The blending of cutting-edge biological research with live musical performance<\/p>\n
Cellular Dynamics, a unique performance event that blends cutting-edge biological research with live musical performance, was showcased recently in Hong Kong at the brand-new British Council Festival of Ideas, SPARK<\/a>.<\/p>\n Developed as a collaborative project between University of Kent colleagues Professor Dan Lloyd, Deputy Head of the School of Biosciences<\/a>, and Daniel Harding, Deputy Director of University Music, Cellular Dynamics explores the visual culture emerging from cutting-edge research from the School of Biosciences and takes audiences on a journey of musical and scientific discovery about the fundamental processes within living cells.<\/p>\n Pianist Linda Yim will perform the music of Philip Glass, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and others, while Professor Lloyd will accompany the performance by directing a projection of spectacular research-derived images and videos in order to deepen our understanding of cell division, ageing, neurodegeneration, and infection.<\/p>\n In an interview with the South China Morning Post<\/a>, Professor Lloyd described the event and how he hoped it would inspire audiences:<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got some really nice intersection between what is happening artistically and what\u2019s being presented scientifically. That has been a really interesting process where I feel much more part of the fabric of the artistic process as well as the scientific one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love the idea that [audiences] go home and they\u2019re asking questions about science and they\u2019re wondering what they saw and they\u2019re inspired, and sometimes moved by what they\u2019re seeing,\u201d he says. \u201c[These things] are happening in my body at this time, at such a microscopic level, and it is being presented there as a visual accompanied by this music. That is my inspiration \u2013 that people go home and develop this questioning culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Cellular Dynamics was performed at SPARK on 19th and 20th January 2019 and was recommended by Hong Kong website, localiiz<\/a>, as one of the 6 Things Not To Miss at the festival.<\/p>\n