Hot rocks ... and hot jazz!
8 September 2000
Environmental scientists will be swapping their microscopes for music next week during Creating SPARKS - an innovative month-long science and arts festival in South Kensington.
On Wednesday 13 September, visitors to the Sci-Art cafe at the Royal College of Art can swing to the rhythm of jazz saxophonist Spencer Braithwaite from the Royal Institution of Great Britain. As a scientist, Spencer's days are spent following the behaviour patterns of the hot 'liquid rocks' beneath the Earth's crust and providing valuable data to fellow scientists researching volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. By night he plays popular jazz at functions and pubs in the London area.
Also at the Sci-Art cafe, an a cappella choir from Imperial College, Ascot, will be singing in harmony on Friday 15 September. The eleven-strong choir, whose scientific work ranges from the impacts of climate change to the sexual affairs of yeast, will sing about love of a different kind in a mixed programme of madrigals, folk songs, and a lively rendition of the 'Teddy Bear's Picnic'.
On Saturday 16 September, archaeologist Ken Hamilton from Bradford University will take visitors to the Sci-Art cafe back to Elizabethan times with the unique sound of the tabor and pipe. Ken, in true TV 'Time Team' tradition, spends his working life trying to discover more about our cultural and industrial heritage buried beneath modern towns and cities using state-of-the-art radar and other tools to map the remains of past buildings and streets. When he is not working, Ken travels around the country reliving the musical traditions of the 16th and 17th centuries, and playing music for Morris dancers.
The musical events at the Sci-Art cafe (which is open until 19 September) are part of an exciting mix of visual, literary, installation and performance arts celebrating creativity at the frontiers of arts and sciences. Entry is free.
On Monday 18 September there will be poetry in action, when visitors can find out what youngsters think about the natural environment. A group of Swindon schoolchildren, aged between 7 and 11 years, will be reading poems they have written for a book of environmental poetry published by the Natural Environment Research Council.
Further information
NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215
Notes
1. The musicians who are performing at the Sci-Art cafe are scientists funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.
2. The Sci-Art cafe is part of the Creating SPARKS festival which celebrates creativity at the frontiers of science and the arts. It is organised by the British Association and is taking place in South Kensington this month. The Sci-Art cafe at the Royal College of Art is sponsored by the seven UK science research councils, Nesta (National Endowment for Science, Technology and Arts), OST (The Office of Science and Technology) and BNSC (British National Space Centre). It is a dramatic fusion of science and art in a relaxed informal atmosphere, where performances linking science and art take place each day.
Press release: 17/00
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