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Monday, 17 January 2011

Science and art are set to collide this month when The University of Western Australia's SymbioticA and Dublin's Science Gallery launch: Visceral:  The Living Art Experiment.

Visceral explores our changing understandings and perceptions of life in the light of rapid developments in the life sciences and their applied technologies.  A range of award-winning work from 17 artists challenges visitors to consider the tension between art and science and the cultural, economic and ethical implications of biosciences today.

Curated by SymbioticA's Director Oron Catts and SymbioticA's leading researcher Dr Ionat Zurr, Visceral will bring together more than a decade of work developed through SymbioticA's art-science residency program at The University of Western Australia.

Works in the exhibition include ‘Midas' by Paul Thomas, which examines the space where skin and gold meet; ‘Silent Barrage' by Neurotica which investigates the nature of thoughts, free will, and neural dysfunction using cells' responses to audience movements to ‘silence' electrical impulses;  ‘The Vision Splendid' by Alicia King, a reliquary of cultured tissue within an artist-designed bioreactor, exploring immortality and miracles; Abhishek Hazra's experiment to extract ammonia from breast milk and a tournament between blood cells by Kathy High.

‘Whispered worries' will also be collected over the course of the exhibition by TC&A's 'The Semi-Living Worry Dolls' and a one-night-only sleep architecture performance conducted by Lisa Carrie Goldberg which will be viewed from the street on Friday 29 January.

SymbioticA will also facilitate a workshop on lab techniques used by artists, as well as a series of artists' talks and events during the intensive first weekend starting January 29, culminating in a ‘funeral' of living cells produced during the exhibition on February 25.

Visceral:  The Living Art Experiment will be held in the Science Gallery , Dublin, from January 28 - February 25, 2011.

SymbioticA, The Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts is a jointly funded initiative between The University of Western Australia and the Western Australian Department of Culture and the Arts.

Media references

Visceral curators: Oron Catts , Ionat Zurr
Rachel Glasgow (+61 8)  6488 5583
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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