Atopic Art Micro-Residency

About the Micro-Residency

Our Atopic Art Micro-Residency is a partnership project between ASCUS Art & Science and Professor Sara Brown (University of Dundee), to invite two artists to respond to Professor Sara Brown’s research as part of a residency and art commission to produce new work that encompasses the themes of ‘the science of eczema’ and ‘living with eczema’.

In January 2017 artists Beverley Hood and Gordon Douglas took up their place as ‘Artists in Residence’ at Professor Sara Brown’s genetic research laboratory at the University of Dundee, to learn more about the condition of eczema, exposing them to cutting edge research that Sara’s lab carries out, to gain understanding of the causes of this medical condition and potential ways to treat it.

The artists spent a couple of days a week over Jan to April, on Brown Lab, to gain in-depth insight into eczema on a genetic and molecular level. The artists worked directly with Brown Lab’s research team, observing her laboratory-based research and spending time in her clinics. Both artists joined us in ASCUS Lab for the Edinburgh International Science Festival 2017 to deliver interactive and hands-on workshops to public audiences, to share the creative process and exchange ideas and experience together. The micro-residency culminated in the inaugural, Beyond Skin, at LifeSpace Science Art Research Gallery at the College of Life Sciences in the summer of 2017.

We Began as Part of the Body, by Beverley Hood, a multi-component digital artwork, inspired by the creative research gathered during her time as artists in residence in Professor Sara Brown’s eczema genetic research laboratory of Professor Sara Brown, will be on show as part of Being Human with the Centre for Biomedicine Self & Society and Inspace in November 2020.

See below for insights and project updates, revealing the different approaches the artists employed as they spent time with Brown lab scientists, over the course of the micro-residency…

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Beyond Skin | LifeSpace Science Art Research Gallery

14 June 2017

Beyond Skin is an exhibition artworks made in response to participatory workshops with Eczema Outreach Scotland members affected by eczema, and as a result of art-science collaborations during our recent Atopic Art Micro-Residency with Prof Sara Brown’s skin genetic research laboratory at the School of Medicine, University of Dundee. For this exhibiton we are delighted to partner with LifeSpace Science …

Atopic Experiences with Artist Beverley Hood

8 June 2017

by Beverley Hood, Atopic Art Micro-Residency Artist, June 2017 I’ve been working at the Brown Lab at Ninewells, since mid January 2017. It’s been such a welcoming place, with staff that are curious about how artists work, even though, I think at first somewhat unsure about what artists actually do. I’ve spent most of my time in the Brown Lab …

Cultures of Housekeeping

18 May 2017

by Gordon Douglas, Atopic Art Micro-Residency Artist, May 2017 Over the last three months, I have become fascinated with the organisational structures at Ninewells Hospital that help to organise communication, annotation and performance. As a practitioner, I’m already invested in researching the kinds of invisible infrastructure that govern our performance and actions in everyday life, so am feeling very inspired …

Atopic Art Micro-Residency | Art, Science and Introductions…

27 March 2017

Our Atopic Art Micro-Residency started out with introductions and conversations on the train as we travelled northwards across the Firth of Forth with artists Beverley Hood and Gordon Douglas for the beginning of this new residency at Professor Sara Brown’s skin genetic research laboratory, at the University of Dundee. We navigated our way across Dundee City finally reaching our destination …

Atopic Art Micro-Residency Artists announced

11 January 2017

We are delighted to announce that Beverley Hood and Gordon Douglas have been appointed for our new Atopic Art Micro-Residency and commission project with Prof Sara Brown. We very much look forward to working with them both over the course of the project. You can read more about both artists here Read more here about how the Atopic Art …

Interview with Prof Sara Brown

7 October 2016

Earlier this year we met with Professor Sara Brown, who we have partnered with for our Atopic Art project. We wanted to speak to her about how her research is progressing and why she is interested in working with artists. Sara spoke about the ups and downs researchers face doing the work that they do, ‘Some people think labs are …