New Exhibition Examines Adaptation In Era Of Change

As communities around the world confront climate change, technological acceleration and social transformation, a major new free exhibition at Science Gallery at the University of Melbourne invites audiences to imagine how we adapt, connect and care for one another in a rapidly changing world.

Opening on World Environment Day, EMERGENCE[Y] brings together artists, scientists, researchers, designers and young people from across the globe in an ambitious exhibition exploring resilience, ecology, biotechnology and the future of life on Earth.

One of the exhibition’s centrepieces is a major new commission by renowned Australian artist Patricia Piccinini, created following a year-long residency with Science Gallery Melbourne that included time immersed in stem cell research laboratories at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Piccinini’s new sculpture revisits her seminal early work Still Life With Stem Cells on its 25th anniversary, inviting audiences to consider the implications of scientific advances for future generations.

Installation view of Still Life with Stem Cells (2002) by Patricia Piccinini (AU) in Science Gallery Melbourne’s EMERGENCE[Y] on loan from Monash University Collection, Monash University Museum of Art. (Phoebe Powell, 2026).

Other exhibition highlights include:

• A lush vertical farm created by Greenspace alongside researchers from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, offering visitors and school groups the opportunity to experience how sustainable food systems can be integrated into urban life, with fresh produce grown and harvested on-site.
• A collection of fire-resistant, non-combustible speculative garments by Australian designer and academic Alia Parker, created using a composite of mushroom mycelium and post-consumer cotton textile waste.
• The Australian premiere of Tuengel by Dr Wang Zhigang, Professor of Information Art and Design at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Constructed from e-waste, the immersive video installation imagines a post-apocalyptic electronic wasteland where humans, animals and intelligent machine life coexist among the ruins of obsolete technology.
• tele-present wind, created by US artist David Bowen in collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, uses live data from the wind sensor on the Perseverance Mars rover to animate a field of tilting mechanical devices and dried grass stalks inside the gallery.
• An interdisciplinary art and science project by German artist Marco Barotti exploring how the soundscapes of healthy coral reefs can aid reef restoration. Coral Sound Resilience is rooted in acoustic ecology, with sound sculptures from the work permanently embedded in damaged reefs around the world.

Science Gallery Melbourne Director Dr Ryan Jefferies said the exhibition reflects the role universities can play in bringing artists, researchers and communities together to engage with the urgent questions of our time.

“EMERGENCE[Y] showcases the ways Science Gallery Melbourne and the University of Melbourne are working at the forefront of interdisciplinary cultural practice, global engagement and public access to art and science,” Dr Jefferies said. “The exhibition is an invitation to imagine how creative collaboration can inspire hope and foster resilience in a rapidly changing world.”

Curated by Science Gallery Melbourne Head Curator Tilly Boleyn, together with a team of academic experts and young people, the exhibition invites audiences to imagine new ways of living through uncertainty and change.

EMERGENCE[Y] is a free exhibition at Science Gallery Melbourne in Melbourne Connect. It runs until 5 December 2026.