Culture professionals network | Guardian Professional: Anna Dumitriu turns bacteria into art. She has stitched strains of MRSA into a quilt; she has crocheted with the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis, found on her own bed. For her latest exhibition, The Romantic Disease – just opened at the Watermans arts centre in Brentford, west London – she has made a series of tiny lungs out of felt, dust and tuberculosis samples.
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Laura Barnett’s article gives a good overview of the potential pitfalls of the science-art collaboration, ultimately showing this is not a major concern. The benefit of intriguing exhibits and performances – as well as providing an entry point into scientific phenomena that might otherwise go largely unnoticed – far outweighs the ‘oh no, we might have to suffer bad art’ fear. As if bad art does not already exist. And anyway, ‘bad’ is a relative term. As microbiologist Dr. John Paul stated about his work with Anna Dumitriu, “We've learnt a great deal from each other: she has watched me at work, and I've seen how a more creative approach can be beneficial to my own clinical thinking."
For a local (Pittsburgh) adventure into science-art, visit CMU Professor Rich Pell’s Center for PostNatural History:
http://www.postnatural.org/
And check out these exhibits from the Miller Gallery archives:
http://millergallery.cfa.cmu.edu/exhibitions/intimatescience/
http://millergallery.cfa.cmu.edu/exhibitions/imperfecthealth/
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