Category Archives: performing arts

Highlights from Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) April 2025 Metacreation Lab newsletter

There’s a local (Vancouver, Canada) event coming up, as well as, a call for papers, an opportunity to watch a workshop presented in Toronto, Montréal, and Berlin and more in these highlights from the April 2025 issue of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI newsletter (received via email). The first items are being listed in date order.

Ars Electronica and Vancouver AI [artificial intelligence] Community Meetup

From the April 2025 Metacreation Lab newsletter,

Call for Papers – EXPANDED 2025 at Ars Electronica

The 13th edition of the EXPANDED Conference, focusing on animation and interactive art, will be held from September 3–5, 2025, at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria, as part of the Ars Electronica Festival.

Organized in cooperation with ACM [Association for Computing Machinery], the conference invites submissions in categories of Research Papers and Art Papers. Topics of interest include AI-generated images, generative art, virtual production, human-AI collaboration, XR, and more.

Submission deadline: April 27, 2025

More Information

Vancouver AI – April 30 [2025] at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre

Metacreation Lab has proudly supported the Vancouver AI Community Meetup since the beginning. This time, Mission #16 of BC’s vibrant AI community meetup series. This edition features a talk by Philippe Pasquier, exploring the latest in generative and creative AI systems.

Also on the lineup is a special performance by K-PHI-A, a live trio featuring Philippe, PhD student Keon Ju Maverick Lee, and VJ Amagi (Jun Yuri). Their piece, Revival, is an improvisational audiovisual performance where human musicians and AI agents co-create in real time. It blends percussion, electronics, and AI-driven visuals using Autolume and other systems developed at the Metacreation Lab.

Event info and tickets

Ars Electronica: what is it?

Ars Electronica started life as a festival in 1979 still being produced annually and is now a larger enterprise. From the Ars Electronica About webpage,.Note Links have been removed

Art, Technology, Society

We have been analyzing and commenting on the Digital Revolution since 1979. Since then, we have been developing projects, strategies and competencies for the Digital Transformation. Together with artists, scientists, technologists, designers, developers, entrepreneurs and activists from all over the world, we address the central questions of our future. The focus is on new technologies and how they change the way we live and work together.

A new festival. The first Ars Electronica begins on September 18, 1979. 20 artists and scientists from all over the world gather at this new “Festival for Art, Technology and Society” in Linz to discuss the Digital Revolution and its possible consequences. This Ars Electronica is small, but groundbreaking. The initiative for this came from Hannes Leopoldseder (AT), director of the Upper Austria regional studio of the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF), who is passionate about everything that has to do with the future. Together with the electronic musician Hubert Bognermayr (AT), the music producer Ulli A. Rützel (DE) and the cyberneticist and physicist Herbert W. Franke (AT), he lays the foundation stone for a festival that will become the world’s largest and most important of its kind.

Between art, technology and society. Over the past four decades, a number of pioneers have turned Ars Electronica into a creative ecosystem that now enjoys a worldwide reputation.
 
Since 1979 we celebrate once a year the Ars Electronica Festival. More than 1,000 artists, scientists, developers, designers, entrepreneurs and activists are coming to Linz, Austria, to address central questions of our future. For five days, everything revolves around groundbreaking ideas and grand visions, unusual prototypes and innovative collaborations, inspiring art and groundbreaking research, extraordinary performances and irritating interventions, touching sounds and rousing concerts.
 
Since 1987 we have been awarding the Prix Ars Electronica every year. With several competition categories, we search for groundbreaking projects that revolve around questions of our digital society and rehearse the innovative use of technologies, promising strategies of collaboration and new forms of artistic expression. The best submissions will receive a Golden Nica, considered by the global media art scene to be the most traditional and prestigious award ever.
 
Since 1996 we have been working at the Ars Electronica Center year after year with tens of thousands of kindergarten children, pupils, apprentices and students on questions concerning the ever-increasing digitalization of our world. The focus is on the potential of the next Game Changer: Artificial Intelligence.
 
Also since 1996 we operate the Ars Electronica Futurelab, whose international and interdisciplinary team of artists and scientists is researching the future. With interactive scenarios, we prepare central aspects of the Digital Revolution for the general public in order to initiate a democratic discourse.
 
1998 we initiated create your world. The year-round programme is developed together with young people and includes a competition for under 19 year olds, a festival of its own and a tour through the region. We see create your world as an invitation and challenge at the same time and want to encourage young people to leave the role as mere users of technology behind, to discover new possibilities of acting and designing and to implement their own ideas.
 
2004 we started Ars Electronica Export with a big exhibition in New York. Since then we have been to Abuja, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bilbao, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Doha, Florence, Kiev, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, Osaka, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Tunis, Venice and Zaragoza. Together with partners from art and culture, science and education, business and industry, we organize exhibitions and presentations, conferences and workshops, performances and interventions at all these locations.
 
Since 2013 our team at Ars Electronica Solutions has been developing market-ready products inspired by visions and prototypes from the artistic cosmos of Ars Electronica. We develop innovative, individual and interactive products and services for exhibitions, brands, trade fairs and events.
 
Since 2016 we are active all year round in Japan. Especially in Tokyo and Osaka we work together with leading Japanese universities, museums and companies, develop and present artistic projects, design workshop series and Open Labs and dedicate ourselves to the future of our digital society in conferences.
 
In order to actively shape the digital revolution, people are needed who have a feel for change and recognize connections, develop new strategies and set a course. This is precisely where the 2019 created Future Thinking School aims to support companies and institutions.
 
Whether at home in the living room or in the office, whether in the classroom or in the lecture hall, in the streetcar or subway, on the train – from everywhere Home Delivery accompanies our virtual visitors on an artistic-scientific journey into our future since 2020.
 
All our activities since September 18, 1979 have been documented in the form of texts, images and videos and stored in the Ars Electronica Archive. This archive provides us with a unique collection of descriptions and documentations of more than 75,000 projects from four decades of Ars Electronica.

