Degree of arts and sciences

ARTISTS are getting scientific and scientists are getting arty, as they collaborate to explore our ever-changing planet through an exhibition opening at Hobart’s IMAS building this week.

For Welcome to the Anthropocene, leading scientists from IMAS, the CSIRO and the Centre for Marine Socioecology have teamed up with artists Ken and Julia Yonetani, Pony Express and Selena de Carvalho to create artworks that comment on themes including climate change, sustainability and the future of food.

The Yonetanis have collaborated with Associate Professor Julia Blanchard on Web of Life, using more than 6km of glowing fishing wire to build a UV-lit web which acts as a metaphor for both “our seemingly insatiable appetite for fish, and for the hidden interconnection between things”.

Welcome to the Anthropocene has been facilitated by Hobart’s Constance Artist-Run Initiative, and curator Kira Askaroff hopes the exhibition will bring art, science and the community together in new ways.

“We have two worldleading scientific centres in Hobart, but little of that cutting-edge scientific discovery is communicated directly to the public,” she said.

“Welcome to the Anthropocene gives artists and scientists the opportunity to present complex scientific information to the community through visualisation and shared experience.”

It will be open in the IMAS building (Castray Esplanade) from Thursday until February 9. Go to www.constanceari.org for more information.