Biology meets technology in contemporary art exhibition

Biology meets technology in contemporary art exhibition

A new exhibition that explores ideas of futuristic biologies and the intersection of art and science will open at the UQ Art Museum on  Saturday 17 June.

New Alchemists comes to The University of Queensland from the Salamanca Arts Centre in Tasmania and includes contemporary artworks by Australian and international artists that explore connections between technology, natural phenomena and culture.

Curator Dr Alicia King said the exhibition positions the artists as contemporary alchemists, and features works that invite audiences to channel experiences beyond our accessible human and non-human worlds.

“I'm really interested in the social impact of technology – the way we approach technology, our cultural relationship with it and the way it’s thought to be innately symbiotic to maintaining human life,” Dr King said.

“A large part of that is exploring utopian and dystopian ideas of technological futures and our relationship to our biological environment.

“The exhibition may spark more questions than answers – it invites the viewer to enter into a space of enquiry to explore a spectrum of approaches to life, from the mechanised to the visceral – at times challenging, absurd, and insightful.”

UQ Art Museum Director Dr Campbell Gray said the exhibition would be a conversation starter.

“UQ Art Museum is a place where visitors can be engaged and challenged to consider important questions about what’s happening in the world – New Alchemists prompts us to think about the future impact of science and technology on our lives.”

Featured artists include Art Orienté Objet (France); Michaela Gleave (Australia); Ian Haig (Australia); Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr (Australia); Nadège Philippe-Janon (Australia); Thomas Thwaites (UK) and Lu Yang (China).

New Alchemists, which runs from 17 June to 3 September 2017, is a Salamanca Art Centre exhibition toured by Contemporary Art Tasmania.

Download images for print and web here.

Media: Sonia Uranishi, sonia@soniauranishicommunication.com, +61 409 387 623; Sebastian Moody, s.moody@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 8761.