Restless Balance
ASU Art Museum presents “Restless Balance,” a new exhibition by boredomresearch opening Dec. 5. British artists Vicky Isley and Paul Smith of boredomresearch worked with leading science institutions to create dynamic video installations that explore how large-scale environmental changes alter disease transmission.
“‘Restless Balance’” takes on new relevance as we navigate the complexities of a global pandemic and re-examine the delicate relationship between human health and our social and natural environments,” says Brittany Corrales, curator at the ASU Art Museum.
The exhibition includes the U.S. premiere of the video installation, “In Search of Chemozoa,” along with three earlier works. “In Search of Chemozoa” was created with researchers at the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center at the ASU Biodesign Institute, where they are working on radically new ways of thinking about cancer treatment.
Other works in the exhibition are based upon animated robots navigating Venice’s polluted canals, flight patterns of mosquitos carrying malaria and intertidal snails adjusting to changing coastal conditions.
“In the greater scheme of things, the differences between science and art are fewer than one might think. Both take imagination, observation, curiosity and creativity and without those critical elements, neither can do their work,” says Pamela Winfrey, scientific research curator at the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center. The artists present a daring new vision for technological innovation, centered on uniting the domains of art, science and society.
“In seeking serenity we find ourselves in motion. Sacrificing the sanctuary of the familiar, to imagine a place where health is maintained both in our bodies as well as the spaces through which they wonder,” says boredomresearch. “Searching for stability we push against the tide maintaining a restless balance between uncertainty and hope.”
Restless Balance: boredomresearch
Through April 24, 2021
ASU Art Museum, 51 E. 10th St., Tempe
For more information, visit asuartmuseum.asu.edu.
