BRIGHTON SCHOOL BECOMES CONCEPTUAL ARTWORK ABOUT BACTERIA
By 24 Hour Museum Staff
14/07/2008
Bacteria found on a school computer keyboard, School Flora, Anna Dumitriu, 2008. Image courtesy the artist.
Artist Anna Dumitriu has been working with staff and students at Varndean School in Brighton on a project called Normal Flora. Students took swabs of microbes all over the school - from the drinking fountain to school computers, and even from the books in the library. These were then taken to a lab, placed in agar jelly and cultured.
Working closely with Anna, the students then created artworks inspired by the bacteria. According to the artist, the art installations set out to reveal the secret beauty of the microbial eco-system that surrounds us.
Anna's project culminates in a public open day on July 15 2008, when the installation is shown for the first time.
Artist Anna Dumitriu crocheting an artwork inspired by bacteria; part of School Flora at Varndean School. Image, courtesy of the artist.
The giant one-day art installation will take over the whole school, and it involved almost all students and staff. The artworks are based on the laboratory findings of bacteria collected in the school and include the following:
• performances and interventions
• sculptures - e.g. a table carved with the bacteria found on it.
• animation and video projects
• wallpapers on all school computers
• music composed using mathematical formulas found in the bacteria
• artworks in the landscape of the school grounds
• bacterial food
Varndean students working with Anna Dumitriu in School Flora. Image, courtesy the artist
Anna Dumitriu is an award-winning artist with an international reputation. Recently selected for the prestigious European-wide e-MobiLArt project, she worked closely with science students at Varndean for this event.
