Anna Dumitriu Blog

3rd March 2020

“The Mutability of Memories and Fates” responds to the concept of cellular memory and cell fates, and explores how the cell packages DNA and what impact that has. The work focusses on the mutability of the cell, or what controls its constancy, and how this affects gene expression and the nature of life. It explores […]

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 […]

27th March 2020

“Make Do and Mend” (2016-17) is artwork created by Anna Dumitriu as part of The FEAT (Future Emerging Art and Technology) residency programme. The piece references the 75th anniversary of the first use of penicillin in a human patient in 1941 and takes the form of an altered antique wartime women’s suit marked with the […]

31st August 2023

Wood Spirit – Amber Acid (2023) is a commission in the “Fermenting Futures” series that takes the form of a sculptural necklace which tells the story of cutting-edge biotechnology research to produce sustainable carbon neutral nylon fabric via a yeast known as Pichia pastoris that has been modified to be able to feed on a […]

31st March 2020

“Biotechnology from the Blue Flower” by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May explores the cultural history and morphology of the chicory plant and investigates how new plant breeding methods such as CRISPR gene editing can be used to create future healthcare and food benefits. Chicory inspired the idea of the Blue Flower in German Romanticism, and […]

19th March 2020

A series of works exploring how our bacterial flora might be enhanced to create human super-organisms. Hypersymbiotics™ Post Pandemic Edition “What should your medicine cabinet contain in the future? Perhaps a vial of “Psychobiotics”, containing serotonin producing plasmids that could live inside probiotic E. coli in your gut and make you happy? This work builds […]

29th February 2020

Anna Dumitriu undertook an intensive artists residency in the Liu Lab for Synthetic Evolution at the University of California Irvine. The final outcomes were showcased in WETWARE: art | agency | animation at the Beall Center for Art and Technology, curated by Jens Hauser and David Familian. The exhibition opened on 6th February 2016 and […]

3rd December 2019

“Trust Me, I’m an Artist” (2011 – 2017) was a major project led by Anna Dumitriu in collaboration with Bobbie Farsides (Professor of Clinical Ethics at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Lucas Evers at Waag Society which investigates the ethical issues arising from artists working in laboratory settings. The project considers how artists and […]

4th February 2019

“The Chemistry of Biology: An Alchemy of DNA” (2017) references alchemical desires to ‘transmute’ matter into new forms, create panaceas to cure any disease, or to find the secret of immortality, Anna Dumitriu has woven together complex historical narratives with synthetic biology, DNA sequencing, and new super-resolution imaging technologies in an attempt to deconstruct what […]