LASER Cambridge

About LASER Cambridge

The Cambridge LASER talks (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendez-vous) questions the separation and propagation of art and science as distinct categories of knowing and being. We ask: What is creativity in science and the arts? What is experimental practice in art, science, or philosophy? Where do scientific and artistic attitudes, inquiries, methods overlap? How do they differ and complement each other? Can such understanding help shape our technological, urban, economic, and environmental futures for an ecologically and socially sustainable life and wellbeing?

Cambridge LASER talks are convened by Satinder Gill (Centre for Music and Science, Cambridge) and Chrysi Nanou (University of Cambridge)

For the past three years, since the initial Cambridge LASER on October 1, 2020, we have focused on Rhythmicity, the cyclical processes within human physiology regulating how we process information from our environment, influencing our mental health, and establishing our social interactions, whilst also presenting the analogues, phenomena, and structures in artistic media and especially in sound art.

The talks have been established largely online with an international audience and guests and have been well received -including an invited participation in Ars Electronica 2021 in Linz Austria.

Our upcoming talks for the Academic year 2023/24 consider the transfer and translation processes of data between arts and sciences and are in line with this natural expansion.

Among our upcoming collaborations for the LASER talks, we have commissioned two pieces based on Covid datasets from public independent depositories: an electroacoustic piece and another for piano quartet, along with a small wind ensemble based on Phylogenetic network analysis of Sars-CoV-2 genome (American and German composers). We are working on visualizations and sonifications of human cells and plant cells, and are presenting a film, commissioned by EMPAC (The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy New York, USA)that shows the reconstruction process of ancient Mayan flutes and a performance on them by a contemporary artist.

To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website.