Micro/Macro Exhibition

Micro/Macro Exhibition

Opening - Thursday 5 October 6-7pm

Exhibition continues until Wednesday 25 October, 2017

Location and opening hours https://www.csiro.au/en/Locations/ACT/Black-Mountain-discovery

Micro/Macro is a collaboration between CSIRO’s Australian National Insect Collection and the ANU’s School of Art & Design.

The outcomes of Micro/Macro are presented as experimental drawings by current ANU undergraduate students inspired by selected specimens of beetles. This exhibition is the result of an ongoing relationship between the School of Art & Design (SOAD) and the CSIRO. For the past four years, the Australian National Insect collection (ANIC) has lent a selection of their beetles for the Foundation studies course, Vision and Perception.

This year, for the first time, the results of this partnership are on public display. Insects can be scientifically represented by mapping their geographic locations, mapping their DNA, or, more traditionally, through precise taxonomic imagery such as the photos and black and white illustrations. However, this exhibition displays the exciting results when art students have only four hours in which to respond to these fascinating and diverse insects. Rather than replicating the specimens in detail, the students are encouraged to consider scale, patterns, colour and form as a creative exercise.  

The Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) holds 12 million pinned insect specimens which are a research resource for understanding and protecting Australia’s rich biodiversity and protecting Australia’s biosecurity. Brightly coloured with interesting patterns or bizarrely shaped, beetles are an incredibly diverse and successful group of insects that have been revered as sacred, used as food or decoration, kept as pets and used for entertainment. Beetles are distinguishable from other insects because their front pair of wings are hardened into wing cases, called elytra, which protect and cover their abdomens and membranous flight wings. This allows beetles to live in almost every habitat on earth, except the ocean.

Australian National Insect Collection https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/Collections/ANIC

Image: An SOAD student in class drawing an insect specimen from the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC), CSIRO

Updated:  27 September 2017/Responsible Officer:  Head of School/Page Contact:  CASS Marketing & Communications