From scientific discovery into art

01 Mar 2013

Exhibition in Canberra 15 February - 8 March 2013

Dr Mary Rosengren's exhibition draws on the CSIRO's rich archive to tell stories about the threatened crimson spider orchid in words and images. These stories line the room in decorative wallpaper - a reference to the drawing room of Carl Linneaus, the 18th century scientist who invented the genus-species system for naming plants, where plates from works on flowers papered his walls.

Around the Drawing Room this decorative wallpaper backdrop uses images, inscriptions and textual material sources from historical and contemporary experiences and observations that articulate the complex ecology of the threatened Australian Crimson spider orchid Caladenia concolor. The space of the Drawing Room reflects the synthesis of visual and verbal narratives in science, art and technology.

Mary Rosengren’s installations and media works explore overlays between visual art, science and technology. Her research of images natural phenomena and dynamic systems has taken her to the extreme environments of Lake Mungo, NSW, the Cairngorm Mountains Scotland and the Antarctic Peninsular and into significant scientific collections and contemporary research facilities in Australia and the UK.

A recipient of the Australian network for Art and Technology (ANAT) Synapse6 residency program on CSIRO’s Black Mountain campus in 2011, Mary’s research of the connections between Biological Collections and different aspects of CSIRO research extends professional thinking about interdisciplinarity and the appraisal of images within science and art contexts.