Louise Whiteley We’re looking for students who want to be part in a unique performance-experiment on the 28th of May and a preparatory workshop on the 20th of May.
There are ten times as many microbial cells as human cells in our bodies. We are populated by bacteria, and they influence us on many levels – research is connecting them to everything from allergies, obesity and autoimmune diseases, to depression, autism and stress.
On Wednesday the 28th of May the Canadian artist and microbiome researcher Prof. François-Joseph Lapointe will visit the University of Copenhagen’s Panum building to carry out the performance ‘1000 handshakes’. He will walk around Panum and shake hands with the people he meets in the hallways, at lectures, in the dining hall at lunch and in the laboratories, gradually changing the invisible bacterial colony on his palms. His hand bacteria will be periodically sampled, and the samples will then be sequenced and visualized as part of a second performance on Culture Night at Medical Museion in October 2014. The visualization will show how we are literally changed by our contact with others. More info here.
We need a small group of volunteers to take part in the performance. You will walk around Panum with Lapointe, help to sample the bacteria on his palms, and talk to people about the performance. It doesn’t matter if your background is in art or science, but you need to be able to part in a preparatory workshop with François-Joseph Lapointe on May 20th from 13-17, and then for the performance itself on May 28th from 9-15 (or at least for half of the day).
You’ll get:
- The chance to be part of a unique experiment at the intersection of art and science
- Event experience for your CV
- Insight into a new, exciting (and sometimes disturbing..) research field
- A chance to meet interesting people in both art and science
- We’ll provide lunch, cake and coffee for you and your microbes
You can read more about the performance and François-Joseph Lapointe’s collaboration with Medical Museion here.
If you’d like to take part – or know more – email Louise Whiteley (lowh@sund.ku.dk). First come, first served!
