Viral art: Painting with cells, viruses and diseases
- Text by D'Arcy Doran
Brazilian artist Vik Muniz’ specialty is the double take. At first glance, his latest work ‘Flowers’ looks like a textile print. But draw closer and his pink floral designs quickly start to appear more alien. “The artwork is a microscopic pattern of liver cells infected with a smallpox vaccine virus. After infection, the virus turns the cells a reddish colour which allows scientists to visualise infection,” he writes of the piece, which has just been unveiled as part of The Art of Saving a Life, a series of works commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to raise money and awareness for vaccine research.
In this video, he explains what inspired the piece, which he made in collaboration with M.I.T. bioengineer and designer Tal Danino.
Muniz, who is perhaps best-known as one of the subjects of the Oscar-nominated documentary Waste Land, in which he uses garbage to reproduce classic paintings with catadores, or garbage pickers, at Rio de Janeiro’s largest landfill site. Muniz is one of more than 30 artists, including artist Olafur Eliason, photographer Mary Ellen Mark and writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, participating in the project. Their works are being unveiled over the coming weeks.
The Art of Saving a Life is designed to support the work of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Select pieces from the project will go on display in Berlin on January 27 when German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts a world leaders conference seeking to help Gavi to help reach an additional 300 million children with life-saving vaccines by 2020.
For more information about The Art of Saving a Life, the participating artists, and to view the artwork as it is released, visit www.artofsavingalife.com.
Latest on Huck
Clubbing is good for your health, according to neuroscientists
We Become One — A new documentary explores the positive effects that dance music and shared musical experiences can have on the human brain.
Written by: Zahra Onsori
In England’s rural north, skateboarding is femme
Zine scene — A new project from visual artist Juliet Klottrup, ‘Skate Like a Lass’, spotlights the FLINTA+ collectives who are redefining what it means to be a skater.
Written by: Zahra Onsori
Donald Trump says that “everything is computer” – does he have a point?
Huck’s March dispatch — As AI creeps increasingly into our daily lives and our attention spans are lost to social media content, newsletter columnist Emma Garland unpicks the US President’s eyebrow-raising turn of phrase at a White House car show.
Written by: Emma Garland
How the ’70s radicalised the landscape of photography
The ’70s Lens — Half a century ago, visionary photographers including Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz and Larry Sultan pushed the envelope of what was possible in image-making, blurring the boundaries between high and low art. A new exhibition revisits the era.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The inner-city riding club serving Newcastle’s youth
Stepney Western — Harry Lawson’s new experimental documentary sets up a Western film in the English North East, by focusing on a stables that also functions as a charity for disadvantaged young people.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The British intimacy of ‘the afters’
Not Going Home — In 1998, photographer Mischa Haller travelled to nightclubs just as their doors were shutting and dancers streamed out onto the streets, capturing the country’s partying youth in the early morning haze.
Written by: Ella Glossop