Clean Sweep: Calcium’s Impact on Cilia Coordination
Artist: Rah Gerg (they/he), Artist member of hall pass project space, Mixed media installation artist, specializing in painting, papermaking, textiles, and sculpture
Reseacher: Jordan Williams (she/her), Pharmacology Ph.D. Candidate, Pharmacology Graduate Group & Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Science subject: Airway epithelial cell physiology, calcium signaling, cilia function
Clean Sweep: Calcium’s Impact on Cilia Coordination
Mixed-media interactive installation
2026
Clean Sweep: Calcium’s Impact on Cilia Coordination is a mixed-media interactive installation that invites visitors to step into the role of epithelial cells working inside the lungs to clear toxins, bacteria, and debris from the airway.
A tapestry of dyed pink fabrics forms a tent-like structure, representing the main airway. Inside, participants use handmade brushes inspired by the form and movement of cilia—the tiny hair-like structures that line the epithelial cells—to move materials representing harmful particles through basins that mimic lung passageways. A central fabric panel divides the tent into two sides, which allows participants to experience the system before and after the addition of calcium. By moving across the tent, they learn how coordinated cilia movement changes due to calcium influx.
Through physical participation, the work transforms a microscopic biological process into something visible and tangible by exploring the lungs’ natural clearing mechanisms. The installation is informed by ongoing research at the University of Pennsylvania investigating new approaches to treating chronic respiratory diseases.
Rah and Jordan’s collaboration grew through a shared process of observation, experimentation, and making. Rah spent time in Jordan’s lab learning more about the research firsthand, observing live cell imaging techniques. Both Rah and Jordan share a passion for accessible and interactive science. Early on in their collaboration, they discussed what types of interactivity they were most interested in featuring in the installation. Taking inspiration from immersive museum displays, such as the heart at the “Please Touch Museum”, these collaborators placed tactile interaction and learning through play as central outcomes of this project.
Jordan sourced fabrics and materials to represent debris within the airway, while Rah sewed the tapestry, fabricated the brushes, and engineered the installation. In developing the language around the piece, they worked together on instructional cards meant to guide participants’ interaction in their role as the cilia. Fostered by close collaboration, this pair excitedly invites visitors to participate in this embodied learning environment.
Artist: Rah Gerg
Rah is a mixed media artist creating immersive encounters which transmute their queer reality with tactile, modular, and interactive components. They move fluidly between works on paper, fabric, and sculptural modes, often experimenting with floating works which shift with movement and with modular wall arrangements.Their studio-laboratory produces relational works which beckon, repulse, mimic, and decay. As surfaces are rearranged and undergo metamorphosis, they are constantly subjected to new encounters and ecologies.
Rah works as an artist-educator, curator, and muralist based in Philadelphia, and received their BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design in 2024. Rah is a member of the artist-powered multidisciplinary project space hall pass, where they engage with collaborative events, installations, and curatorial projects. This fall, Rah is curating “Held Together: Multidisciplinary Art Show” at hall pass as part of the Collective Futures Festival.
Reseacher: Jordan Williams
Jordan is a pharmacology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania in the lab of Dr. Robert Lee, studying how to alter the lung’s innate immune responses to better treat chronic respiratory diseases by focusing on the Epac proteins.
Her research interests have always centered around enzymes and their role in human health, which she wants to share with others. Jordan has a particular passion for science communication to diverse audiences and encourages others to become involved with and influence science policy.
To this end, Jordan is a co-organizer with Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP), a non-partisan grassroots coalition of early-career researchers that mobilizes for large-scale initiatives to bridge gaps between scientists, their communities, and the general public. She is also a contributing writer with Unbiased Science, a team of scientists and health experts who present evidence-based information that help people make informed health- and science-based decisions.
Outside of the lab and outreach, Jordan enjoys walks around the city, watching horror movies, and nights spent reading with her cat, Honey Badger.