Experimenta Life Forms (ATOM Study Guide)

Experimenta is dedicated to the future of art: commissioning, presenting and touring contemporary art driven by technology. The organisation's programs are quite unlike anything else and redefine what art can be, embracing the practices of bio art, creative coding, robotics, data-driven works, virtual and augmented reality.

Synopsis:

Philosophers have wrestled with defining life for thousands of years. Experimenta Life Forms reveals how contemporary artists are approaching this perennial question, at a time when technological change and new research findings are making definitions of 'life' increasingly difficult to pin down.

What new life forms are emerging through technological and biological adaptation and invention? Are our definitions of life shifting because of new scientific discoveries? How do First Nations' epistemologies influence our ways of thinking and understanding life? How are notions of our place in the web of life changing now that research is identifying sentience in animals, plant-life, and maybe soon to be found in our machines?

Experimenta Life Forms is a timely exhibition featuring a range of artforms including robotics, bio-art, screen-based works, installations, participatory and generative art. The exhibition showcases 26 leading Australian and international artists whose work makes a significant contribution to current dialogues about the changing landscape of life as we know it.

Curriculum Links:

This resource is designed to complement a visit to the Experimenta Life Forms, International Triennial of Media Art exhibition and has been developed for primary and secondary teachers and students to enable exploration and learning before, during and after their exhibition visit. This study guide expands on the exhibition themes, the artists, their artworks and the technology and techniques involved in their creation.

The Experimenta Life Forms exhibition and study guide offers many opportunities to promote Australian Curriculum Learning Areas, General Capabilities and Cross-curriculum Priorities.

Links can be made to the following Australian Curriculum Learning Areas:

• The Arts
• English
• Science
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• Technologies

Teachers are advised to access the Australian Curriculum website for relevant content descriptions and achievement standards or the senior curriculum syllabus documents for their state or territory.