Entitled "Life’s a Gas", the Art+Science exhibition is timed to coincide with the first week of the school holidays — running from this Saturday to October 8 at Dunedin Community Gallery, 26 Princes St.
Exhibition and public programme curator Pam McKinlay, of Dunedin, said the project included artists and scientists from a range of organisations in Dunedin and the wider Otago area, including the Dunedin School of Art and University of Otago.
"In this, the ninth theme in the Art+Science collaboration series, we will be exploring the many interconnected notions of ‘air’, scaling between human breath and planetary breathing in the past, present and future," Ms McKinlay said.
Artists and scientists involved in the project explore a broad range of questions, such as: What happens when we are breathing? How does our sense of smell work? How does a fish breathe under water? How does a worm breathe in the soil? What’s in our air?
The "Life’s a Gas" Art+Science exhibition also explores human thinking that terrestrial trees and plants are the "lungs of the earth" — photosynthesising oxygen and cleaning the air.
However, every second breath we take is made in the ocean.
Ms McKinlay said there would be free art-making, games and activities suitable for children, to be held during the week and weekend.
These activities include a chance to meet the scientists, a dance performance, breathing workshops, making musical instruments, drawing with life, and more.
All sessions are free, and are advertised on Eventbrite and facebook — children must be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.
A Light as Air Cake Challenge competition for cake bakers and decorators will be held in association with the exhibition, with categories including stratospheric layer cakes, photosynthesising plant cake, seaweed or phytoplankton cake, and more.
Cake entries will be judges at the Community Gallery at noon on Saturday, October 8.
