Steve Lopes, Calculated Figure III (detail), 2012, watercolour and collage, 50 x 80cm. Courtesy the artist
The art world is not often regarded as being similar to the scientific community. The stereotype of an artist does not usually seem in line with that of the nerdy or nutty scientist. However, a residency that took place in the science laboratories of the Free Radical Centre at Melbourne University debunks many of the preconceptions. The artists’ studios and the scientists’ laboratories share many similarities where the unique investigation of quite focused and specific ideas is explored in finite detail.
Throughout 2012, six artists – Tony Lloyd, Steve Lopes, Anna Madeleine, Natalie O’Connor, Peter Sharp and Ruth Waller – took part in a residency program, Insight Radical, which saw each of them spend time with a group of scientists all working on and developing research around free radicals. The scientists worked with the artists, giving demonstrations of their experiments and discussing the ‘real world’ impact of their research.
Insight Radical is a unique project that has brought together seemingly disparate worlds and what the residency has highlighted is two-fold. Firstly, the importance of science for art and artists with the development of new technology and improving the archival elements of their chosen material; and secondly, that the artist and the scientist hold similar values in looking at and exploring the world. From within their respective studios and laboratories, these professionals investigate ideas in finite ways most of us won’t ever comprehend.
Griffin Gallery, London
30 July to 30 August 2013
