Friday Seminar Series

The ethos of SymbioticA is that ideas are discussed and shared openly and the Friday Seminar Series is designed to allow an open forum to disseminate artistic, scientific, ethical and philosophical research and practice of resident researchers, visiting artists and scholars to our University. Our Friday Seminar Series are held, salon style, in our studio space at commence at 3.30pm. All welcome.

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Symbiotica- Matt Johnson

SymbioticA will be holding regular Friday Seminars in 2010.
Location: SymbioticA Room 228, Level 2, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, UWA

All welcome.

2010 Friday Seminars

March 19 2010
Speaker: Steve Smith
Title: A Vision of Our Energy Future
Time: 3:30 - 5pm

Despite what our leaders and many scientists say, alternative supplies of energy are neither renewable nor sustainable. They are limited by the finite resources that we continue to dig from the earth.  Most people assume that recycling of such resources will allow civilisation

to continue indefinitely in its current style, but the laws of thermodynamics do not allow this. Our grandchildren and their grandchildren face a future with ever diminishing resources and  energy. How will this unfold? There will be conflict as humans fight over ever dwindling resources (fossil fuels, minerals, water, food).

This will be exacerbated by climate change. What will emerge will be societies in which people learn to live with far less energy and far less wealth than now. Their values and priorities will be much  different to ours. Yet humanity will have a technological capability far beyond today's. This seminar aims to create a vision of our  descendant's resource-limited, energy-poor, knowledge-rich world.

Steve Smith is Professor of Plant Genomics in the School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, and Chief Investigator in the ARC CoE in Plant Energy Biology at UWA. He has previously been  employed at CSIRO Division of Plant Industry in Canberra and the University of Edinburgh, and came to UWA as a Federation Fellow. His research focuses on plant energy metabolism – how plants capture and use energy from the sun. He coordinates a Bioenergy Forum at UWA.

March 26 2010
Speaker: Philip Gamblen
Title:  Relay Artist talk
Location: Heathcote Museum and Gallery.
Time: TBA

Philip Gamblen will give an artist talk at his Relay exhibition at the Heathcote Gallery.  Relay takes its name from the electromechanical switch that was first used in long-distance telegraph circuits, but also refers to ‘relaying information’ – a reference to communication in general. Radio waves and magnetic fields are harnessed; they are then modified, shaped and (metaphorically) sculpted to produce a series of artworks that through combinations of various materials are visually and conceptually evocative.

Philip specialises in the use of mechanics, electronics and robotics to create interactive art that is largely informed by science and technology. A former gem cutter from Canada, Philip now works as a visual artist in Perth, Australia where he graduated from Curtin University with an Honours Degree in Fine Art. He has collaborated with other artists and scientists on biological based research projects through SymbioticA at The University of Western Australia. Gamblen has exhibited his work extensively both nationally and internationally for the last several years, including the recent exhibition Corpus Extremis at Exit Gallery, New York. His work is represented in numerous collections including the Kerry Stokes Collection.

Relay will run from Friday, 12 March to Sunday, 18 April 2010 and is a collaboration with the City of Melville Museums and Local History Service and supported by the WA Govt. Department of Culture and the Arts.

Phil is also a featured artist in the 2010 Perth International Arts Festival.

Heathcote Museum and Gallery is on Duncraig Road, in Applecross. It is open Tuesday to Friday from 10.00am to 3.00pm, and weekends from 11.00am to 3.00pm. For more information, call the gallery on (08) 9364 5666.