The world’s first “prokaryotic scale free network” has been initiated. The scientist, unconcerned with the ethical implications of his experiment and also unaware of the artist’s intentions, never anticipated that the fusion of the Earth’s global bacterial communications network, with that of human origin would lead to the evolution of a novel and chimeric life form. A new kind of pathogen mutated by the Bluetooth, RFID and Packet Data surveilled in the gallery. Dublin became the centre of the epidemic, and the origin of a new life form able to subvert both biology and technology. What followed was inevitable. What else would a creature with access to: humanity’s entire digital knowledge; the genetic toolbox that drives evolution; the sophistication of the pathogen; and intimate awareness of our vulnerabilities do? (cyberneticbacteria, 2009)
Links to the project
1. Science Gallery – Infectious 09 intro to the project and explanation by Tom Keene, Hardware designer for the project.
2. BioArt and Bacteria – The Artwork of Anna Dumitriu.
3. Normal Flora – Anna Dumitriu BioArt projects