AustLit

'Scale Free Network (SFN) is an art-science collaborative made up of two artists (Briony Barr & Jacqueline Smith) and a microbial ecologist (Dr Gregory Crocetti), based in Melbourne, Australia. Formed in 2008, SFN creates interdisciplinary workshops and participatory installations for children and adults, combining both artistic and scientific themes. Focused on the microscopic world as a source of inspiration and wonder, SFN projects visualise and explore this invisible realm. Using interactive microscopes, projections from the microworld, hands on sculpture and drawing techniques, the viewer-participant is asked not only to engage with what they are seeing, but also to question the human scale, from which they are so accustomed to seeing.

'Our familiar view of the everyday structures around us often prevents us from appreciating their complexity. Dust, coins, grains of sand, or our own skin cells are made strange when viewed through the lens of the microscope, becoming visible in the kind of intricate detail that always makes us wonder….

'Scale Free Network got started with a grant from the City of Melbourne to develop and produce a series of ‘microscope-drawing workshops’ for children (aged between 5 & 12 years ). These were held at ArtPlay, civic art studio in Melbourne. A recipient of National Science Week Grant that same year, SFN then presented a two-day Interactive Microscope and Drawing Exhibition, including artwork by over one hundred children – all participants in our ArtPlay workshop series.

'Since then, our art-science labs, workshops and participatory installations have been delivered as part of school holiday programs, regional school residencies, after-school programs, at festivals, farmers markets, art galleries and science institutions in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland. The list includes: CSIRO Double Helix Club, Regional Arts Victoria, National Science Week(s), The Big Draw Festival(s), Moomba Festival, Castlemaine Farmers Market, Queen Victoria Market, The Royal Institution of Australia, Free Range Science (RiAus), The Art Gallery of Ballarat and The Ipswich Art Gallery.'

(Organisation website: http://scalefreenetwork.com.au/about/background/)