X. Laevis (Spacelab), 2017 is a simulation commissioned by the Wellcome Collection, which responds to Luigi Galvani’s 18th- century experiments in which he studied the effects of electricity on the amputated legs of dead frogs. Wellcome’s collection contains all of Galvani’s laboratory equipment from those pioneering tests, alongside a first edition of De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentaries (Commentary on the effects of electricity on the motion of muscles) in which the scientist published his findings.

In response, Gerrard developed a work in which the absent frog takes centre stage. The experiment represented, however, is one that occurred over 200 years after Galvani’s work, during the second mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. This later experiment established that vertebrates in the form of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) could reproduce in zero gravity – perhaps in anticipation of a future in which sustaining life beyond Earth becomes critical to human survival.

Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/205043086