In a lecture with a difference, members are invited into a rare dialogue between art and science, where conceptual boundaries are tested and reimagined. The event brings together a conceptual artist whose research-driven, interdisciplinary practice reflects critically and poetically on the materials and methodologies of science, and an esteemed scientist from Australia’s National Measurement Institute (NMI), responsible for shaping the nation’s physical measurement standards.

Through their distinct yet intersecting perspectives, the speakers explore the poetics of precision, the aesthetics of data, and the human impulse to quantify and understand the world, offering a rich conversation that blurs the lines between empirical inquiry and artistic imagination.

This should prove to be a fascinating lecture marking the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Metre Convention—a pivotal moment in scientific history that forever changed the way we measure the world.

Speakers

Dr Jan Herrman is a physicist responsible for Australia's physical measurement capabilities at the NMI. Prior to taking up his post at NMI, Jan was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San diego before moving to CSIRO, where he worked on topics ranging from superconductors to nanoparticle films. He joined NMI in 2008.

Dr Sara Moratwetz is a conceptual artist interested in the systems and structures that shape how we see and what we know, her work interrogates scientific and cultural apparatus that convey precision, accuracy and determinacy, yet remain slippery, speculative and whimsical when ‘tested in the field.’ Her projects involve collaborations with international scientific institutions, and her work has been exhibited internationally.

Join us at 3.30 pm for some refreshment before the lecture at 4.00pm.