'Sensitive': Allergies, Art and Science

1 August 2006

As a Government report revealed last week, the number of people admitted to hospital with severe allergic reactions to food or insect stings has more than tripled over the past decade and is now at a peak.

In an attempt to improve our understanding of allergies, a group of gifted and talented students, aged 13-14, have created an exhibition of their work showcasing the scientific and social aspects of this often misunderstood condition.

With the support of a grant from the Wellcome Trust, one of the world's largest biomedical charities with a firm commitment to public engagement of science activities, Brighton artist Anna Dumitriu has pulled together an innovative project called 'Sensitive' in conjunction with Phoenix Arts Association and Professor Helen Smith, Chair of Primary Care at Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

Professor Smith comments: "Allergy has become a modern epidemic. The frequency of allergic disease has increased dramatically in the last 30 years, and now at least 20 per cent of the population suffers from an allergy. Frequently lay people confuse symptoms as being due to allergic reaction, when this is clearly not the case. This arts-science project has provided a unique and stimulating context to gain a better understanding of this often misunderstood condition."

Both artist and scientist chose to work with year 9 and 10 science students from Varndean School, Brighton and Hove's first Leading Edge school and Technology College, as allergies within this age group are common.

The project looks at both the medical and emotional impact of this increasingly common condition, raising awareness of different coping strategies. Through scientific research and innovative art methods, such as live art performance, video, installations and interventions in and around the school building, the project has enabled the students to develop a greater understanding of allergies.

John Lamb, Head of Science at Varndean School: "The project has had a fantastic impact on the whole department. It has allowed pupils with a talent for science a voice and recognition for their ideas that is not normally open to them outside the classroom. It is more usual for students to receive recognition from the community for PE or performing arts and perhaps for this reason these types of projects tend to be based in art departments rather than science."

Anna Dumitriu said: "I believe that to fully express any concept or idea both art and science are needed. Through art we can create a synthesis between our emotional responses to the world and scientific analysis.

"Working with the young people was as much about making a conceptual choice as creating educational benefits for the students.I hope the students have learned new ways of expressing their ideas and how art can help them do that, especially when it exists outside the traditional gallery space in their everyday lives."

The artwork is currently exhibiting at Varndean School. This includes: a medical room installation, with an embroidered blanket and video projection; tree pollen stencils looking at micrographs of tree pollens, a powerful cause of hay fever; and a breathing corridor, where visitors who walk along it become allergens by setting off sensors to cause coughs and sneezes.

More details about the Sensitive project can be found on the Varndean website.

The Wellcome Trust supports research and activities to stimulate the public's interest in science, to inform and facilitate public debate on science, and to improve understanding of the social, ethical, historical and cultural context of science. Over the past ten years the Wellcome Trust has invested over £100 million on public engagement activities, resulting in films, installations, theatre productions, thought provoking discussions and collaborative work of artists and scientists.

To mark its commitment to public engagement activities Wellcome Collection, a new public venue located near Euston Station, will open in the summer of 2007. Part gallery, part museum, an extraordinary library, café and more, Wellcome Collection will take a thoughtful and experimental look at medicine, life and art, rooting science in the broad context of health and wellbeing.

Contact

Mike Findlay
Media Officer, Wellcome Trust
T +44 (0)20 7611 8612
E m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk

Anna Dumitriu
T +44 (0)7890 516510
E annadumitriu@hotmail.com

Notes to editors

1. The Wellcome Trust is the most diverse biomedical research charity in the world, spending about £450 million every year both in the UK and internationally to support and promote research that will improve the health of humans and animals. The Trust was established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, and is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind.

2. Pulse is the Wellcome Trust grant funding programme which supports arts projects throughout the UK focussed on engaging young people with biomedical science issues.

3. Phoenix Arts Association is a charitable arts organisation based in central Brighton. It runs a programme of contemporary visual arts exhibitions featuring local, national and international artists. PAA also provides studios and workspace for over 100 artists, art courses, international artists' residencies, and a range of other activities, including gallery talks, seminars, professional development for artists, open studios, outreach, special events and more. PAA is a registered charity #1051551.

4. Anna Dumitriu has been making art about medicine and microscopy for over ten years and has worked collaboratively with scientists on seven other major projects. Her work is held in the collection of the Science Museum in London as well as various other public and private collections. Above all she is known internationally for her digital artworks but her current practice also incorporates live art, installation and innovative use of traditionally feminine craft based techniques. She has strong ideas on the relationship between art and science and is currently working on a practice-based PHD in this field at the University of Brighton.

5. Professor Helen Smith is author of 'Allergy - Your Questions Answered' and has had over 70 publications included in peer reviewed journals. She frequently presents her work at national and international scientific meetings. Her clinical expertise is in allergy and she has just been funded to establish a Primary Care Allergy Service for Brighton and Hove. As founding Professor of Primary Care in a new Medical School she has taken the lead in developing innovative links between the arts and medicine, including recently securing funding in a collaborative bid with Brighton Photo Biennial to develop a new transferable model for teaching and learning that improves medical students' ability to use and understand the relevance and generalisability of their own creative skills to the practice of medicine. She is also developing her own artwork using textiles, sewing and felt-making in particular.