comes into contact with an object, leaves behind a trace of themselves.