Nano-Art Prize Winners Announced

CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL MEDIA RELEASE

Nano-Art Prize Winners Announced

When nanotechnology meets art the results can be surprising and intriguing, as shown in a competition to find the best images from nanotechnology research in New Zealand that is currently being exhibited at Our City O-Tautahi in Christchurch.

After judging by a panel comprising leading figures from the worlds of both art and science, the winners of the competition have just been announced by the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.

The First Prize of $1000 was won by Sivakumar Balakrishnan from Massey University for an image of nano-sized crystals. The judges were impressed by the complexity of the textures in the image, and commented that it is reminiscent of cubist paintings by Picasso.

Nanotechnology is one of the key technologies of the 21st century and involves the control and manipulation of materials on an atomic scale. One nanometer is one billionth of a metre, or one hundred thousandth of the thickness of a human hair

University of Canterbury physicist Associate Professor Simon Brown, who co-ordinated the exhibition, as well as a series of other nanotechnology-related events currently being held in Christchurch, said “the quality of the images was amazingly high, and the judges found it very difficult to pick a winner”. The high quality of the images meant that additional highly commended prizes were awarded.

Prizes were donated by the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.

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