Image: Bundanon, New York
Bundanon will present ‘Reimagining Ecology Through Art and Science’ on 22 August as part of its National Science Week 2026 program, bringing together artist Caroline Rothwell and host Clarence Slockee for a conversation on art, science and ecology. The event is scheduled for 11am at Bundanon Art Museum in Illaroo, New South Wales, and is described by the organisation as a discussion that examines how creative and scientific approaches can help audiences understand ecology, environmental change and human relationships with the natural world.
The talk sits within a wider National Science Week program at Bundanon that runs across 21 and 22 August and combines talks, walks and experiences exploring science and nature. The institution’s annual Science Symposium, ‘Growing Knowledge’, returns on Friday 21 August and is hosted by Clarence Slockee. According to Bundanon, that day brings together voices working across biodiversity, climate science, ecology and landscape restoration, with sessions held at the Bundanon Art Museum and Boyd Education Centre.
Bundanon’s festival listing places ‘Reimagining Ecology Through Art and Science’ among the weekend’s culture-and-connection events, alongside ‘The Secret Life of Psychoactive Plants’ with Dr Liam Engel and a guided science walk led by ecologist Carl Glaister. The event page identifies Rothwell as a multidisciplinary artist with a research-based practice focused on the intersection of art, science and nature. Her work spans sculpture, and the museum says she often manipulates botanical and industrial forms to consider multi-species interconnection, environmental care, technology and the future.
Clarence Slockee is listed as founding director of Jiwah(Goanna), a Salt-Water Cudgenburra/Bundjalung Aboriginal man, environmentalist, educator and cultural design collaborator. Bundanon’s text says he works with design partners and Country-centred design specialists, embedding traditional knowledge and cultural learning into his practice and connecting people and plants through collaboration in design. The event page frames the conversation as one that explores the intersections of art and science, with National Science Week providing the broader context.
The talk is ticketed at $18 for adults, $12 for concession holders, $40 for a family ticket covering two adults and two youths, and free for members. Bundanon lists the venue as Bundanon Art Museum, 170 Riversdale Road, Illaroo NSW 2540, and notes that the event is supported by the Australian Government as part of National Science Week under the Inspiring Australia initiative.
Bundanon’s National Science Week program also includes a Friday symposium, ‘Growing Knowledge’, from 9.30am to 3pm, with tickets including morning tea, lunch and entry to the museum for the day. Its full schedule for the symposium spans talks on landcare, soils, plant disease, psychoactive plants and fungi, wildlife and urban ecology, rivers and wetlands, and deep time, Country and caring for the future. Within that schedule, Rothwell is also listed as a speaker in a session titled ‘Living systems – human interaction with the natural world’ on 21 August.
