Big Science will be Adam Norton’s first full-gallery solo exhibition at Gallery 9, after a two-man show in March 2007. Adam has had exhibitions, since the mid 90’s, in Australia as well as the UK and Europe, and several residencies in Australia (2007) and The Netherlands (2004).  

Alvin Weinberg coined the term Big Science in 1961 to describe the rise of giant government or military sponsored projects of the Cold War era. And it in fact seems to describe what science has now become. Weinberg was also unintentionally signalling the demise of the lone ‘mad’ scientist or inventor working away in his or her lab on some esoteric project.  

The show ‘Big Science’ features some large paintings of industrial landscapes, such as ‘Terraforming’. This painting is based on an image of a massive farming project set to claim the Sahara desert for food production, but looks like an interplanetary solution for the colonisation of Mars. The paintings will be shown with drawings and hand-made inventions offering a modest means of self protection or escape, like ‘Camouflage Suit’ or ‘Reverse Shoes’. ‘Reverse Shoes’ are adapted men’s black business shoes – the soles have been reversed so that anyone wearing them will leave tracks heading in the opposite direction of their travel. 

With these simple manipulations, one hopes to address the imbalance of power between the industrial complex and the individual.