“Zone of Inhibition” by Louise Mackenzie
Title:
- Zone of Inhibition
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
Creation Year:
- 2019
Medium:
- Short film
Duration:
- 14:13
Artist Statement:
Zone of Inhibition suggests a reconsideration of our relationship to microbial bodies, particularly in the context of laboratory practices. It is a short film based on activities that took place during the first artist-led genetic modification workshop in Scotland, created by artist Louise Mackenzie in collaboration with Dr Ana Topf and Dr Stephanie Carr of the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle, UK and ASCUS Art and Science, Edinburgh, UK in 2017. In the workshop, Mackenzie brought her personal engagement with micro-organisms in a laboratory to a public forum, sharing a vital materialist approach to our relationship to the microbial other through imaginative and anthropomorphic interaction.
Zone of Inhibition explores a speculative space of encounter between micro-organisms and humans. The title of the film refers to the threshold space in which microbial growth is inhibited as a result of antibiotics – a space in which microbes encounter humanity’s resistance to them as other. Using darkness as a cover of anonymity, Mackenzie facilitates a dialogue between the speculative kin of microbes and those who have genetically modified them.
