A group of artists and scientists have proved there can be a meeting of minds even on complicated concepts such as genetics.
Otago School of Art senior lecturer Peter Stupples talked to Rebecca Fox of the Otago Daily Times. He said this year's exhibition was linked to the Conference of the Genetics Society of Australasia being hosted at the University of Otago. For the past seven years, art school students, staff and other artists had joined with scientists to create artworks during an about eight-month period. This year the artists were working with those in the genetics and biochemistry fields.
''The idea is not to illustrate science but mainly to bring science to the public, to show people who come to the show an idea of science.''
The incoming Director of Genetics Otago Associate Professor Julia Horsfield had two separate works created from her research. She says the real thrill for her, was seeing how the artists were inspired by not just by her topic, but by the process of her research. The works that emerge cover all sorts of media - sometimes paintings but also drawings, video, sculpture and printmaking. See images of the artworks here.
The exhibition, at the H D Skinner Annex, Otago Museum, ran from 4 to 16 July. A big crowd including many of the conference attendees were at the opening, with a steady number of visitors each day afterwards. In conference feedback, one delegate said the exhibition was a highlight.
One of the scientists involved in the project tweeted "So super happy with the Art & Genetics collaboration!" Another scientist described the exhibition as one where worlds collide. Genetics Otago wondered whether "Art + Genetics = Another dimension?". Seeing their research interpreted by artists has given researchers in the University’s Genetics Otago Research Centre a new way to view their own work.
Find out more about the works in the Art and Genetics exhibition here.
Read more about Peter Stupples' research here.