“We are the body. We are under attack.” And so the body’s immune system is triggered into action. A raging battle has begun between pro and anti inflammatory forces in the plasmic swirling interior of a blister.
Each sequence in Battle of Blister has been generated by human performers in an interactive film set. These animations chart the escalation from fly bite to full scale engagement. Spreading, swelling, burning, fighting… capturing the complex dynamics of inflammation; the never-ending battle between bacteria and the body.
As part of the Silent Signal commission, Genetic Moo organised three Blister Cinema events, two in Margate and one in Cardiff. These interactive film sets were designed to generate animated footage for Battle of Blister.
Genetic Moo build living installations in pixels and light. Since 2008, Genetic Moo have been developing a series of interactive video installations based on imagined future evolutions. In darkened spaces audiences can engage with their fantastical creatures which combine elements of the human and the animal. Their work draws widely from science, particularly in the areas of evolution, symbiosis, morphology, phylogeny, mutation and artificial life. One of their works, Starfish, received a John Lansdown Award for Interactive Digital Art at Eurographics (2007) and was nominated for an Erotic Award (2012). They were recipients of The Lumen Prize Founder’s Prize (2013) awarded to artists whose work best reflects the uniquely engaging aspects of digital art.
Dr Neil Dufton began his scientific career after graduating in Pharmacology from University of Bath and obtained his PhD in innate immunology and the resolution of inflammation at the William Harvey Research Institute. He spent two years working with Professor John Wallace at the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, McMaster University, investigating the role of hydrogen sulphide gas in regulating inflammation. Currently, he is a post-doctoral research associate at the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) at Imperial College with Dr Anna Randi. Neil created a website to showcase his artistic and scientific capabilities and aims to present current scientific knowledge through his abstract and surreal illustrations, some of which have been published in international publications. In 2014, Neil was shortlisted for British Heart Foundation’s Reflections in Research Image Competition. His research investigates the roles that genes, proteins and gases play in regulating the body’s response to inflammation.