Art of Science Exhibition

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s annual Art of Science exhibition showcases stunning images and videos captured by Australian medical researchers tackling some of the biggest challenges facing global health.

Taking place during National Science Week, the Art of Science exhibition runs from 10 – 19 August 2018 at Melbourne’s Federation Square. The experience shines a light on biomedical exploration and discovery traversing the vast and complex research areas of cancer, infectious diseases and immune disorders.

See how blood vessels sprout from a piece of bone grown in the laboratory; watch breast cancer cells ‘caught on camera’ as they attempt to run riot in other parts of the body; and be unsettled by a writhing parasite ‘playground’ captured under the microscope with an iPhone.

Director of the Institute, Professor Doug Hilton said Art of Science was like a ‘backstage pass’ into the laboratory revealing how medical researchers worked to better understand, prevent and treat disease.

“The images and videos in our Art of Science exhibition provide magnificent insight into the challenges our biomedical researchers are working to address – whether that’s stopping aggressive cancers from spreading in the body; finding ways to outsmart the malaria mosquito; or pinpointing what is going awry in development where birth defects such as spina bifida and cleft palate occur,” Professor Hilton said.

Professor Hilton said the exhibition offered a unique opportunity for the public to grasp how rapid advances in medical imaging technology were enabling researchers to visualise the unseeable in impressive detail.

“Visitors to the exhibition get the chance to see what blood vessels look like when they migrate to form conduits that transport food, oxygen and germ-fighting immune cells throughout the body.

“They’ll also see a life-size snapshot of breast tissue, resembling blossoms at the end of a stem, that in reality is no bigger than a few grains of rice,” Professor Hilton said.

Institute staff and scientists will be in The Atrium at Federation Square between 10am-6pm throughout the exhibition period, to show visitors around and answer their questions.

A time-honoured competition

The Art of Science exhibition is also a showcase of 20 finalists from the Institute’s annual Art of Science competition, which was founded in 1997 by former Institute director Professor Suzanne Cory.

This year, our esteemed panel of judges is from Museums Victoria and includes CEO Lynley Marshall; Senior Curator for Human Biology and Medicine Johanna Simkin; and Collections Curator for Engineering Matilda Vaughan.

“My selection was made on the basis of artistic appeal, representation of subject matter and the degree to which the image engaged me with the subject,” Ms Marshall said.

The public also get to have their say. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to vote for their favourite image in the ever popular People’s Choice Awards for the chance to win a framed print of their choice.