2017 :: Australian Antarctic Division & CSIRO

In 2017 ANAT increased its engagement with federal science and research infrastructure via new fellowship and residency programs.

The successful recipients of ANAT’s inaugural Synapse CSIRO Residencies were three artists. Anton Hasell worked with Daniel East and the Lab 22 – 3D Printed Structures research team, while Jiann Hughes worked with Xavier Mulet, JJ Richardson and the Metal Organic Frameworks research team, and James Geurts worked with Richard Evans and his Polymer Coatings for Cell Adhesion research team.

The Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship, originally established by the Australian Antarctic Division, enables members of the creative community to experience Antarctica firsthand, then share this with the broader Australian community through their practice. Photographer Martin Walch, a specialist in time-lapse and still photography, was awarded the first AAA Fellowship administered by ANAT, and spent three months at the Mawson research station capturing the unique icy environment on camera. Martin remembers:

“My first encounter with ANAT was being selected to participate in their fifth National Summer School in Computer Aided Art and Design, held at Curtin University in 1994. Having trained as a photographer during the final decade of analogue dominance, what I learned from my tutors and fellow students completely transformed my practice, setting me up to meet the challenges and frustrations of early digital technologies with a powerful DIY attitude to problem solving, and the realisation that I was now part of a supportive and vibrant community that had something it wanted to contribute to the world.

“Fast forward to November 2017 and I’m standing on the deck of the Aurora Australis as we sight the Antarctic continent for the first time. ANAT’s support via the fellowship was key to achieving the goals I’d set in my application. Amongst other things, it allowed me to rapidly construct blizzard-proof camera housings for my time-lapse cameras at Mawson Station, as well purchasing terabytes of drive space for my data archive. I cannot thank ANAT enough for the support I’ve personally received over the years, and for the central role the organisation has played over the last three decades, as our national champion of interaction between the arts, science and technology.”

You can read the CSIRO residents’ blogs here:

Anton Hasell

Jiann Hughes

James Geurts

and view some of Martin Walch’s time-lapse works.

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