The Conference

The conference (September 3 – 5, 2025) is held as part of the festival (September 3 – 7, 2025). The festival’s theme is PANIC yes/no. As for the conference, it does not seem to have a theme, from the Ars Electronica Expanded 2025 Conference on Animation and Interactive Art webpage, Note: A link has been removed,

The Expanded Conference (Expanded 2025) will take place from September 3rd to 5th as part of the Ars Electronica Festival 2025. This call for paper focuses on academic papers in the field of Expanded Animation and Interactive Art that explore and experiment with visual expression at the intersection of art, technology, and society. We will have two categories (Research Paper and Art Paper), where submissions will undergo a rigorous review process. All selected speakers will be given a free pass to the Ars Electronica Festival (September 3rd to 7th).

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • 3D Scanning
  • AI-generated Images
  • AI-based artworks
  • Artistic Computer Animation
  • Art & Science collaboration projects
  • Audio-visual Experiments
  • Data Journalism and Animated Documentary
  • Data Visualizations
  • Digital Media Art History
  • Digital, Hybrid, and Expanded Theater
  • Expanded Animation
  • Generative Art
  • Human-AI interaction and Human-AI collaboration
  • Hybrids between Animation and Game
  • Media Facades
  • Music Visualization
  • New approaches to artistic research and practice-based methodologies
  • Participatory art projects
  • Performance Projects
  • Playful Interactions and Experiences
  • Projection Mapping
  • Projects using NFT, Metaverse, Social Media
  • Reactive and Interactive audio/visual Work
  • Real-time CG
  • Scientific Visualizations
  • Site-specific Installations
  • Sound Art and Soundscapes
  • Tangible Interfaces and New Forms of Experiences
  • Transmedia Narratives
  • Virtual Humans and Environments
  • Virtual Production
  • VR, AR, MR, XR

Again, the submission date for your paper is April 27, 2025. Good luck!

Vancouver AI Community Meetup

Prepare yourself for some sticker shock. Tickets for the meetup are listed at $63.00. As noted earlier, there will be a “talk by Philippe Pasquier, exploring the latest in generative and creative AI systems.and a special performance by K-PHI-A, a live trio featuring Philippe, PhD student Keon Ju Maverick Lee, and VJ Amagi (Jun Yuri). Their piece, Revival, is an improvisational audiovisual performance where human musicians and AI agents co-create in real time.”

Here’s more about Vancouver AI meetups in a video, which appears to have been excerpted from the March 2025 meetup,

Here’s more about the event from its YouTube webpage,

We Don’t Do Panels. We Do Portals. Vancouver AI: March 2025 Recap

This wasn’t a meetup. It was a lightning strike. A 3-hour detonation of mind, matter, and machine where open-source fire met ancestral spirit, and the UFO building lit up like a neural rave.

—————-

⚡ What Went Down:

Damian George (Steloston) & his son Ethan kicked the night off with a warrior’s welcome—Indigenous songs from Tsleil-Waututh territory that cracked open the veil and set the frequency.

—————-

Cai & Charlie spun lo-fi beats with a side of C++ sorcery. DIY synths, live visuals, and analog rebellion powered by AI hacks and imagination. This is what machine-human symbiosis sounds like.

—————-

Michael Tippett dropped cinematic subversion with Mr. Canada, a gonzo AI-generated political series where satire meets social critique and deepfakes become truth bombs. (The king has a button that disables the F-35 fleet—yeah, that happened.)

—————-

Cian Whalley, Zen priest & CTO, took us beyond the binary—teaching us how emotion, code, and consciousness intersect like neural lace. Toyota factory metaphors and Digital Buddha hotlines included.

—————-

Philippe Pasquier, the SFU professor we don’t deserve, taught us how to train your own AI models on your art. No scraping, no stealing. Just artists owning their data and their destiny. Bonus: transparent LED cubes and a revival performance next month with AI-powered music agents. 🔮🎶

—————-

Michelle from Women X AI showed us what a real grassroots intelligence network looks like: 45+ women in tech meeting monthly, giving back to the DTES, and building equity into the foundation of AI.

—————-

Niels showed us what radical vulnerability looks like—raw stories of startup survival, burnout, almost crashing (literally), and choosing sustainable hustle over hypergrowth hype.

—————-

Loki Jorgensen repped the new Mind, AI, and Consciousness crew—channeling 2,000 years of philosophical grind into one big ontological jam session. Curious cats only.

—————-

Patrick Pennefather & Kevin the Pixel Wizard rolled out UBC’s AI video lab with student creators turning prompts into art and AI into cinema. Kevin’s mentorship = 🔥.

—————-

Brittany Smila, our resident poet laureate, slayed the crowd with a poem that read like a bootleg instruction manual for being human. Typos included. Plum cake recipes too.

—————-

Darby stepped up with real UX [user experience design] energy—running card sorts and mapping our collective brain to build a proper web infrastructure for the VAI [Vancouver artificial intelligence] hive mind. Web3 who?

—————-

Rival Technologies’ Julia & Dale announced our first-ever Data Storytelling Hackathon. $2,500 prize, survey data that slaps, and a chance to show how AI can amplify truth instead of burying it. (Brittany wrote the hot dog prompt, you’re welcome.)

—————-

Cloud Summit’s YK Sugi, Bibi Souza & Andre made waves repping an all-volunteer, all-heart community cloud event coming in hot during Web Summit week. Code meets care. Sponsors fund causes. Real ones only. Fergus dropped serious policy weight—WOSK Centre for Dialogue BC AI report now live. If you want a seat at the government table, this is your guy.

