The Art and Science of Linen accepted into Museum Collection

Alex May’s video work The Art and Science of Linen was accepted into the permanent collection of the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum. Made with Anna Dumitriu and microbiologist Dr John Paul, with a soundtrack by Martin A. Smith, the work follows the full ecology of linen production, from flax and retting bacteria to industrial manufacture and cultural memory.

That acquisition matters because the video is closely tied to the history it explores. It includes footage recorded at the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum and at McConville’s Flax Mill and Museum, where the material processes behind linen production can still be seen. Entering the museum’s permanent collection placed the work inside the same institutional context as the textile histories, tools, and labour traditions it reflects on.

Within May’s wider practice, the piece shows an early and clear interest in using digital media to hold together scientific process, cultural memory, and material history. Rather than presenting linen as a finished object, the work treats it as something shaped by bacteria, industry, and time, which is precisely why its acquisition by a museum dedicated to that history feels so exact.