Stories

Applied Arts and Sciences

Defining the terms in the 21st century

‘The Requirements of a Modern Museum of Applied Science, Art and Industry for Sydney’

A R Penfold, Museum Director (1945–1955)

The meaning of applied art and applied science at the time of the drafting of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Act 1945 brought forward their use from the industrial revolution describing the singular applications of knowledge and skill in completing specific tasks separately from the application of creativity rather than the contemporary application of science and art to solve a problem.

Applied Arts

The practical application of design and aesthetics to objects of function and everyday use.

Two women sit on chairs on a stage talking to each other.

Nipa Doshi x Marlo Lyda

The Age We're In

three people wearing black clothes looking towards the camera

Architectural Team

Powerhouse Parramatta

On the left hand side is a purple bike, on the right hand side is a person wearing a purple shirt, black pants and olive coloured shoes making the shape of a telescope out of their hands.

Perks and Mini – Collaboration Mutation

Beautiful Freak in the Machine

A Museum of Doing

Technological Museum

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Applied Sciences

The practical application of existing scientific knowledge from one or more natural scientific fields to practical problems.

A rocket at lift-off viewed through palm trees on the left and right.

Future Space – To Boldly Go

Sydney Science Festival 2022

Bruce Pascoe sits in a grey arm chair wearing a peach coloured button up shirt, he has a white beard and is looking upwards and towards the right.

Nourishing Country

016 | 100 Climate Conversations

Space debris, Skylab space station, titanium/fibreglass, McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co, USA, 1970-1972. The fragment is the end cap from pressurised oxygen tank from the Skylab space station. Originally the end of an enclosed cylinder, the titanium tank structure is torn and bent as a result of the stresses that ripped it away from the rest of the vessel. The exterior is covered by a composite insulation material with a woven fibreglass outer surface. A circular lid, protruding above the external insulation, covers an access hatch to the tank. A black and red wire, possibly originally connected to an external power source or sensor, is attached to the lid.

Stellar Nullius

Oscillations – Season 1, Episode 2

A figure stands in suburban garden wearing a maroon jumper and black jeans.

Majid Rabet – Engineer, Inventor and Artist

Object Lesson

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Beyond being the practical use of arts and science, applied art and science are the practice of applying creativity and knowledge to improve our life and work as practical solutions to problems. Historically, the terms have been used interchangeably as well as distinctively from art and science. Specifically, pure science is used to describe the pursuit of new knowledge and applied science is the practical application of science to a specific problem and is synonymous with technology. Fine art is used to describe pure creativity and storytelling and used to separate applied art: the application of design and aesthetics to solve a problem.