—————-

Kushal closed the night with a flamethrower. Called out UBC’s xenophobic DeepSeek ban. Defended open-source warriors from China and France (💥shoutout Mistral). No prisoners. No apologies. Just truth. –

—————

Khayyam Wakil wrapped it all up with the keynote of the night: a design rebel’s journey from Saskatoon boats to LA VR labs to immersive media Emmys. Lessons in surrender, reinvention, and the real art of quitting right. 🔥

—————-

📍Location: H.R. MacMillan Space Centre — Vancouver, BC (aka the UFO mothership)

🪐 Astronomers on deck. Observatories open till 11. Community stays weird till 10. 🎧 Full audio, speaker list & projects: vancouver.bc-ai.net

🎟️ Next portal opens May 28: lu.ma/VAI17 🖤❤️✊🔥🏴

We don’t do TED Talks. We host real-time cultural reckonings. This is AI for the people—and it’s only getting louder. Bring your edge. Bring your stickers. Bring your weird.

You can go here to get your ticket for the April 30, 2025 Vancouver AI Community Meetup and to find out about more about some of the AI events in Vancouver. You may want to check out the possibility of getting an annual pass or membership in the hope of making attendance more affordable.

Two papers and two workshop recordings from the Metacreation Lab

From the April 2025 Metacreation Lab newsletter,

Missed the Autolume Workshop? Watch It Online Now

After holding Autolume workshops in Toronto, Montreal, and Berlin, we brought the Autolume workshop online earlier in April, and the recordings are now available.

Whether you’re new to Autolume or want a refresher, this hands-on session walks you through training your own generative models, creating real-time visuals, and exploring interactive art, all without writing a single line of code.

Join our mailing list and hop into the Discord channel to stay in the loop and connect with others using Autolume.

Watch Workshop Recordings

Metacreation Lab at ISEA2025 in Seoul

The Metacreation Lab will be at ISEA 2025 with both a paper presentation and a live performance.

PhD student Arshia Sobhan, with Dr. Philippe Pasquier and Dr. Gabriela Aceves-Sepúlveda, will present “Broken Letters, Broken Narratives: A Case Study on Arabic Script in DALL-E 3”. This critical case study examines how text-to-image generative AI systems, such as DALL-E 3, misrepresent Arabic calligraphy, linking these failures to historical biases and Orientalist aesthetics.

The preprint is available here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.20459

In collaboration with sound artist Joshua Rodenberg, Arshia will also present “Reprising Elements,” an audiovisual performance combining Persian calligraphy, sound art, and generative AI powered by Autolume. This performance is an artistic endeavour that celebrates the fusion of time-honoured techniques with modern advancements.

Watch: https://youtu.be/ykNt7lNeL34?si=AIQUGKFDD0iVgt99

MIDI-GPT Paper Now Available in AAAI Proceedings

Our paper “MIDI-GPT: A Controllable Generative Model for Computer-Assisted Multitrack Music Composition” is now officially published in the proceedings of the 39th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

MIDI-GPT leverages Transformer architecture to infill musical material at both track and bar levels, with controls for instrument type, style, note density, polyphony, and more. Our experiments show it generates original, stylistically coherent compositions while avoiding duplication from its training data. The system is already making waves through industry collaborations and artistic projects.

Read the paper

A quick note about ISEA 2025

I wrote about the upcoming symposium in my April 16, 2025 posting, “International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art 2025 (May 23 – 29, 2025) in Seoul, Korea.” If nothing else, you might want to check out the “ISEA theme, ‘동동 (憧憧, Dong-Dong): Creators’ Universe’, May 23 – 29, 2025 in Seoul” subsection. The theme intrigues me greatly.

International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art 2025 (May 23 – 29, 2025) in Seoul, Korea

The International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art is an annual (these days) symposium which is put on by ISEA International (formerly Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts) and is hosted in various parts of the world. Here’s more about the ISEA International from its About (Mission) webpage,

Mission
ISEA International is an international non-profit organisation fostering interdisciplinary discussion and knowledge exchange among culturally diverse organisations and individuals working at the intersection of art, science, and technology.

Main Activity
The organisation’s main activity is the International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art (ISEA), an annual symposium that contributes to knowledge in the fields of art, science, and technology; supports emerging approaches to research and practice on complex and relevant topics; generates knowledge and understanding from interdisciplinary and/or cross-sector perspectives by bringing together diverse communities of art practitioners and scholars. The international symposium provides an academic and artistic forum, including a conference and a wide array of exhibitions, presentations, performances, and public events. Each year, the symposium is held in a different country with the aim of encouraging and including diverse perspectives, and to serve as a cultural bridge between local and international communities of artists and researchers. The ISEA Board of Directors advises and guides the Host Organisations producing each ISEA edition. 

The location for ISEA 2025: some thoughts

The May 23 – 29, 2025 ISEA Symposium is being held in Korea (or South Korea), a location that has been experiencing some political upheaval as have many, many parts of the world. For example, there is a great deal of disquiet here in Canada regarding travel to the US (see April 10, 2025 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s [CBC] news online article by Sophia Harris “Canadian travel to the U.S. has plummeted. One reason why: fear“).

While there have been concerning events in Korea, the situation overall seems to have calmed down.

For anyone who’s familiar with the type of protests held in the US and to a lesser extent in Canada, this description of wandering into a recent protest in South Korea is revelatory, from a March 18, 2025 posting by Canadian gossip columnist, Elaine Lui (Lainey of laineygossip.com), Note: A link has been removed,

… Now that I’m actually in Korea, my feeds are dominated by K-entertainment news. And political news…that does not involve the person dominating the news in the west!

On Saturday [March 15, 2025] we came out of the subway and accidently [sic] joined a protest. The Constitutional Court of Korea is currently deliberating the case of President Yoon Suk Yeol. On Saturday protestors against the president took over city streets calling for his removal. There was also a rally held by his supporters and between the two events, the roads were jammed, the trains were packed, and the police were out in full force. But at no time in the three hours that we spent in that area did we feel a threat to our personal safety. It was a surreal thing to witness as a foreigner after all these years of American-dominated news coverage. According to The Korea Herald, the Court is is expected to deliver its ruling some time this week. 

