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The Pathogen of War 







30 mins, Multimedia, 2024

The Pathogen of War transports you to 2073 to after the “Bio‑Rift”—the moment when bacteria became fully resistant to existing antibiotics, leading to the deaths of roughly half the world’s population. Set inside the future “Museum of Medical Archaeology,” the show traces the causes of the Bio‑Rift and reveals how war can accelerate biological threats, undermining antibiotics and global health.

Guided by Iraqi doctor‑turned‑anthropologist Dr Omar Dewachi, you follow a personal journey through Iraq’s recent past and learn how A. baumannii evolved from a benign organism into a “perfect killer,” dubbed “Iraqibacter” and “the invisible enemy” by the US military after their 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the world’s most antibiotic‑resistant pathogens, responsible for an estimated 50,000–100,000 deaths each year. This interactive immersive work draws on real scientific research and biography to imagine a speculative but plausible near future, examining the roots and dangers of antibiotic resistance. Blending pop culture, science, and life history, the experience reveals the many layers of this bacteria’s social history – from the microscopic to the geopolitical, unearthing how the consequences of war can drive pathogens, which threaten the viability of antibiotics, and our health, globally.

This unique work of immersive theatre uncovers this pathogen’s layered social history—from the microscopic to the geopolitical—and reveals how war is a major driver of pathogens, which in turn threaten the viability of antibiotics with potentially catastrophic implications for the health of everyone on the planet.

World Premiere at CPH:Dox Inter:Active Exhibition March 2024
Arab World Premiere at DCAF, Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival, Cairo, October 2025

Winner of FORUM DES IMAGES - NEWIMAGES AWARD at CPH:DOX 2022 for best prototype



Press
Featured in Art of Life - BBC Arabic

More information at Black Leaf Films


Director: Yasmin Fedda
Writers: Yasmin Fedda & Dan Davies
Creative Technologist: Gavin Morris / Xavier Velastin / Mohamed El-Araby
Sound designer and Composition: James Bulley
Touch Designer and GFX: Pierangelo Pirak & Vincenzo Siracusano
Production assistant Fisayo Ademiluyi & Amaya Gonzalez 
Set designer: Isobel Power Smith
Interactive Consultant/Theatre director - Ryan Van Winkle 
Producer - Dan Davies, Black Leaf Films
Executive Producers: Anagram
Arabic version narrator: Lina Sakr
Arabic version news voice: Radwan Sawan



The Pathogen of War by Yasmin Fedda was developed with CPH:Lab at CPH:Dox (2021/22), and through a residency at the National Theatre Immsersive Story Telling Studio (NTISS) in 2023, in collaboration with Anagram.

Assistant Producer, National Theatre Immersive Storytelling Studio: Benjamin Smith
Head of Immersive Storytelling Studio: Toby Coffey

Preview commissioned by Shubbak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Cultures (2023), supported by Battersea Arts Centre

Supported by Queen Mary University of London

A Production of Black Leaf Films

Arabic version supported by DCAF Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival, Cairo, Egypt (2025)