THE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE QUILT
QUILT MADE FROM ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIA, 2017
ANNA DUMITRIU (IN COLLABORATION WITH KEVIN COLE, NICOLA FAWCETT AND JOHN PAUL) (GB)
This cosy embroidered quilt hides a dark side; it uses actual infectious bacteria to reveal the emerging threat of antibiotic resistance, the ability of disease-causing organisms to combat the medicines we use to treat them.
The quilt is impregnated with actual traces of the most significant drug-resistant bacteria, such as strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) grown on multi-coloured dye containing agar jelly, normally used for diagnosis. Some of the patches of silk have polka dots where discs of antibiotic impregnated paper have been effective in preventing the bacteria from growing. On other contrasting patches, the antibiotics have been completely overgrown by potentially deadly multidrug resistant bacteria that have evolved to beat our available treatments. The patches of silk were all sterilised prior to the exhibition.
Other patches of silk are impregnated with E. coli bacteria that have been genetically modified by the artist using a technique called CRISPR to remove its drug resistance abilities, suggesting that in the future, techniques such as synthetic biology might help solve the present crisis.
BIO
Anna Dumitriu is a British visual artist working at the cutting edge of biomedical research, combining fine art, BioArt and craft techniques with microbiology, technology and synthetic biology. She has shown exhibits at the Picasso Museum, Barcelona; Art Laboratory, Berlin; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei; Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (ZKM); and the V&A. Her work is held in several major collections, including the Science Museum London and Eden Project. She is artist-in-residence at the Modernising Medical Microbiology Project at the University of Oxford; and a visiting research fellow in the School of Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire, Brighton and Sussex Medical School; and at the Waag Society.