The ruling from the Constitutional Court of Korea took a little longer than expected but it has now been made, from an April 3, 2025 CBC news online article by Murray Brewster,

South Korea’s Constitutional Court has formally upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol following an aborted attempt to declare martial law late last year [2024]. 

It is a move that will trigger a new round of elections and deepen the political divide in one the region’s more vibrant democracies. South Korea must hold an election within two months.

After deliberating since January, the court issued its unanimous ruling Friday in a nationally broadcast event that saw many ordinary Koreans pause to hear the judgment on Yoon’s political fate.

The justices said Yoon violated the basic rights of the people by declaring martial law. 

“You’re witnessing the miracle of democracy in Korea with the ruling of the constitutional court,” Siheung Mayor Lim Byung-taek told a gathering of journalists visiting the west coast city as part of the World Journalists Conference.

Yoon, a staunch conservative, was impeached in December [2024] by the country’s National Assembly, which is controlled by the liberal opposition. 

He ordered the deployment of hundreds of troops and police officers to the assembly after declaring martial law on Dec. 3 [2024]

Yoon said the decision was intended to maintain order, but subsequently some military and civilian officials testified the president had ordered them to drag out lawmakers to frustrate a floor vote on his decree and detain his political opponents.

In his defence, Yoon claimed that he didn’t intend to keep the country under martial law for very long, and he only wanted to highlight what he called the “wickedness” of the Democratic Party, which obstructed his agenda.

On Friday, police mobilized an overwhelming presence to prevent clashes and possible acts of vandalism, arson and assault.

There were both pro- and anti-impeachment demonstrations on the streets of Seoul following the ruling, but no violence was reported. 

…. 

ISEA theme, ‘동동 (憧憧, Dong-Dong): Creators’ Universe’, May 23 – 29, 2025 in Seoul

I was hoping to find a video with examples of some of what visitors to ISEA 2025 might experience but the organizers had decided on a more minimalist approach. Happily, I found this, from the About/Theme webpage,

The ISEA2025 theme, ‘동동 (憧憧, Dong-Dong): Creators’ Universe’, aspires to transcend the harsh realities of conflict and antagonism, initiating a global wave of unity sparked by a newfound allure. Through the words of the legendary priestess Diotima, Socrates described love as the act of keeping something good within oneself forever, the giving birth to beauty. This “giving birth” or “creation” elevates humanity from a mundane existence to an eternal state. For this God-Man, boundaries become meaningless, replaced by the limitless possibilities of consciousness manifesting in various forms within the quantum realm.

The overarching theme of ISEA2025, ‘Dong-Dong’ is drawn from the phrase “Dong-Dong-Wang-Rae, Bung-Jong-E-Sa (憧憧往來 朋從爾思)” in the ancient Eastern philosophical text, I Ching (Book of Changes, 易經). This theme resonates with this universal life force of love. The imagery of individuals moving toward one another with longing underscores our increasingly fragmented existence, while the ongoing conflicts and devastations around the globe remind us of the ancient wisdom that says it is good to be together. The juxtaposition of global crises with our dazzling technological advancements compels us to reflect on the values that underpin our society today.

ISEA2025 endeavors to explore a new worldview that transcends the recurring theme of posthumanism in contemporary art, as well as the divisions between East and West, art and science, materiality and spirituality, and technology and humanity. Embodying the future envisioned by transnational artist Nam June Paik, our generation is privileged to bridge the disconnected and to embrace the spontaneity and serendipity that emerge from the pursuit of relationship and solidarity. Seoul, a city that epitomises the fusion of tradition and modernity, serves as the ideal platform for such creative exchanges. Its geopolitical significance as the capital of a divided nation further amplifies the meaning of ‘Dong-Dong.’

Art has historically illuminated human experience through its creation of timeless beauty. With the consciousness and the universe of its exalted creators blossoming through technology, we can transcend material and social barriers to aspire higher. May the childlike ‘Dong-Dong’ within our minds generate beautiful waves in our tumultuous reality, awakening the creator spirit in all of us.

The creators’ universe belongs to all who ‘Dong-Dong.’

There’s more, from the About/Theme webpage,

Creators’ Imperatives

We propose four Creators’ Imperatives for all participants of ISEA2025. Each creator is encouraged to embrace the symposium’s main theme, Dong-Dong, by adhering to these guidelines.

Entice (홀려라) | Captivate the Heart

Create experiences and narratives that deeply resonate on an emotional level, fostering genuine interest and engagement.

Entangle (엮어라) | Foster Mutual Resemblance

Encourage collaboration and cross-disciplinary interactions, allowing different perspectives to merge and evolve into innovative concepts and solutions.

Expand (펼쳐라) | Broaden Horizons

Open platforms for diverse participation, encouraging contributions from various entities, including humans and the universe, to foster a rich tapestry of creative output.

Establish (세워라) | Affirm Inter-connectedness

Develop systems and structures that highlight and support the connectivity of different components, ensuring a cohesive and sustainable growth path. Recognise Dong-Dong as a potential gateway to achieving holistic inter-connectedness.

Finally, from the About/Theme webpage,

Sub-themes

To guide academic and artistic submissions for ISEA2025, the following sub-themes have been developed to explore ideas pertaining to Dong-Dong and the Creators’ Imperatives of ISEA2025, and to connect with the ongoing conversations, research, and intellectual inquiry within the ISEA community.

We invite varied approaches and methodologies that resonate with the notion of Dong-Dong and the Creators’ Imperatives of ISEA2025, and urge participants to explore the intersections of art, technology, and culture while embracing the interconnected actions of enticing, entangling, expanding, and establishing.

Digital Heritage

We recall themes of mutual attraction and inclusivity, anticipating creative reinterpretations of tradition. Imagination transcending boundaries will connect traditional culture with modern technology, suggesting new directions for a sustainable future. We aim for a space open to endless combinations and innovations, blending mythical imagination with contemporary advancements.

