Mandus Ridefelt is a biologist, artist, night porter, writer, administrator, singer, high school teacher and cultural researcher. Mandus lives in Copenhagen and works internationally.

Kofta Machine - A Public Health Drama 

Köttbullemaskinen – Ett Folkhälsodrama

In February 2014, the Egyptian military presented a new series of biomedical devices claiming to be able to diagnose and cure HIV and Hepatitis C. At the press conference, held in this volatile period, after the 2011 revolution and between the 2013 military coup d’état and the upcoming elections, the army general and herbalist Ibrahim Abdel Ati stated that the machine will “make kofta [meatballs] out of the virus.”

The episode stands as an absurdist case of a scientific scam elevated to the level of statecraft. Here, the relation between reason, authority and aesthetics diffract through a black-box prism, emitting beams of illumination and occlusion in a parodical rhythm. What is science and biomedicine at the onset of a planetary fever? How did it get this far?

The performance experience Kofta Machine, by Mandus Ridefelt and Simiyya presents this story from the viewpoint of the machine itself. Artist Inger Sif Heeschen has produced a ceramic replica of the Kofta Machine based on its patent drawings.

by Mandus Ridefelt

Research: Simiyya (Mandus Ridefelt, Mostafa El Baroody, Assem Hendawi)

Ceramics: Inger Sif Heeschen

CGI-animation: Mostafa El Baroody

Costume: Ba Bladh

Music: S McEvoy

Thank you Eylül Isçen, Ward Alkhalaf, Ali Adawy, Nellie Lindquist, Madeleine Andersson, Maxime Hourani

Simiyya is funded by Nordisk Kulturfond Globus and supported by the Danish Arts Council.

Mandus Ridefelt is part of Norbergfestival 2025's bleed: program.