# Movement beyond data: epistemic and pictorial challenges in understanding moving life

## TL;DR

This paper explores how movement is studied in biology, emphasizing the challenges of visualizing and understanding motion at the cellular and molecular levels.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel perspective on how movement in biotechnology is shaped by historical and pictorial influences.

## Key findings

- Movement in biology is not simply observed but actively constructed through image-making.
- Metaphors from everyday animal motion influence understanding of molecular-level movement.
- The study of motion is framed by historical and visual traditions in biotechnology.

## Abstract

Nothing inside organisms is at rest; everything moves. Cells are transported through the vascular system, proteins move cargo away or toward the cell nucleus, and enzymes repair DNA, which is constantly modified by metabolic cell processes or external influences affecting the organism. Various processes occur simultaneously in the crowded spaces of cells and across tissues, carefully coordinated and orchestrated. In contemporary science, movement lies at the root of studying cellular and molecular processes—in short, of all the activities that occur within the organism. This article provides a historical perspective and methodological reflection on the study of cellular and subcellular motion in current biotechnology. It shows that, far from being evident, movement is not simply observed but actively made. I argue, first, that the conceptualization of motion in current biotechnology occurs through image-making and is thus shaped by a long pictorial history and the struggle to depict movement. Second, to make the invisible move under the conditions of visibility, metaphors and imaginaries drawn from our everyday experience of animal motion are transposed into the nanoscopic sphere, thereby setting the framework and limits of understanding motion at the molecular level.