※ Special Track 1 : 5th Summit on New Media Art Archiving

As part of Digital Heritage, the 5th Summit on New Media Art Archiving will take place, inviting scholars, practitioners, and archivists to engage in discussions that advance the preservation and dissemination of media art. This event will explore innovative reinterpretations of tradition and promote sustainable practices in both physical and digital archiving.

Related Research Areas

History and Philosophy, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Speculative Design, Tangible Legacy, Technological Singularity, DB Collect, Digital Archive, Methodology of Collecting and Archiving Media Art, New Media Art Preservation, Online and Physical Archiving, History of Digital Culture

Techno-Human

As technology advances beyond human cognition, it is crucial to reflect on the beliefs and values driving this progress. We welcome works exploring new life phenomena, evolving human identity through technology, the future of techno-humanity, and the changing Earth environment, fostering imagination, contemplation, and critique.

※ Special Track 2 : Barriers and Alienation in Art X Tech Education

Special session for Techno-Human, we will hold the Barriers and Alienation in Art X Tech Education. Amidst the hype cycle of countless technologies, we are curious about the realities faced by educators, artists, scientists, and practitioners involved in art education mediated by technology. We encourage participants to share their experiences from educational settings that utilize a range of technologies, from high-tech to low-tech, and explore ways to move forward together.

Related Research Areas

Artificial Intelligence, Bio-hacking, Computational Governance, Genetic Engineering, HCI (Human Computer Interaction), Nano Engineering, Robotics, STS (Science and Technology Studies)

Future City

Nam June Paik asserted that “the role of an artist is to contemplate the future.” By blending social imagination with artistic inspiration, creators can envision new future cities, particularly Seoul at ISEA2025. Inspired by the vision of a future city at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair we have adopted the theme ‘Neo Futurama’ for our exploration, seeking to reveal the possible developments of Seoul’s future. Our focus centres on Seoul in the year 2050, a time anticipated to be characterised by artificial intelligence and hyper-convergence. This year is also marked by the technological ‘Singularity,’ as postulated by Ray Kurzweil. We invite creators, especially future generations, to actively envision and propose the cities they aspire to see in the future.

Related Research Areas

Blockchain, Urban Media, Eastern Philosophies, Alternative Cities, Artificial Intelligence, Social Issues, Ecological Future, Collective Action, New Matter & Material, Future Transportation, Future Lifestyle, Singularity

Space Creative & The Stars

Space and celestial bodies have symbolised humanity’s yearning and dreams (동동, 憧憧, Dong-Dong) throughout history and across cultures; The jade rabbit Oktokki that lives on the moon in Korean mythology and Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) are just two of the beloved imagined figures embodying our cosmic sense of wonder. Space, the domain of celestial bodies and the stars, means both the physical expanse that encloses all tangible things and the ‘theatre of mind’ on which ideas and concepts are born and fostered. Space is therefore the enabler of the existence and the transformations of all creations– realisations of human desire and imagination– natural or manmade. Through the Space Creative & The Stars initiative, ISEA2025 aims to explore the varied senses of ‘space’ in creation–outer, literary, symbolic, urban, social, mental, physical, to name a few possibilities. We invite the global thinkers to build together the universe of Dong-Dong, a new home to ‘planetary thinking’ for the fate of humanity.

※ Special Track 3 : Nam June Paik – Live Science Fiction Movie

As part of Space Creative & The Stars, “Nam June Paik – Live Science Fiction Movie” will also take place, inviting scholars, researchers, and artists to engage in discussions that extend Nam June Paik’s philosophy and art. This event proposed by Nam June Paik Art Center will explore innovative ‘Live Science Fiction Movies’ inspired by Paik’s visionary ideas, continuing to challenge our perceptions of space and expand our imagination on this planet.

Related Research Areas

Space Science, Astronomy, Cosmic Web, Architecture and Spatialization, Spatial Music and Graphics, Science Fiction, Augmented/Virtual Reality and Metaverse, Social Constructs, Cognitive Science, Complex Systems, Planetary Thinking and Futurology

It looks pretty exciting to me. Should you be interested in going and haven’t already registered, they’ve extended Early Bird Registration to April 25, 2025 (KST). For those of us in Canada, I believe that Korea is across the International Dateline, which means you have until April 24, 2025. You can register early here; the registration fees are listed in Korean currency only.

Digital Culture Talks presented by The Space online February 12 – 13, 2025

A February 5, 2025 notice (received via email) from The Space, a UK Arts organization, announced a two-day series of talks on digital culture,

Digital Culture Talks 2025!

There’s just a week to go till The Space’s conference and we’re pleased to confirm our speakers for each of the roundtable talks on Day 1 and 2. There’s lots that will be of interest, including:

* A timely debate about how to make online communities safer
* In introduction to CreaTech – a £6.75 million investment to develop small, micro- and medium-sized businesses specialising in creative tech like video games and immersive reality – find out how to get involved
* Discussions on the role of artists in a digital world
* Explorations of digital accessibiliy, community ownership, engagement and empowerment. 

Find out more here and below

Day 1
Digital communities and online harms
Wednesday 12 February

Digital accessibility, inclusion and community

Roundtable 1
How can we think differently about how we create digital content and challenge assumptions about what culture looks like? Exploring community ownership, engagement and empowerment through digital.

  • Zoe Partington – Acting CEO DaDa, Artist and Disability Consultant
  • Rachel Farrer – Associate Director, Cultural and Community Engagement Innovation Ecosystem, Coventry University
  • Parminder Dosanjh – Creative Director, Creative Black County
  • Jo Capper – Collaborative Programme Curator, Grand Union

Reducing online harms, how to make social media and online communities safer

Roundtable 2
In a world of increasingly polarised online spaces, what are the emerging trends and challenges when engaging audiences and building communities online?

Day 2
The role of artists in a digital world
Thursday 13 February

Calling all in the West Midlands!

Day 2 is taking place in person as well as streaming online. If you’d like to join us in person at the STEAMhouse in Birmingham, please register for free below.

