The Melbourne Newsroom

Leading artists and scientists will examine storms scientifically, artistically and metaphorically as part of a public exhibition on how art and science can combine to communicate and solve problems. Storm includes a two-week exhibition of artworks inspired by the wind, rain and snow, culminating in a symposium to discuss the Indigenous, meteorological, medical, historical, visual and musical significance of storms. Director of the Lung Health Research Centre in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and contributing artist Professor Gary Anderson said the collaboration was sparked by the thunderstorm asthma emergency in 2016. "We have used part of this project to examine storm asthma and how medicine and art can work together to raise public awareness, prevent fatalities and open up creative and unorthodox approaches" Professor Anderson said. "Creativity is as essential to the scientific process as artistic method and an interdisciplinary approach opens up new ways of examining and understanding the world around us." Director of the Victorian College of the Arts in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music and project lead Professor Jon Cattapan said the Storm exhibition and symposium are part of a University of Melbourne initiative to engage the public in the research of both scientists and artists, following a global trend among cultural, scientific and educational institutions to optimise such collaborations.