Wellcome Collection in central London has acquired an unusual and new glass sculpture of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus by the artist Luke Jerram.
The first public venue to purchase a rare artistic response to the swine flu outbreak, Wellcome Collection will display the sculpture in its free gallery space from Friday 25 September.
Clare Matterson, Wellcome Trust Director of Medicine, Society and History comments: “Luke Jerram’s work brings us an intriguing and visually stunning physical representation of the H1NI virus. It offers us a point of departure to explore the impact such viruses have had on populations and to find out more about the global research to tackle them.”
Luke Jerram comments: “I created this sculpture to reflect upon the impending swine flu pandemic and the universal fascination with the topic, as presented by the media. Wellcome Collection seems the perfect fit to acquire this piece, given its focussed interest in the relationship between science, medicine and the arts.”
‘Swine Flu’ will initially be on display at Wellcome Collection from Friday 25 September until 18 October 2009. It will then be on loan to the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo for ‘Medicine and Art’, an exhibition including artworks from Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn and Leonardo da Vinci.
The exhibition, a collaboration between Wellcome Collection and the Mori Art Museum, has been inspired by and will include an extensive number of objects from Wellcome Collection, and will run from 28 November 2009 to 28 February 2010.