As well as joining us for the great roundtables we have lined up, there’ll be a great chance to network in between sessions over lunch. Look forward to seeing you there!

Join us in person!

CreaTech, the Digital West Midlands and beyond – Local and Global [CreaTech is an initiative of the UK’s Creative Industries Council]

Roundtable 1
An introduction to CreaTech – a £6.75 million investment to develop small, micro- and medium-sized businesses specialising in creative tech like video games and immersive reality. Creatives and academics from across the Midlands and further afield discuss arising opportunities and what this means for the region and beyond.

  • Richard Willacy – General Director, Birmingham Opera Company 
  • Tom Rogers – Creative Content Producer, Birmingham Royal Ballet
  • Louise Latter – Head of Programme, BOM
  • Lamberto Coccioli – Project lead, CreaTech Frontiers, Professor of Music and Technology at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (BCU) 
  • Rachel Davis – Director of Warwick Enterprise, University of Warwick 

Platforming artists and storytellers – are artists and storyteller missing from modern discourse?

Roundtable 2
Artists and storytellers have historically played pivotal roles in shaping societal narratives and fostering cultural discourse. However, is their presence in mainstream discussions diminishing?

Come and join in the conversation!

Register to join us online

If you got to The Space’s Digital Culture Talks 2025 webpage, you’ll find a few more details. Clicking on the link to register will give you the event time appropriate to your timezone.

For anyone curious about The Space, from their homepage (scroll down about 60% of the way),

About us

Welcome to The Space. We help the arts, culture and heritage sector to engage audiences using digital and broadcast content and platforms.

As an independent not-for-profit organisation, our role is to fund the creation of new digital cultural content and provide free training, mentoring and online resources for organisations, artists and creative practitioners.

We are funded by a range of national and regional agencies, to enable you to build your digital skills, confidence and experience via practical advice and hands-on experience. We can also help you to find ways to make your digital content accessible to new and more diverse audiences.

We also offer a low-cost consultancy service for organisations who want to develop their digital cultural content strategy.

There you have it.

Explaining topological insulators with dance

This must have been some high school physics class. A November 5, 2024 news item on ScienceDaily explains how physics topological insulators and dance intersected for three classes,

Science can be difficult to explain to the public. In fact, any subfield of science can be difficult to explain to another scientist who studies in a different area. Explaining a theoretical science concept to high school students requires a new way of thinking altogether.

This is precisely what researchers at the University of California San Diego did when they orchestrated a dance with high school students at Orange Glen High School in Escondido as a way to explain topological insulators.

The experiment, led by former graduate student Matthew Du and UC San Diego Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Joel Yuen-Zhou, was published in Science Advances.

A November 5, 2024 University of California at San Diego (UC San Diego) news release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, provides more detail about how the researchers employed dance to teach physics concepts, Note: A link has been removed,

“I think the concept is simple,” stated Yuen-Zhou. “But the math is much harder. We wanted to show that these complex ideas in theoretical and experimental physics and chemistry are actually not as impossible to understand as you might initially think.”

Topological insulators are a relatively new type of quantum material that has insulating properties on the inside, but have conductive properties on the outside. To use a Southern California staple, if a topological insulator was a burrito, the filling would be insulating and the tortilla would be conducting.

Since topological insulators are able to withstand some disorder and deformation, they can be synthesized and used under conditions where imperfections can arise. For this reason, they hold promise in the areas of quantum computing and lasers, and in creating more efficient electronics.

To bring these quantum materials to life, the researchers made a dance floor (topological insulator) by creating a grid with pieces of blue and red tape. Then to choreograph the dance, Du created a series of rules that governed how individual dancers moved.

These rules are based on what is known as a Hamiltonian in quantum mechanics. Electrons obey rules given by a Hamiltonian, which represents the total energy of a quantum system, including kinetic and potential energy. The Hamiltonian encodes the interactions of the electron in the potential energy of the material.

Each dancer (electron) had a pair of flags and was given a number that corresponded to a movement:

  •  1 = wave flags with arms pointing up
  •  0 = stand still
  • -1 = wave flags with arms pointing down

Subsequent moves were based on what a neighboring dancer did and the color of the tape on the floor. A dancer would mimic a neighbor with blue tape, but do the opposite of a neighbor with red tape. Individual mistakes or dancers leaving the floor didn’t disrupt the overall dance, exhibiting the robustness of topological insulators.

In addition to topology, Yuen-Zhou’s lab also studies chemical processes and photonics, and it was in thinking of light waves that they realized the movement of a group of people also resembled a wave. This gave Yuen-Zhou the idea of using dance to explain a complex topic like topological insulators. Implementing this idea seemed like a fun challenge to Du, who is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago and takes salsa lessons in his free time.

Du, who comes from a family of educators and is committed to scientific outreach, says the project gave him an appreciation for being able to distill science into its simplest elements.

“We wanted to demystify these concepts in a way that was unconventional and fun,” he stated. “Hopefully, the students were able to see that science can be made understandable and enjoyable by relating it to everyday life.”   

Full list of authors: Matthew Du, Juan B. Pérez-Sánchez, Jorge A. Campos-Gonzalez-Angulo, Arghadip Koner, Federico Mellini, Sindhana Pannir-Sivajothi, Yong Rui Poh, Kai Schwennicke, Kunyang Sun, Stephan van den Wildenberg, Alec Barron and Joel Yuen-Zhou (all UC San Diego); and Dylan Karzen (Orange Glen High School).

This research was supported by an National Science Foundation CAREER grant (CHE 1654732).

