Emerging Cosmic Landscape: Symposium

Exploring the benefits of art/science relationships, this event discusses Lisa Pettibone’s year-long residency at Mullard Space Science Laboratory (UCL) along with collaborator Dr Tom Kitching, science lead on MSSL’s Euclid Mission. Complementing the concurrent exhibition at Lumen Crypt Gallery, London, a short film will be premiered documenting her extensive access to the lab, aesthetic responses that influence her work and creative workshops with MSSL staff. Ben Murray (Kings College London and co-director of Phenotypica) will discuss the unique nature of interdisciplinary collaborations and their potential effect on wider culture. Lumen Studios London (art/science collective) will chair the evening, concluding with a Q&A panel discussion. Drinks and snacks will be served after the film at 7.15pm.

Attendees can view the exhibition at: Lumen Crypt Gallery, 200 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA, 17-27 October, daily 12-6pm.

About the speakers

Lisa Pettibone is originally from California and has a BA in 3D Design in Glass from UCA Farnham and a MA in Art and Science from UAL Central Saint Martins. In 2018 she began an Arts Council funded residency at Mullard Space Science Laboratory (UCL) in Surrey. She researched the Euclid Mission and the VIS instrument that will record billions of galaxies and provide crucial evidence of the web-like structure of dark matter through optical distortions called gravitational lensing. Her research included extensive lab and engineering workshop visits, a trip to ESA in the Netherlands and attending the Euclid consortium meeting in Helsinki where she ran a collaborative workshop with scientists creating an artwork destined for the spacecraft, launching in 2022.

With an interest in astronomy and physics, her art practice investigates hidden forces such as gravity, energy and tension, spontaneously recorded in materials, evoking direct sensory experiences connecting man to his environment. Exhibiting in the UK and internationally, Pettibone was long listed for the Aesthetica Art Prize in 2013, selected for the Discerning Eye exhibition (2015 and 2018) and won the installation category for the National Open Art Prize in 2017. www.pettibone.co.uk

Prof Tom Kitching has spent 16 years working on data science, astronomy and cosmology. He is Science Lead of the Euclid mission that will map three-quarters of the sky back in time of three-quarters the age of the Universe. He did his undergraduate degree at Imperial in London, his PhD in Edinburgh and worked as a postdoc in Oxford before moving to UCL. 

Ben Murray is a researcher at King's College London, applying deep learning to cancer imaging. He is one half of Phenotypica, with multimedia artist Neus Torres Tamarit. They create interactive multimedia installations and virtual reality artworks about genetics, curate exhibitions, and chair and give discussions and talks about art, science and creativity. www.phenotypica.org

Lumen is an art collective, focused on themes of astronomy and light, regularly exhibiting in churches as well as galleries. Through art, exhibitions, residencies and seminars they aim to raise a dialogue about how humanity understands existence. The members of Lumen are Louise Beer, Melanie King and Rebecca Huxley. www.lumenstudios.co.uk