Cellular Dynamics Dan Harding, Matthew King – Pianos Dr. Dan Lloyd – Curator Colyer-Fergusson Hall Friday 20 October 2017 7.30pm
Cellular Dynamics is a collaborative science-music project between the School of Biosciences and Music Department at the University of Kent. It explores imagery derived from biological research that captures scientific data, experimental procedures and laboratory spaces. Image and video projection provides remarkable insight into cutting-edge research that investigates – among other things - cellular division, ageing, neurodegeneration and infectious diseases. The musical programme uses individual pieces as scientific “chapters” - each exploring a different research output - in the context of the soundscape created by live piano performance in the magnificent Colyer-Fergusson Hall. The Hall will be in darkness during the performance to maximise image visibility. We advise you to read the programme notes before the performance begins; they provide explanations for the specific musical and scientific combinations, and also things to look out for. The Stacey Collection – an exhibition of selected images that explore research in School of Biosciences – is currently on display upstairs in the ColyerFergusson Gallery. The exhibition was created with generous support from Creative Campus.
Abstract Philip Glass: The Poet Acts from the movie soundtrack to The Hours Articles that describe scientific outputs begin with the Abstract – a summary of the work and its outcomes. Cellular Dynamics therefore begins with “Abstract”, which of course has a rather different meaning in an artistic context – something we explore with abstract imagery drawn from our research.
Colour Claude Debussy: Pour Invoquer Pan, Dieu du Vent d’Éte and Pour L’Egyptienne from Six Épigraphes Antiques Fittingly, for a science-themed musical performance, Claude Debussy was a famously experimental composer whose reinterpretation of tonality broke all the orthodox rules of functional harmony – and whose reinvention of musical aesthetics brought new textures and colours to his language as a composer. His association with the Impressionist movement – and its use of bold colour - was therefore unsurprising, even though it was a label with which Debussy himself was not comfortable. In the first two Épigraphes Antiques performed this evening,
we combine the shimmering colours found in Debussy’s score for two pianos with the vivid colours associated with laboratories and their internal landscapes.
Infect Claude Debussy: Pour un Tombeau Sans Nom from Six Épigraphes Antiques The paradox of the beauty and elegance of some biological processes, and the devastating nature of their consequences, is not lost on scientists. Infect juxtaposes fluorescent labelling of proteins - associated with both pathogen and host – with the Debussy’s beautiful but rather sinister Pour un Tombeau Sans Nom, replete with eerie chromaticism and unresolved whole-tone scales. With majestic detail, this state-of-the-art research illustrates the devastation caused by infectious diseases at the sub-cellular level, while also underpinning future therapeutic strategies for diseases that present some of the greatest of global challenges.
Lab Life Maurice Ravel: Five O’Clock Foxtrot from the opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges While some of the some of the images featured in Cellular Dynamics reflect the cutting edge nature of biological research, much of the laboratory environment is refreshingly uncomplicated. Lab Life features Matthew King’s two-piano arrangement of Ravel’s cheeky foxtrot from the one-act opera, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Mirroring the opera’s tale in which furniture, crockery and other household objects come to life, Lab Life reveals hidden beauty, character and even humour among seemingly mundane laboratory objects.
Crystalline Tarik O’Regan: Diomedes from Variations for Judith “Crystalline” is an apt description for the spare, brittle sound created by O’Regan’s Diomedes. Crystals commonly appear in laboratories when solids drop out of concentrated solutions – sometimes, as you will see, with spectacular effects. But the technique of X-ray crystallography relies on crystallisation to understand the structure of biomolecules. Here we explore crystal formation in
laboratories, culminating in protein crystallography - used here at Kent to solve the 3-dimentional structure of an enzyme involved in vitamin B12 biosynthesis, together with its bound product.
Omnis cellula e cellula Philip Glass: An Unwelcome Friend from the movie soundtrack to The Hours This epigram - used by Rudolf Virchow in 1855 – outlines a cornerstone of cell theory. Meaning “cells arise only from pre-existing cells”, our modern understanding and interpretation has been supported by research on how cells grow and divide. Microscopy - central to so many biological discoveries since the extraordinary detail rendered by Robert Hooke’s Micrographia in 1665 - has evolved alongside other astonishing developments in molecular biology, to reveal ever-greater intricacies in cellular behaviour. These can be visualised at Kent with stunning, real-time live cell imaging – here showing the incredibly dynamic and complex processes involved in cell division.
The world’s smallest guitar Super models Gavin Bryars: My First Homage The extended duration of Bryars’ piece gives space to explore two chapters of Cellular Dynamics. From chromosomal analysis of genetic defects to molecular cloning, DNA manipulation and analysis is fundamental to biological research. But nanoscale optics now provide us with the extraordinary capacity to visualise individual strands of DNA – here suspended between nano beads – to investigate subcellular function and stability. Spot the guitar if you can! Our super models are the model organisms – yeast, fruit flies, and nematode worms - harnessed at Kent to explore fundamental processes in humans, and enhancing understanding of ageing, neurodegeneration and prion diseases among others. Confocal microscopy, coupled with fluorescence, allows us to build a 3-dimensional view of these organisms – literally taking image “slices” as the field passes through a sample. We end Cellular Dynamics with vivid exploration of these fascinating model organisms that can reveal so much about how humans work at the most fundamental cellular level. © Dr. Dan Lloyd, School of Biosciences