“Art Through Science and Science Through Art”
By Lyndi Toohill
Coming in summer 2022, Nicholas Conservatory will welcome Delicate Forces, an immersive large-scale art exhibit by Skunk Control, a group of engineers, scientists, and educators from Australia.
The exhibition features five large botanically-inspired art installations that bring a sense of the wonder of nature through pieces uniquely created by chemical processes, mechatronics, and other technologies. While the combination of art and science may seem strange at first, Nick Athanasiou, founder of Skunk Control, insists that science and engineering “are similar to art; they prompt you to ask questions.”
Each piece consists of colorful dichroic materials, which create a kaleidoscope of color during the daylight and illuminate in the evening. The pieces also incorporate subtle mechatronic movements that mimic those found in nature.
Welcoming guests into the lobby, Hanging Gardens will be suspended from the lobby ceiling and will feature various sizes of dichroic flowers that open and close, revealing hidden ecosystems in the centers.
Fire Flowers are flowers on elongated stems, positioned in the lower infinity pond in the tropical exhibition area. Some parts of this installation will also be in the outside half of the infinity pond, beckoning visitors to come inside.
Hanging from the exhibition area’s frame, Horizon features a variety of 140 hanging flowers, some up to eight feet across! If you watch carefully, you will notice that some of the flowers slowly swivel, creating a moving kaleidoscope of color beneath them.
Delicate Forces will also be in the tropical exhibition area and consists of 13 mechatronic flowers, up to 10 feet tall, positioned throughout the beds, casting colorful shadows on the plants below.
On the green roof, Color Menagerie consists of 26 mechanically flittering butterflies, perched on flowers.
Unique to the artists of Skunk Control is their dedication to education. As part of the roughly three-week installation, not only will they install the artworks, but they will also educate through interactive science shows, demonstrating the ways in which color can be created. Family programs with the artists will have children and their caregivers creating artworks using science techniques used in the exhibit, like color mixing and simple machines. Program dates and opening reception information is coming in late spring!