Language of Life: #Biomimicry in #Architecture, Art, Design and Science #Sydney #binarism #geekgirl

Language of Life – Biomimicry in Architecture, Art, Design and Science

What is the song a hummingbird sings? What do graffiti artists and street cats have in common? What formations are shared between a microcosm and the universe? Can buildings be interactive?

Biomimicry seeks to solve human problems using ideas from our biological world. Deeply embedded in nature are formulas that aid in finding solutions in our everyday lives. The exhibition ‘Language of Life’ showcases a shared interest between architects, visual artists, fashion designers and scientists in a collection of works that not only transcribe nature into their own fields, but identify and interpret what is useful to them, opening a conversation between these different fields.

Lucian Gormley and Hugo Raggett challenge the notion of architecture as static with their adaptive constructions of interactive hexagonal cells. Guy Morgan interprets the night sky in his vast paintings and video works that play with the psychology of vision, drawing out the colour that is there, but invisible to us at low light. Nicola Coady, combining two forms of culture, explores microbe colonies as living decorative devices by coating lampshades in yoghurt and allowing nature to take its course.

In contemporary design, architecture and the visual arts, we are increasingly working with material phenomena, interactive behaviour and complex, interdependent, structural relationships that are deeply embedded in nature. These works interrogate the familiar fabric of our existences that deem us human. Between nature and nurture, between artifice and art, they challenge our notion of the human/nature binarism.

Language enables conversation, by initiating communication, and this is what the exhibition aspires to do, opening a platform for interdisciplinary communication. ‘Language of Life’ explores artistic, technological, computational and philosophical trajectories through observations of natural expressions and biomimetic processes. The exhibition collates installations, paintings, animations, experiments and devices developed in different disciplines of the University of Sydney: Sydney College of the Arts; The Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning; Medical Science, and the School of Engineering. Curated by Dr Dagmar Reinhardt, Lecturer of Digital Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, and Greg Shapley, Verge Gallery.

WHAT: Language of Life: Biomimicry in Architecture, Art, Design and Science (art exhibition) WHO: Artists include: Caitlin Abbott, Eduardo Barata, Iain Blampied, Nicola Coady, Michiru Cohen, Armando Chant, Kate Dunn, Lisa Fathalla, Lucian Gormley, Tyrone Jandey, Flora Mavrommati, Guy Morgan, Luke O’Donnell, Hugo Raggett, Donna Sgro, Ian Stewart, Alexandra Smith, Will Swan, Sara Sweet and Elmar Trefz. Curated by Dagmar Reinhardt and Greg Shapley WHEN: Opening March 29, 6pm. March 30-April 6 (Monday-Friday 10am-5pm) WHERE: Verge Gallery, City Road, Jane Foss Russell Plaza, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

CONTACT: Greg Shapley on (02) 9562-6218 or email g.shapley@usu.usyd.edu.au