MaverInk
← All work
Exhibition · Science Gallery Bengaluru · 2021

CONTAGION

Transmission of diseases, behaviours and emotions. Falling Walls Winner, Science Engagement, 2021.

CONTAGION key visual
ROLE
Programme Manager: curation, programming, online experience design
WHEN
30 April – 31 December 2021
FORMAT
Fully online, made fully remotely
AWARD
Falling Walls Winner 2021, Science Engagement

There have been pandemics before. Knowing that gave us hope that we could face this one together.

CONTAGION was the largest exhibition we made entirely remotely, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixteen interactive exhibits connected to lectures, tutorials, workshops, masterclasses, events and films, giving visitors many ways into the idea of contagion.

Catalogue ↗ Archive ↗ Video ↗ Falling Walls ↗
16EXHIBITS
34ARTISTS
91PROGRAMMES
3,67,000+VIEWS
CURATORIAL APPROACH

Everything spreads

We designed CONTAGION around transmission in all its forms. Alongside the virus, the exhibition looked at misinformation (The Glass Room), computer viruses (Malware Museum), laughter (When the World Was a Laugh) and the histories of past epidemics, from cholera in London to plague in Bombay.

New commissions like Anaïs Tondeur's When the World Was a Laugh, which crowd-sourced laughter from around the world, and Fluid Dialogues by Basse Stittgen and T. Jayashree captured transmission in very different ways. Archival works by Ranjit Kandalgaonkar and Christos Lynteris showed how society lived through the plague.

A figure in a forest with a gramophone horn
When the World Was a Laugh · Anaïs Tondeur, Floriane Pochon
Archival photograph of a man at work in a plague camp
Controlling the Plague in British India · Christos Lynteris
A colourful drawn map of a city
THERIAK | The Disease Map · Sarah Craske · ETH Zurich

Digital spaces can foster real connection and learning, even in isolation.

HIGHLIGHT

Social rooms and the Arcade

Curated collections of books, games and podcasts, cross-referenced to exhibits and programmes, gave visitors new ways into a difficult topic. Games in the Arcade, like The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds, surprised our young audiences and kept them coming back.

Title screen of a game about crowds
The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds · Nicky Case, in the Arcade
HIGHLIGHT

A live experiment

With UCL's Daniel Richardson and Parklife, visitors took part in a live online experiment on how behaviour spreads.

Old medicine bottles with labels
Contagion in the 21st Century · RKI museum
A pixel-art character over a DOS screen
Malware Museum · Mikko Hyppönen
Archival photograph of a plague inoculation
Controlling the Plague in British India · Christos Lynteris

EXHIBITS & ARTISTS

  1. 01Contagion in the 21st CenturyEsther-Maria Antao · RKI museum
  2. 02Malware MuseumMikko Hyppönen
  3. 03Mapping CholeraSonia Shah, Dan McCarey
  4. 04The Glass Room: Misinformation EditionTactical Tech, DensityDesign
  5. 05THERIAK | The Disease MapSarah Craske · ETH Zurich
  6. 06Wendell Stanley: Crystallizing Viral HistoryBancroft Library, Lindau
  7. 072020 VisionRobert Good
  8. 08A Cluster of 17 CasesBlast Theory
  9. 09COVID-19 Indoor Safety GuidelinesBush, Bazant, Khan
  10. 10The Chameleon ProjectTina Gonsalves
  11. 11When the World Was a LaughAnaïs Tondeur, Floriane Pochon
  12. 12Controlling the Plague in British IndiaChristos Lynteris
  13. 13Drawing the Bombay PlagueRanjit Kandalgaonkar
  14. 14Fluid DialoguesBasse Stittgen, T. Jayashree
  15. 15Moulding Modern MedicineWellcome Library, CABI, Bonhams
  16. 16Putting the Ant into AntibioticsJohn Innes Centre

TEAM

Curatorial teamDanielle Olsen, Jahnavi Phalkey
Programme ManagerMadhushree Kamak

CREDITS & SUPPORT

Presented by
← All work Next: PHYTOPIA →