Blood Wars is an art-science installation that will pit white blood cells from two different people against each other in a "tournament" that aims to see which person has the strongest immune system.

The piece -- by artist Kathy High -- forms part of a new experimental exhibition between research laboratory SymbioticA and Dublin's Science Gallery, called Visceral. Visceral explores the boundaries between art and living systems, bringing together more than a decade of work developed through SymbioticA's art-science residency programme at The University of Western Australia. The aim is to show the tension between art and science and the cultural, economic and ethical implications of biosciences today.

In order to create the blood duel, High gets a phlebotomist to take blood samples from two different people. She then separates the white blood cells from the rest of the blood and stains them using different colours. They are then placed in a Petri dish and their interactions are filmed under a microscope using time-lapse microscopy. The cellular "winner" of each round will go onto fight another participant.


Other exhibits include Semi-Living Worry Dolls, which are tissue-engineered sculptures inspired by Guatemalan worry dolls given to children to tell their concerns to. They are fashioned out of degradable polymers and then seeded with living cells that, throughout the exhibition, will gradually replace the polymers within a micro-gravity bioreactor that acts as a surrogate body.

There is also a piece called Cryobook Archives, featuring a series of handmade books made from human and pig tissue, HaCat cells and a synthetic biological virus (Lentivirus).

They are displayed in a portable freezer unit.

In addition to the 15 extraordinary works from artists around the world, the exhibition will also feature "Lab Out of Context", where artists and scientists create new work and research in view of Science Gallery visitors.

Visceral runs until 25 February at Dublin's Science Gallery. You can check out the weird and wonderful gallery below.