Interview with Anna Dumitriu: infectious diseases and future histories

We are proud and honoured to present our second Advisory Board member - a renowned British artist Anna Dumitriu. A pioneer in the field of BioArt with an extensive exhibition track record in many prominent institutions such as Science Gallery Dublin, The Picasso Museum, Barcelona, BOZAR in Brussels, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, ZKM Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Beall Centre for Art + Technology, Irvine, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz and many more, she will be an invaluable addition and advocate to Unbore’s development.

Anna’s research explores emerging technologies and utilises digital and biological media, including robotics and synthetic biology as well as sculpture and traditional crafts. It is focused on infectious diseases, their historical, cultural and personal implications and their reverberation in the future, as well as medical ethics, genetics and antibiotics.

We asked Anna a few questions about interdisciplinary collaboration and its importance in the larger context of current societal developments, what we can learn from history and which artworks are currently transforming the artistic landscape.

Cyberspecies Proximity by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May (c) Anna Dumitriu and Alex May, image link, model in photo: Christel Vanderslyen

Tell us about yourself. What’s your background and what brought you to interdisciplinary design research and practice?

I am an artist working with BioArt, sculpture, installation, and digital media to explore our relationship to infectious diseases, synthetic biology and robotics. I trained in fine art and my work aims to draw threads across time between early histories and future technological developments. I hold research fellowships at the University of Hertfordshire, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and Waag Society, as well as artist-in-residence roles with the Modernising Medical Microbiology Project at the University of Oxford, and with the National Collection of Type Cultures at Public Health England. My current collaborations also include Biotechnology from the Blue Flower with the EU H2020 CHIC Consortium exploring new plant breeding methods and CRISPR, Fermenting Futures focused on yeast biotechnology in collaboration with the Institute of Microbial Biotechnology at BOKU in Vienna, and with the CRyPTIC Project exploring new research in tuberculosis diagnostics. I recently completed the Cyberspecies Proximity project with Schindler and Alex May as part of an EU Vertigo STARTS residency.

Biotechnology from the Blue Flower by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May (c) Anna Dumitriu and Alex May, video link

Why do you think collaboration between creatives, scientists and technologists is significant?

For me art acts as a kind of meta-discipline that allows me to explore not just science or technology but how they relate to cultural and societal history, psychology and behaviour, aesthetics and emotions. I’m fascinated by the history of science and medicine and the cultural contexts. Collaboration is important because you can create something beyond yourselves as individuals and be inspired by new ideas.

What urgent issues were brought to your attention via interdisciplinary collaboration?

The most significant issues that came to my attention through my collaborations are the existential threat of antibiotic resistance and the importance of the public understanding of emerging technologies such as synthetic biology, robotics and AI.

Rest, Rest, Rest! by Anna Dumitriu (c) The Artist, image link

What do you think are the most pressing matters of today’s society that should be questioned and transformed? What are the problems that you personally tackle in your work?

I think a huge problem is that humanity doesn’t learn (enough) from history. If people looked back and reflected on the past we would be better able to change the world for the better. My work has always been both art and activism, and my aim has always been to enable non-scientists to have ways to explore and understand issues of both local and global relevance around antibiotic resistance and infectious disease. My extensive works around the history of plague have always aimed to communicate the risks we face from future plagues. My concern now, as we face one such pandemic, is that we will solve part of the problem by exacerbating others. I believe the issue of antibiotic resistance will be even more pressing after the pandemic ends, as we deal with the unforeseen collateral effects of the necessary mass use of antibiotics for bacterial pneumonia resulting from infections from SARS-CoV-2.

Plague Dress by Anna Dumitriu (c) The Artist, image link

Where should someone who wants to learn more about arts, life sciences and technology intersections start? Could you recommend artists or designers to follow, engaging reading, other curious finds?

Claudia Schnugg’s book Creating ArtScience Collaboration: Bringing Value to Organizations includes interviews with me and several of my collaborators as well as many other artists at the forefront of the field so I highly recommend that. Bioart: Altered Realities by William Myers is also a stunning overview of the field, though it’s a curated selection rather than a chronology of the field. Myers also wrote a great book on Biodesign. Artists I recommend following include Alex May, boredomresearch, Kira O’Reilly, Marta De Menezes, Kathy High, and Špela Petrič and Miha Turšič, but, of course, there are many other great artists in the field some of which you have already featured, such as Adam Zaretsky. I also recommend following the EU STARTS programme.

How about someone working in the field? What was the last most intriguing interdisciplinary work you read, saw or experienced?

Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand’s work is very striking, I saw their latest work Hilbert Hotel recently at the STARTS Residency Days in Paris and they never fail to impress.

Cyberspecies Proximity by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May (c) Anna Dumitriu and Alex May, video link

Tell us more about your future plans. What will you be working on in 2020?

Like everyone else my plans and expectations for the year have changed substantially due to the COVID-19 pandemic so I am focusing intensively on making new work in this lockdown period and preparing for future exhibitions. Presently, I am working on a new data driven immersive art installation to communicate innovations in combating antibiotic resistance in tuberculosis using bacterial genomics. At the same time, I’m developing a new sculptural installation to consider at the impact of self-isolation and quarantine due to the COVID-19 Pandemic on domestic abuse and violence from a global perspective. My collaborations (in partnership with Alex May) with the Institute of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology at the Universitat fur Bodenkultur in Vienna , and with the EU CHIC Project also continue, though much disrupted and we look forward to completing this work after the pandemic.

What are your expectations and aspirations for being Unbore’s Advisory Board member?

I look forward to working with Unbore to advise on the forthcoming programme and I would love to develop exhibitions and commissions that explore the areas of research I am passionate about.

Pneumothorax Machine by Anna Dumitriu (c) The Artist, image link

If you would like to learn more about various projects that Anna Dumitriu is involved in, please have a look at her (new!) website, which features her artworks, publications and more.

Stay tuned for more interviews from our Advisory Board members!