Publication

Combining Science and Art – download our newspaper about the HeART project

Date published: 31 Jul 2023

Posted by: Joe Pick

Graphic of front of newspaper

Enjoy this newspaper about our HeART project – a City Arts collaboration with Lakeside Arts and the Biodiscovery Institute at University of Nottingham.

On the surface, City Arts and the University of Nottingham’s Biodiscovery Institute may appear to share few similarities. The former, a creative collective that aims to celebrate art and culture, is focused on imagination, emotion and individual experience. The latter, a global hub of pioneering interdisciplinary research, is focused on facts, data and analysis.

The HeART labcoat

Yet there was a belief on both sides that they could work together to elevate each other’s work; that science could inspire art, and that art could connect people to science. From this came The HeART Project.

The Newspaper

As well as offering an overview of the project, the newspaper features interviews with the artist, academics and community members who took part. It was written by George White and Lizzy O’Riordan of Extended Agency. The graphic design was by Alfie J Eyden.

It brought together so many different people from different backgrounds, different ages and different views.

Participant Margo Heyhurst on the HeART project

What next for the project

The HeART project produced a wonderful multicoloured labcoat, a wearable artwork made from 100’s of our participants’ cell-inspired designs. The labcoat is being used as an educational tool. It has been exhibited in the Window Gallery at City Arts, Lakeside’s contemporary craft fair Lustre, and at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Woman standing in a lobby wearing a multi-coloured labcoat
Researcher Aishah Nasir wearing the coat at MIT

City Arts and the Biodiscovery Institute are currently working with communities and school groups in Clifton, Nottinghamshire. Under the expert guidance of artist Anna Wickramasinha, they will create textiles in response to scientific research. Some of these they will take home, some will be displayed at schools, and some will be woven together to form a textile book that will be displayed at Nottingham’s new Central Library.