Andrea Rassell

Andrea Rassell is a filmmaker, media artist and interdisciplinary researcher in science art. Working in nanoart — artforms that engage with nanoscience and nanotechnology — she creates experimental films and moving image installations that explore technological mediation and the multisensory perception of the sub-molecular realm.

Her work has been shown at the New York Imagine Science Festival, Oaxaca FilmFest in Mexico, the New Zealand International Film Festival, White Night in Australia and Sónar+D in Spain, and has been recognised by awards and grants from the Australian Government, the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT), the Council of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Australia), St Kilda Film Festival, and Oaxaca FilmFest.

Trafficking | Transmission | Translation

Science art practices are often framed as science communication in a manner that overlooks the capacity of the arts to provide engagement opportunities beyond discourse. The authors, Dr Andrea Rassell and Dr Heather Bray, perform a thematic analysis of audience interviews from scientific media art installations that depict complex intangible, invisible and ephemeral scientific phenomena, specifically focussing on medical nanotechnology. The analysis reveals that visitors recognize sensorial experiences beyond traditional science communication, while scientists’ experiences expanded their definition of engagement. The authors argue that scientific media art practices act as sites of meaning making and non-discursive engagement that create reflective and embodied contexts for encounters with emerging technologies.