Anna Dumitriu Blog

31st January 2020

Since 2018 Anna Dumitriu held an artist in residence post with the National Collection of Type Cultures, the oldest and most historic collection of pathogenic organisms. She is developing a new body of work with the collection, telling stories and drawing threads between the history and future of microbiology. New works so far developed with the […]

29th January 2020

“The Hypersymbiont Dress” (2013-17) is stained and video mapped with bacteria that may have the potential to enhance us. It draws attention to ways in which our own bacterial flora or even pathogens, could be enhanced to turn us into human super-organisms, with improved creativity, improved health and even improved personalities. The concept of this […]

1st February 2020

The Communicating Bacteria Dress (2011) combines bioart, historical textile techniques, such as whitework embroidery, and 3D mapped video projections. The work was created by staining textiles using pigmented bacteria, which change colour when they send and receive communication signals. Bacteria have intricate communication capabilities, for example: quorum sensing (voting on issues affecting the colony and […]

31st January 2020

Quilts are a traditional way of passing down stories and the piece can also be used as a discussion tool to facilitate dialogue about this important threat. The “Antibiotic Resistance Quilt” (2017) extends and builds on Dumitriu’s MRSA Quilt project. This soft and cosy embroidered quilt hides a dark side; it uses actual infectious bacteria […]

30th January 2020

HARR1 (Humanoid Art Research Robot 1) (2011-13) is Anna Dumitriu and Alex May’s robotic research platform. It was created in collaboration with Dr Michael L Waters and Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn in the Adaptive Systems Research Group at the University of Hertfordshire with funding from Arts Council England. The project explores the field of robotics and […]

27th January 2020

“The Romantic Disease: An Artistic Investigation of Tuberculosis” is a solo exhibition and ongoing project by Anna Dumitriu, with an accompanying events programme. Skip to “Pneumothorax Machine“ Skip to “Rest, Rest, Rest!“ Skip to”Romantic Disease Dress“ Skip to “Burden“ Skip to “Where There’s Dust There’s Danger“ Skip to “Blue Henry“ This project takes the form […]

27th January 2020

“Blue Henry” (2014) is a strangely beautiful altered object, an engraved sputum flask which would have been carried by tuberculosis (TB) patients in the past in order to collect infected sputum coughed up from their lungs, rather than spit it out. The piece is part of Anna Dumitriu’s Romantic Disease series. The Blue Henry “a […]

27th January 2020

This altered antique romantic era maternity dress has been stained with walnut husks, and embroidered with safflower and madder root dyed silk (front and hem), and Prontosil dyed silk (back shoulders). The neckline is decorated with madder root dyed flowers and the cuffs are trimmed with safflower dyed bows.  “The Romantic Disease Dress” (2014) is […]

27th January 2020

“Where There’s Dust There’s Danger” (2014) takes the form of tiny needle felted lungs made from wool and household dust impregnated with the extracted DNA of killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB). The organisms have been rendered sterile using a validated process used in whole genome sequencing of TB. The lungs show various stages of the disease […]

27th January 2020

“Burden” (2017) is a hand carved sculptural work which focusses on the global health crisis of tuberculosis and is part of Anna Dumitriu’s Romantic Disease series. Made with carved Zimbabwean lemon opal stone and fruit stone, embroidered calico dyed with madder root (used as an ancient treatment for TB), and impregnated with TB DNA. Tuberculosis […]