COSMIC COLLISIONS June 23 – 24 2017
A weekend of SCIENCE, ART and PERFORMANCE taking place around Crawick Multiverse, a 55-acre artland in Dumfries & Galloway. Public lectures with leading thinkers, picnic and performance in the landscape, and opening of Charles Jencks’ new work, Cosmic Collisions.
EVENT PROGRAMME
FRIDAY 23 JUNE 17:00
COSMIC COLLISIONS, BIRTH, REBIRTH & THE UNIVERSE
Exhibition preview
MERZ STUDIO, SANQUHAR DG4 6DG
18:00
EVERYTHING FROM NOTHING: HOW OUR UNIVERSE WAS MADE
Prof Carlos Frenk, Durham University SANQUHAR TOWN HALL, DG4 6DF
SATURDAY 24 JUNE Public lectures at SANQUHAR TOWN HALL with picnic lunch at CRAWICK MULTIVERSE for performance & music 10.00
Doors open. Tea and coffee on arrival
10.30 GRAVITY SANG AND LIGO WAS
LISTENING
Prof Martin Hendry, University of Glasgow
11.30 COSMIC COLLISIONS Prof Monica Grady, Open University 12.30 Shuttle bus to CRAWICK MULTIVERSE 13.00 Picnic in Sun Amphitheatre * Congregate at the COSMIC COLLISION for the Duke of Buccleuch’s welcome and opening of Charles Jencks’ new installation 13.45
14.00
OCEANALLOVER PERFORMANCE
14.45 Shuttle bus return to Town Hall 15.00
Tea and coffee at Town Hall
15.15 OUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE Dr Noam Libeskind, Leibniz Institute of Astrophysics 16.15 IN THE BEGINNING - THE COSMOS
AND THE SPIRIT AS THE SOURCE OF CREATIVITY: DANIEL LIBESKIND AND CHARLES JENCKS IN CONVERSATION
17.15 RECEPTION AT MERZ * Lunch will be in Town Hall in the event of bad weather
EVERYTHING FROM NOTHING: HOW OUR UNIVERSE WAS MADE Professor Carlos Frenk, Durham University
Cosmology confronts some of the most fundamental questions in science. How and when did our universe begin? What is it made of? How did galaxies and other structures form? There has been enormous progress in the past few decades towards answering these questions. For example, recent observations have established that our universe contains an unexpected mix of components: ordinary atoms, exotic dark matter and a new form of energy called dark energy. Gigantic surveys of galaxies reveal how the universe is structured. Large supercomputer simulations can recreate the evolution of the universe in astonishing detail, highlighting the role of cosmic collisions and providing the means to relate processes occurring near the beginning with observations of the universe today. A coherent picture of cosmic evolution, going back to a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang, is beginning to emerge. However, fundamental issues, like the identity of the dark matter and the nature of the dark energy, remain unresolved. Professor Carlos S. Frenk is Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University’s world-renowned theoretical cosmology research group. Along with collaborators from all over the world, he builds model universes in state-of-the-art supercomputers, trying to understand how the structures in our universe evolved from simple beginnings to the complex structures composed of stars and galaxies that we see today.
PUBLIC LECTURES GRAVITY SANG AND LIGO WAS LISTENING: DETECTING THE SOUNDS OF SPACETIME FROM COLLIDING BLACK HOLES Professor Martin Hendry, University of Glasgow
Gravitational waves are the ripples in spacetime predicted more than a century ago by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. On September 14th 2015 two giant laser interferometers known as LIGO - the most sensitive scientific instruments ever built - detected gravitational waves for the very first time, from the collision of a pair of massive black holes more than a billion light years from the Earth. Hear the inside story of this remarkable discovery, hailed by many as the scientific breakthrough of the century. Martin Hendry is Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology at the University of Glasgow. He is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, a global network of more than 900 scientists who in February 2016 reported the historic discovery of gravitational waves. Martin is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and in 2015 was awarded the MBE for his services to the public understanding of science. Martin Hendry will chair short presentations by science pupils at Sanquhar Academy and Wallace Hall Academy.
COSMIC COLLISIONS
Professor Monica Grady, Open University The Earth is bombarded constantly by material from space - almost as much as 60,000 tonnes each year. Fortunately, most falls as small grains of dust, practically invisible to the naked eye - but there have been times when enormous collisions have changed the path of history. In her talk, Monica Grady will explore the hazards of cosmic collisions, and explain why it is important - and fascinating - to study the material that arrives, uninvited, on our planet every day. Monica Grady is Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University, where she studies the origin and evolution of the Solar System through measurement of meteorites. She is a science advisor to one of the Instrument teams associated with the Philae comet lander. Before joining the Open University, she worked
in the Department of Mineralogy at the Natural History Museum in London. She is a regular contributor to TV and other media, and was awarded the CBE in 2012 for services to space sciences.
OUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE Dr. Noam Libeskind, Leibniz Institute of Astrophysics How astronomers can measure and locate our cosmic address. Where is the Milky Way in relation to everything else? How much of the universe has been charted and how much remains elusive? Mapping the heavens in four dimensions is an incredibly difficult task and is known as cosmic cartography (or “cosmography”). With modern methods we are pushing the horizons of the known universe ever further, revealing a cosmic landscape that helps paint a picture of our place in the cosmos. Noam Libeskind was born in Detroit Michigan and grew up in Boston, Toronto, Helsinki, Milan, Berlin and Los Angeles. After completing high school he started as a film student but dropped out and switched to physics. He has a PhD from Durham University and is now at the Leibniz Institute of Astrophysics in Potsdam, Germany.
IN THE BEGINNING -THE COSMOS AND THE SPIRIT AS THE SOURCE OF CREATIVITY: DANIEL LIBESKIND AND CHARLES JENCKS IN CONVERSATION Daniel Libeskind first gained global recognition as the designer of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and won the competition for Ground Zero in New York. His work around the world has a cosmic and spiritual grounding, as does the recently opened Ogden Centre in Durham, the heart of the exhibition Cosmic Collisions at the Merz Gallery in Sanquhar. Come and hear him present his ideas and creations, in conversation with Charles Jencks, the creator of the Garden of Cosmic Speculation and Crawick Multiverse. Friends for many years, they both pursue the question of meaning in design, and how the universe inspires it.
For further information and to buy tickets visit www.crawickmultiverse.co.uk
CRAWICK MULTIVERSE PERFORMANCE
12.30 PICNIC IN SUN AMPHITHEATRE MAXWELL’S MUSIC Over lunch, harpist Wendy Stewart will play excerpts from her composition reflecting the life and science of natural philosopher, theoretical physicist, poet, musician and Galloway lad, James Clerk Maxwell (1831 – 79).
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13.45 OPENING OF THE NEW INSTALLATION 14.00 OCEANALLOVER PERFORMANCE
Latest work from physical theatre company Oceanallover with Sanquhar and District Silver Band. Inspired by Orkney’s Festival of the Horse and Boys Ploughing Match, Sea Hames is a multi-disciplinary piece fusing music, visceral performance and bold costume design, exploring the horse in iconic and astronomic mythology. Lunch will be served in Town Hall in event of bad weather Staff will direct you when you arrive on site.
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