Zone of Inhibition, 2019
Single channel video, 14:13
Zone of Inhibition is a short film developed as a result of artist-led performative genetics workshops created in collaboration with Dr Ana Topf and Dr Stephanie Carr of the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle and ASCUS Art and Science, Edinburgh.
The title refers to the space (generally on a petri dish) in which microbial growth is inhibited as a result of antibiotics. The space is a threshold in which microbes encounter humanity’s resistance to them as other. Workshop participants were filmed in a fictional, human-scale zone of inhibition, a space of encounter that is both intensely personal yet also restrictive. In this space of encounter, Mackenzie assumed the role of oracle, to facilitate dialogue between cells and those who have genetically modified them.
Zone of Inhibition has been presented at:
ISEA2020 Art Programme, Montreal
Evolution of the Subject, Gallery North Project Space, Newcastle
Women in Film & Science, The Literary & Philosophical Society, Newcastle
Black Box, Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle
Pithos (one possible story of our lively material), Summerhall, Edinburgh
Supported by the Cultural Negotiation of Science, Northumbria University, the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University and ASCUS Laboratory, Summerhall, Edinburgh