The Pathogen of War
Yasmin Fedda / Interactive installation / 2024 / World Premiere / 30 min
It’s 2073, a decade after the Bio-Rift which killed half of humanity. This show at the Museum of Medical Archaeology will explain how a benign bacteria was driven by war to become a “perfect killer.” A speculative interactive work based on the real science of antibiotic resistance.
It’s 2073, a decade after the Bio-Rift – the moment when all bacteria become resistant to all our antibiotics, resulting in the deaths of half the human population.
At the Museum of Medical Archaeology, you’ll learn about what caused the Bio-Rift and what lessons can be drawn to prevent it from happening again.
Iraqi medical anthropologist Dr. Omar Dewachi will take you on a journey to unearth how Acinetobacter baumannii went from being a relatively benign bacteria, to a “perfect killer”, also known by its US moniker ‘Iraqibacter’, combining real life biography and scientific research, with a speculative near future looking at the dangers of antibiotic resistance that started today.
About the artist
Yasmin Fedda is a film director and academic. Co-writer Dan Davies is a documentary producer and playwright.