Mystery Matter! art competition

Scientists know that Dark Matter exists and makes up a lot of stuff in the universe, but they don’t yet know what it is. They are building amazing detectors, including underground, to try and detect it.

To celebrate Dark Matter Day on Saturday, 30 October, 2021, we want to see what you wish existed.

You can draw, or make, anything you want to, out of anything you want to - as long as you can photograph it or video it and submit it online.

A bit about us 

The Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics is made up of a group of brilliant scientists from Universities all across Australia trying to solve one of the biggest mysteries of the universe - they're trying to discover Dark Matter.

What is Dark Matter? 

Well, we know it exists, but we don’t know what it is yet.

Try to imagine this: EVERYTHING, even you and I and the chairs we're sitting on and the clothes we're wearing, is made up of tiny little particles, the same exact particles that make up the stars in the sky. All these different kinds of particles, together, we call "matter"

Now, if we bundled all the things together that we KNOW EXIST, and we weighed them, they'd only weigh 25-30% as much as we KNOW the universe should weigh.

That means that in our Universe we only understand, and know about, less than ONE-THIRD of the matter that exists.

The rest, more than TWO-THIRDS of the entire Universe, is made up of matter we don't know about and understand yet -- collectively, we call these unknown particles Dark Matter.

What could it be?

Well, we’re trying to find out.

Help us solve this Matter Mystery by putting your detective hats on and showing us what you imagine.

Act like a dark matter scientist by putting your detective hats on and showing us what you can imaging.

You can show us by drawing, or painting, or creating a digital artwork, or a video.  You could make a sculpture out of things from your garden.  Or an animation. 

You could build a model out of Lego.  You can use any kind of materials you like, and make your artwork any way you like, as long as you can photograph it or make a video or save it onto your computer so that you can submit it to us online.

There are three age-groups that can enter - those in grades Prep to Grade 2, Grade 3 to 5, and Grade 6 to Year 8.  

Each winner will receive a $100 gift card for themselves and another $100 gift card for their classroom!

Winning entries will also be showcased on the Dark Matter centre website and on our social media sites!

To enter, submit your work to darkmatter-art@unimelb.edu.au (a parent or teacher can help you)

Entries are open from Saturday, 30 October until Tuesday, 30 November, 2021.

Read our full terms and conditions or view our competition flyer.