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Why work with science?


 

As artists and designers, we are all fascinated by science, and the unending quest to understand the world we live in... but more than that, we think that these sciences provide vital insights for us in dealing with the world today, particularly those responsible for managing complex systems. The concepts and ideas from these fields of research are valuable cognitive tools that we can use to grapple with the complexity of the world. 

What fields of science do we work with?

Some science involves breaking things down into their component parts and analysing those parts in isolation. In real life, though, everything is connected. Everything is messy. 
We’re particularly interested in science that exploring that messiness, the connections between things as well as things in isolation. For that reason, we often use the language of systems and complexity in our work. 
Our work has explored and illustrated concepts from fields including:

  • Complex Systems science

  • Resilience thinking

  • Game Theory

  • Network Theory

  • Climate and Sustainability science

  • Epidemiology

  • Earth sciences and disaster management

How do we work with scientists?

We are not scientists - we are artists - which we think gives us an advantage in being able to translate concepts to a non-science audience. But we require that all of our work is created in close collaboration with experts from the field.
It’s crucial that our work is always entertaining, accessible, and scientifically rigorous. 
Typically our projects are developed over months spent in residence at research institutions. We work on-site, doing our own research and development, and regularly meeting with expert consultants to test and discuss ideas and drafts. The development of these works often takes place over multiple years, which means we can be sure the work is rich, informed and based on cutting edge research.

Who have we worked with?

We have collaborated with the following research institutions:

  • University College London’s Environment Institute (UK)

  • The Stockholm Resilience Centre (Sweden)

  • Earth Observatory Singapore at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)

  • CSIRO (Australia)

  • The Australian Academy of Science (Australia)

  • School of Cybernetics at Australian National University

  • Population Health Exchange at Australian National University

In addition, there are specific scientists who have worked with us expert consultants on various projects, including:

  • Dr Will Steffen (Vale)

  • Dr Brian Walker

  • Dr Nicky Grigg

  • Dr Yvonne Rydin

  • Dr David Newth

  • Dr Doug Cocks

  • Dr Jamie McCaughey