Anna Dumitriu Blog

29th November 2024

Black Rock Beachcombers (2024) are three innovative public sculptures created for the new boardwalk at Black Rock on the eastern seafront of Brighton (UK) designed by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May. Combining 3D photogrammetry scanning and 3D modelling these 3D printed digital collages reveal hidden stories about the nature, the people and the engineering of […]

16th August 2022

“Zenexton” (2022) is a contemporary amulet to ward off disease. In around 1570 Theophrastus Paracelsus coined the mysterious term Zenexton, to mean an amulet that would be worn around the neck and protect the wearer from the plague. Until that time amulets had a more general purpose of warding off (unspecified) disease, rather like the […]

1st April 2020

This 1665 style “Plague Dress” (2018) is made from raw silk, hand-dyed with walnut husks in reference to the famous herbalist of the era Nicholas Culpeper who recommended walnuts as a treatment for Plague. The dress is appliqued with original 17th century embroideries which Anna Dumitriu has impregnated with the DNA of Yesinia pestis bacteria […]

31st March 2020

Chandelier AR (2024) explores how biomaterials and augmented reality art can impact sustainability and the circular economy in the wine industry. Dumitriu has created an intricate hand-made chandelier installation using wine waste, specifically biotextiles made using spolied wine and feccia (final grape pressing) kombucha SCOBY (symbiotic cultures of yeast and bacteria), and bio-plastics and bio-composites […]

3rd March 2020

“The Mutability of Memories and Fates” responds to the scientific concepts of cell memory and cell fates. The exhibition presents a series of artworks resulting from artistic research of epigenetics and stem cells. The artist, Anna Dumitriu, picks up the scientific expressions of “cell memories” and “cell fates, drawing connections between scientific uses and cultural […]

7th January 2024

Fragile Microbiome (2024) is a large scale, wall-sized, hand-felted artwork which is embroidered and beaded to represent our intestinal microbiome, the lining of the gut and the rich communities of bacteria that live inside us. It is impregnated with their DNA. The piece also contains bilirubin and biliverdin, two bile pigments which combine to give […]

4th July 2023

Uninhibited Faba (2023) takes the form of a series of artworks that explore the history and future of the humble faba bean (Vicia faba) and how it can help us mitigate climate change, improve food security, and fix nitrogen. The project looks at aesthetic and ethical issues around innovative biotechnological research to improve faba bean […]

29th March 2023

“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” (2018-19) is an underwater robotic installation by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May that explores what ‘life’ might mean in a post-singularity and post-climate change future. Based on new research on archaea (a group of unicellular micro-organisms believed to be the oldest form of life on earth adapted […]

2nd January 2025

“Greening the Lab: Decarbonising Biomedical Science” (2024-25) led by artist Anna Dumitriu brings together communities of scientists, medics, healthcare workers, patients and the public to explore how biomedicine can be more sustainable through a series of workshops. “Greening the Lab: Decarbonising Biomedical Science” is an artistic intervention in the framework of the EU VOICE project, which […]

3rd March 2023

The “Fermenting Futures” project (2022) by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May explores the significance of yeast biotechnology from a cultural and aesthetic perspective, engaging audiences in the history and future of this important, but under-recognised, field. The project was created in collaboration with Professor Diethard Mattanovich, Professor Michael Sauer, Dr. Özge Ata and Dr. Martin […]