Here’s what it looked like,

series of overhead images of dancers on dance floor grid
Snapshots showing dancers on the edge of the topological insulator moving in a clockwise direction. Courtesy of University of California at San Diego

You may find this helps you to understand what’s happening in the pictures,

Before getting to a link and citation for the paper, here’s the paper’s abstract,

Topological insulators are insulators in the bulk but feature chiral energy propagation along the boundary. This property is topological in nature and therefore robust to disorder. Originally discovered in electronic materials, topologically protected boundary transport has since been observed in many other physical systems. Thus, it is natural to ask whether this phenomenon finds relevance in a broader context. We choreograph a dance in which a group of humans, arranged on a square grid, behave as a topological insulator. The dance features unidirectional flow of movement through dancers on the lattice edge. This effect persists when people are removed from the dance floor. Our work extends the applicability of wave physics to dance. [emphasis mine]

I wonder if we’re going to see some ‘wave physics’ inspired dance performances.

Finally, here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Chiral edge waves in a dance-based human topological insulator by Matthew Du, Juan B. Pérez-Sánchez, Jorge A. Campos-Gonzalez-Angulo, Arghadip Koner, Federico Mellini, Sindhana Pannir-Sivajothi, Yong Rui Poh, Kai Schwennicke, Kunyang Sun, Stephan van den Wildenberg, Dylan Karzen, Alec Barron, and Joel Yuen-Zhou. Science Advances 28 Aug 2024 Vol 10, Issue 35 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh7810

This paper is open access.

I think this is the first year I’ve stumbled across two stories about physics and dance in one year. Here’s the other one, “Happy Canada Day! Breakdancing at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics: physics in action + heat, mosquitoes, and sports” in a July 1, 2024 posting.

Dance experience visible in brain activity of audience members watching dance

Caption: Iron Skulls Co dancers Adrian Vega (left) and Diego Garrido performed the dance duet Un último recuerdo for the spectators participating in the study. Photo Credit: Juanmi Ponce

An October 2, 2024 University of Helsinki press release (also on EurekAlert but published October 15, 2024) describes research exploring the differences in brain activity between audience members with extensive dance or music experience and audiences with little of experience of either,

University of Helsinki researchers measured the brain activity of people watching a live dance performance in a real-world setting. They invited spectators with extensive experience of either dance or music as well as novices with no particular background in either of these areas.

The spectators’ brain activity was measured using EEG while they watched the live dance duet Un último recuerdo, a piece created by the Spanish Iron Skulls Co that combines contemporary dance and breakdance.

Experienced dancers respond more strongly than novices

The results showed that dance experience is detectable in spectators’ brain activity during a dance performance. The experienced dancers watching the performance displayed stronger synchronisation than the novices at the low theta frequency.

Experience of dance affects brain functions associated with the visualisation of movement in the mind, the simultaneous integration of several sensory stimuli (listening to music and watching dance) and social interaction.

When musicians watched the live dance performance, they had stronger synchrony in the delta band, which is even lower than theta. This may be associated with the musicians’ trained ability to observe rhythmic bodily movements.

Watching dance in a real-world environment is unique for our brain

The effect of watching a dance performance on brain activity has previously been studied by having subjects watch a video recording on their own in a brain research laboratory.

The present study was conducted in a real-world performance environment and shows that watching a live dance performance in a full venue activates the brain more extensively than the above setting.

“As our interaction increasingly moves to online platforms and the virtual world, it’s important to know that real-world interaction is unique – for our body and brain,” says Hanna Poikonen, the lead author of the study.

The results also emphasise the effect of a background in creative movement on the spectator experience.

“If we have practised our bodily skills, we may better understand the body language of others, which makes social interaction smoother,” Poikonen notes.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Cortical oscillations are modified by expertise in dance and music: Evidence from live dance audience by Hanna Poikonen, Mari Tervaniemi, Laurel Trainor. European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN) Volume 60, Issue 8 October 2024 Pages 6000-6014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.16525 First published online: 15 September 2024

This paper is open access.

Way back in time (see my March 6, 2012 posting), I featured some research into how experienced ballet watchers (not dancers or musicians) experienced a ballet performance.

Not quite so far back in time, I mentioned Laurel Trainor (third author listed on the paper) in a November 29, 2019 posting that featured (amongst other items) the Large Interactive Virtual Environment Laboratory (LIVELab) located in McMaster University’s (Ontario, Canada) Institute for Music & the Mind (MIMM).

FrogHeart’s 2024 comes to an end as 2025 comes into view

First, thank you to anyone who’s dropped by to read any of my posts. Second, I didn’t quite catch up on my backlog in what was then the new year (2024) despite my promises. (sigh) I will try to publish my drafts in a more timely fashion but I start this coming year as I did 2024 with a backlog of two to three months. This may be my new normal.

As for now, here’s an overview of FrogHeart’s 2024. The posts that follow are loosely organized under a heading but many of them could fit under other headings as well. After my informal review, there’s some material on foretelling the future as depicted in an exhibition, “Oracles, Omens and Answers,” at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.

Human enhancement: prosthetics, robotics, and more

Within a year or two of starting this blog I created a tag ‘machine/flesh’ to organize information about a number of converging technologies such as robotics, brain implants, and prosthetics that could alter our concepts of what it means to be human. The larger category of human enhancement functions in much the same way also allowing a greater range of topics to be covered.

Here are some of the 2024 human enhancement and/or machine/flesh stories on this blog,

Other species are also being rendered ‘machine/flesh’,

The year of the hydrogel?

It was the year of the hydrogel for me (btw, hydrogels are squishy materials; I have more of a description after this list),

As for anyone who’s curious about hydrogels, there’s this from an October 20, 2016 article by D.C.Demetre for ScienceBeta, Note: A link has been removed,

Hydrogels, materials that can absorb and retain large quantities of water, could revolutionise medicine. Our bodies contain up to 60% water, but hydrogels can hold up to 90%.

It is this similarity to human tissue that has led researchers to examine if these materials could be used to improve the treatment of a range of medical conditions including heart disease and cancer.

These days hydrogels can be found in many everyday products, from disposable nappies and soft contact lenses to plant-water crystals. But the history of hydrogels for medical applications started in the 1960s.

Scientists developed artificial materials with the ambitious goal of using them in permanent contact applications , ones that are implanted in the body permanently.

For anyone who wants a more technical explanation, there’s the Hydrogel entry on Wikipedia.

