PHILADELPHIA, PA -- (October 16, 2018) – A solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed British artist, Anna Dumitriu, will open at the Esther Klein Gallery on October 18th. BioArt and Bacteria explores our relationship with the microbial world and the history and future of infectious diseases. An artist lecture will be held on October 18th at 5 p.m., immediately followed by the exhibit’s opening reception from 6 – 8 p.m., at the gallery, 3600 Market Street, Philadelphia.
Dumitriu’s art practice fuses sculpture, craft, technology and bioscience and she works hands-on with the tools and techniques of microbiology and synthetic biology to create intricate artworks that reveal strange histories and emerging futures. Her obsession with the history and treatment of infectious diseases, ancient remedies, medical ethics, antibiotics, and genetics, speak urgently to the concerns of wide audiences and make for a visceral and emotionally affecting experience.
The exhibition will include works from many of Dumitriu’s key projects including her Romantic Disease project. This project explores mankind’s strange relationship with ‘the Romantic Disease,’ Tuberculosis (TB), from early superstitions about the disease, through the development of antibiotics, to the latest research into whole genome sequencing of bacteria. The exhibit will also include some of her works exploring synthetic biology, particularly inspired through her collaboration with the University of California Irvine.
Dumitriu’s unexpected use of materials combine intricate, traditional, and sometimes ancient art-making techniques with the use of lab-generated materials including sterilized, disease-causing, or genetically modified bacteria.
Dumitriu is the 2018 President of the Science and the Arts section of the British Science Association. She holds visiting research fellowships at the University of Hertfordshire, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and Waag Society. She is artist-in-residence with Modernising Medical Microbiology at the University of Oxford, and with the National Collection of Type Cultures at Public Health England. Her extensive exhibition profile includes The Picasso Museum Barcelona, ZKM, BOZAR Museum of Art, Ars Electronica Festival, The Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, The Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, The Science Gallery Dublin, The Science Gallery Lab Detroit, The Beall Center for Art and Technology in Los Angeles, The Rockefeller Center at SUNY, The V & A Museum, The Science Museum London, and Eden Project.
The Esther Klein Gallery’s mission is to positively impact the cultural life of our West Philadelphia neighborhood and the broader community. EKG programming uses the creative arts as a platform to explore the relationships between art, science and technology. The gallery is home to exhibitions, artist talks, panel discussions, performances and special events.
About the Science Center
Located in the heart of uCity Square, the Science Center is a mission-driven nonprofit organization that catalyzes and connects innovation to entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. For 50+ years, the Science Center has supported startups, research, and economic development in the life sciences, healthcare, physical sciences, and emerging technology sectors. As a result, graduate firms and current residents of the Science Center’s incubator support one out of every 100 jobs in the Greater Philadelphia region and drive $13 billion in economic activity in the region annually. By providing resources and programming for any stage of a business’s lifecycle, the Science Center helps scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators take their concepts from idea to IPO – and beyond. For more information about the Science Center, go to www.sciencecenter.org
