Insight Radical: Where Science Meets Art

Overview

Contrary to popular conception, art and science are buddies. At the forefront of this friendship is Insight Radical, an Australian initiative exploring the fertile intersection between these disciplines in exciting and inspiring ways. This unique collective of artists and scientists will be exhibiting works at the McLemoi Gallery from November 27 until December 9.

The aim of Insight Radical: Where Science Meets Art is to capture a creative journey into free radical chemistry. If you’re unfamiliar with this particular branch of science, free radicals are molecules with unpaired electrons that are very reactive and damaging in their quest to find another electron. Whilst that’s flowing through your mind pipes, you might wonder what this has to do with art. Think luminous light media, sound-activated paintings, and sci-fi landscapes.

To give a glimpse into these intriguing hybrid practices, Natalie O’Connor will be engaging with the way chemical processes both form and deteriorate paint. She states, “as artists, we have to predict how paint will perform for future generations.” Tony Lloyd, on the other hand, is taking the chain reaction and projecting it into landscape painting, offering the idea that paintings based on science are a form of science-fiction.