Bioart and Bacteria - The Artwork of Anna Dumitriu
Anna Dumitriu’s work blurs the boundaries between art and science with a strong interest in the ethical issues raised by emerging technologies. Her installations, interventions and performances use a range of digital, biological and traditional media including live bacteria, robotics, interactive media, and textiles. Her work has a strong international exhibition profile and is held in several major public collections, including the Science Museum in London. Dumitriu is known for her work as founder and director of “The Institute of Unnecessary Research”, a group of artists and scientists whose work crosses disciplinary boundaries and critiques contemporary research practice. She recently completed a Wellcome Trust commission entitled “The Hypersymbiont Salon", is collaborating as a Visiting Research Fellow: Artist in Residence with the Adaptive Systems Research Group at The University of Hertfordshire (focussing on social robotics) and (Leverhulme Trust 2011) Artist in Residence on the UK Clinical Research Consortium Project “Modernising Medical Microbiology” at The University of Oxford. Her major international project “Trust me I’m an artist, towards an ethics of art/science collaboration” (in collaboration with the Waag Society in Amsterdam and The University of Leiden) investigates the novel ethical problems that arise when artists create artwork in laboratory settings. She is also a contributing editor to Leonardo Electronic Almanac, and winner of the 2012 Society for Applied Microbiology Communication Award. Dumitriu was recently awarded Wellcome Trust funding for her new project "The Romantic Disease: An Artistic Investigation of Tuberculosis". Click the links at the top of this section to explore the site and find out more about key projects. For more information contact annadumitriu@hotmail.com
Anna Dumitriu recently ran a Bioart and Textiles workshop and gave a talk entitled “Confronting the Bacterial Sublime” at Genspace in New York City on 12th March 2013. The workshop, which was aimed at artists, focussed on learning how to work safely with bacteria as an artistic medium using commonly available supplies in domestic spaces. An important goal for participants was to develop a bacteriocentric view of the world, to understand the microbiology and textile techniques used in the work of bioartist Anna Dumitriu and discuss the new advances in clinical microbiology being investigated by the Modernising Medical Microbiology Project. The workshop involved discussions of safe working practices, the ethical issues around bacterial bioart, issues of public engagement in science, and the nature of collaborative art - science practice. See images of the workshop here.
