Spectra: The Art and Consequence of Collaboration presents eight Australian artists who courageously cross boundaries by deeply engaging with the sciences, resulting in an extraordinarily vibrant and diverse array of artworks. Their research not only impacts on their own artistic practices, it has opened up new horizons for the scientists they have worked with. This is where the potency of arts science collaboration lies: in its ability to spark new ideas, provide critical perspectives on some of the great questions of our time, and develop new forms of expression that speak to the sophisticated technological era we live in.

Many of the artists utilise scientific research and new technological tools to reconnect people to the reality of the physical world. By studying the growth of lichen in the forests of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, Joyce Hinterding ponders how the adaptations of lichen might present new opportunities for biomimicry. Inspired by his residency at CERN, Chris Henschke’s work Resonance gives visual expression to a phenomenon seen at both the microscopic and macroscopic scale. Erica Seccombe’s Out of Season has utilised advances in microscopic scanning technologies to reveal the wonder of natural processes impossible to see with the naked eye. Helen Pynor’s video work reminds us that scientists bring human feelings and passion to their work. Leah Heiss is also interested in bringing a human dimension to her design practice by personalising medical devices, a challenge to the norms of the health sciences.

In Martin Walch’s Terra Antarctica, the result of a recent residency at the Mawson Station in Antarctica, he shows a keen interest in observing a little-known aspect of the natural world. Leah Barclay’s Migration Patterns: From Freshwater to Saltwater brings this same observational rigour to explore an equally unfamiliar environment, our aqua-sphere. David Haines’ Slow Fast Mountains appeals to the evocative power of our olfactory senses, triggering lived and ancestral memories of our connections to the earth.

Produced by Australian Network for Art and Technology
Curated by Experimenta
Curator: Jonathan Parsons
Associate Curator: Nicky Pastore