‘Anna Dumitriu: Normal Flora’ is the inaugural exhibition at R-Space @ The Linen Rooms Lisburn, 32 Castle Street, Lisburn, Northern Ireland, which opened Saturday 30th July at 2.00pm. This major new solo show by international artist Anna Dumitriu blurs the boundaries between art, textile crafts and science. Robert Martin, R-Space Co-Director, has a vision to deliver ground breaking contemporary arts and crafts into Lisburn and Northern Ireland. He explained : “Dumitriu’s work uses a range of digital, biological and traditional media including live bacteria, projections and textiles. Her work has a strong international profile and is held in several major public collections, including the Science Museum in London and she is Leverhulme Artist in Residence on the Modernising Medical Microbiology Project at The University of Oxford. With an exciting programme of exhibitions and events, R-Space wants to engage and connect with the community, as well as other cultural venues, to ensure the City of Lisburn attracts local, national and international audiences’.

The Exhibition: ‘Anna Dumitriu: Normal Flora’ features a dress patterned using pigments from environmental bacteria and antibiotic embroidery, a large-scale collaborative crochet based on the bacteria from the artist’s own bed, an indigo blue coloured patchwork stained with MRSA bacteria grown on chromogenic agar and patterned with clinical antibiotics and other tools in the research and treatment of this disease, a Whitework embroidered lab coat patterned with images of bacteria and moulds found on it and a new series of works about the emerging field of bacterial communication (in collaboration with Dr Simon Park and funded by The Wellcome Trust). All the works, made in collaboration with scientific experts, have been made sterile prior to exhibition. ‘Normal Flora’ is the name given to the ubiquitous microbes that we co-exist with in our everyday lives. There are links elsewhere on the site to the specific projects shown.

“The Art and Science of Linen” a video art work based on footage of the processes of linen production (including the bacterial process of ‘retting’ the flax) can also be seen at The Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum in Lisburn. This is a work in progress piece currently being developed for a much larger scale location.

Thanks to collaborators:

Dr John Paul, Dr Simon Park and Alex May for “Communicating Bacteria”

Dr John Paul, Dr James Price and Rosie Sedgwick for “MRSA Quilt”

Alex May and Dr John Paul for “The Art and Science of Linen”

Dr John Paul, Melissa Grant, Rosie Sedgwick, Brian Degger and Sarah Roberts for “Infective Textiles”

Funded by The Wellcome Trust Arts Grants and The Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence programme.

Thanks also to R-Space at The Linen Rooms, Craft NI, The Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum in Lisburn and McConvilles Flax Mill Museum.