So at GNS Science we're always looking for ways to bring science into the lives of New Zealanders.
And so today we're going to talk about just that which is a collaboration between scientists and artists
to convey some of the scientific research that we do here.
So I'm talking here today with Anna Lehner.
She's been working with scientists to try and convey concepts about our active plate boundaries to the public.
So Anna, what is it about your art that that inspires you the most?
Yeah, so I'm really inspired by the forces at play in our natural environment
and I think that's really what makes my practice tick and it's the thing that drives me to ask
questions and pursue you know what I came here to New Zealand to do which was the convergence
of science and art and really specifically seismic activity.
Can you tell us a little bit about exactly how you created this piece?
so back when I was able to do field work before March what really inspired me was the CT scans of the sediment cores.
so from that inspiration I basically went from CT scan to 3D print and that took a bit of time because it's quite an intricate process
So in figuring that out basically I wanted to see if I could translate a sediment core into the fragile material glass.
I was able to take those 3D prints and make molds of those objects
and in making molds you can make molds with a material that will withstand a very high temperature
and then you can cast glass into those molds
and so that's what i spent the last few months working out and working through in this project.
Has it been fun? Yes it's been a massive amount of fun.
I think the the best part of it was really asking a lot of questions of what could be done
so really this is just the start of what this could evolve into something bigger and that to me is really fun and exciting.
So Anna what exactly is it like working with scientists?
um it's a lot more fun than I expected!
No, it's really um to be here and be surrounded by people who are really at their gut core
interested in just learning and finding out more for the good of society is just so fantastic
So i'm talking to Dr Jamie Howarth here from Victoria University of Wellington
so Jamie can you tell me a little bit about what it's been like to work with an artist over the last year?
Yeah no I can. I have to admit I started this process with a significant degree
of trepidation about what it would be like particularly taking an artist into the field
but I have to say I've been really pleasantly surprised
Can you tell us about the science behind the art that you guys have been working on?
The Hikurangi Margin is New Zealand's largest but least well understood source of earthquake hazard
we know that by analogy to similar margins elsewhere in the world it could be capable of producing an earthquake
with a magnitude up to magnitude 9. So a really large earthquake indeed with significant impact for large tracts of
New Zealand's North Island and the upper South Island so we actually want to understand something about
the hazard posed by these large earthquakes we need to understand how big they can actually
get and how often they occur in order to do that we need to read the archive of past earthquakes
that's preserved in the sedimentary records that accumulate on the sea floor
So the piece that Anna has created, that's from a core that you guys actually collected?
Yeah so it's actually from a really special set of cores in 2016 when the Kaikoura earthquake happened
it generated strong ground shaking along the southern Hikarangi Margin triggering these
underwater landslides and flows of sediment and water producing these really diagnostic deposits
which we call turbidites, of which Anna has managed to recreate through her artistic process.