Science education and citizen science

Where science education is concerned I’m seeing some innovative approaches to teaching science, which can include citizen science. As for citizen science (also known as, participatory science) I’ve been noticing heightened interest at all age levels.

Artificial intelligence

It’s been another year where artificial intelligence (AI) has absorbed a lot of energy from nearly everyone. I’m highlighting the more unusual AI stories I’ve stumbled across,

As you can see, I’ve tucked in two tangentially related stories, one which references a neuromorphic computing story ((see my Neuromorphic engineering category or search for ‘memristors’ in the blog search engine for more on brain-like computing topics) and the other is intellectual property. There are many, many more stories on these topics

Art/science (or art/sci or sciart)

It’s a bit of a surprise to see how many art/sci stories were published here this year, although some might be better described as art/tech stories.

There may be more 2024 art/sci stories but the list was getting long. In addition to searching for art/sci on the blog search engine, you may want to try data sonification too.

Moving off planet to outer space

This is not a big interest of mine but there were a few stories,

A writer/blogger’s self-indulgences

Apparently books can be dangerous and not in a ‘ban [fill in the blank] from the library’ kind of way,

Then, there are these,

New uses for electricity,

Given the name for this blog, it has to be included,

  • Frog saunas published September 15, 2024, this includes what seems to be a mild scientific kerfuffle

I’ve been following Lomiko Metals (graphite mining) for a while,

Who would have guessed?

Another bacteria story,

New crimes,

Origins of life,

Dirt

While no one year features a large number of ‘dirt’ stories, it has been a recurring theme here throughout the years,

Regenerative medicine

In addition to or instead of using the ‘regenerative medicine’ tag, I might use ’tissue engineering’ or ’tissue scaffolding’,

To sum it up

It was an eclectic year.

Peering forward into 2025 and futurecasting

I expect to be delighted, horrified, thrilled, and left shaking my head by science stories in 2025. Year after year the world of science reveals a world of wonder.

More mundanely, I can state with some confidence that my commentary (mentioned in the future-oriented subsection of my 2023 review and 2024 look forward) on Quantum Potential, a 2023 report from the Council of Canadian Academies, will be published early in this new year as I’ve almost finished writing it.

As for more about the future, I’ve got this, from a December 3, 2024 essay (Five ways to predict the future from around the world – from spider divination to bibliomancy) about an exhibition by Michelle Aroney (Research Fellow in Early Modern History, University of Oxford) and David Zeitlyn (Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oxford) in The Conversation (h/t December 3, 2024 news item on phys.org), Note: Links have been removed

Some questions are hard to answer and always have been. Does my beloved love me back? Should my country go to war? Who stole my goats?

Questions like these have been asked of diviners around the world throughout history – and still are today. From astrology and tarot to reading entrails, divination comes in a wide variety of forms.

Yet they all address the same human needs. They promise to tame uncertainty, help us make decisions or simply satisfy our desire to understand.

Anthropologists and historians like us study divination because it sheds light on the fears and anxieties of particular cultures, many of which are universal. Our new exhibition at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, Oracles, Omens & Answers, explores these issues by showcasing divination techniques from around the world.

1. Spider divination

In Cameroon, Mambila spider divination (ŋgam dù) addresses difficult questions to spiders or land crabs that live in holes in the ground.

Asking the spiders a question involves covering their hole with a broken pot and placing a stick, a stone and cards made from leaves around it. The diviner then asks a question in a yes or no format while tapping the enclosure to encourage the spider or crab to emerge. The stick and stone represent yes or no, while the leaf cards, which are specially incised with certain meanings, offer further clarification.

2. Palmistry

Reading people’s palms (palmistry) is well known as a fairground amusement, but serious forms of this divination technique exist in many cultures. The practice of reading the hands to gather insights into a person’s character and future was used in many ancient cultures across Asia and Europe.

In some traditions, the shape and depth of the lines on the palm are richest in meaning. In others, the size of the hands and fingers are also considered. In some Indian traditions, special marks and symbols appearing on the palm also provide insights.

Palmistry experienced a huge resurgence in 19th-century England and America, just as the science of fingerprints was being developed. If you could identify someone from their fingerprints, it seemed plausible to read their personality from their hands.

3. Bibliomancy

If you want a quick answer to a difficult question, you could try bibliomancy. Historically, this DIY [do-it-yourself] divining technique was performed with whatever important books were on hand.

Throughout Europe, the works of Homer or Virgil were used. In Iran, it was often the Divan of Hafiz, a collection of Persian poetry. In Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions, holy texts have often been used, though not without controversy.

4. Astrology

Astrology exists in almost every culture around the world. As far back as ancient Babylon, astrologers have interpreted the heavens to discover hidden truths and predict the future.

5. Calendrical divination

Calendars have long been used to divine the future and establish the best times to perform certain activities. In many countries, almanacs still advise auspicious and inauspicious days for tasks ranging from getting a haircut to starting a new business deal.

In Indonesia, Hindu almanacs called pawukon [calendar] explain how different weeks are ruled by different local deities. The characteristics of the deities mean that some weeks are better than others for activities like marriage ceremonies.

You’ll find logistics for the exhibition in this September 23, 2024 Bodleian Libraries University of Oxford press release about the exhibit, Note: Links have been removed,

Oracles, Omens and Answers

6 December 2024 – 27 April 2025
ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library

The Bodleian Libraries’ new exhibition, Oracles, Omens and Answers, will explore the many ways in which people have sought answers in the face of the unknown across time and cultures. From astrology and palm reading to weather and public health forecasting, the exhibition demonstrates the ubiquity of divination practices, and humanity’s universal desire to tame uncertainty, diagnose present problems, and predict future outcomes.

Through plagues, wars and political turmoil, divination, or the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown, has remained an integral part of society. Historically, royals and politicians would consult with diviners to guide decision-making and incite action. People have continued to seek comfort and guidance through divination in uncertain times — the COVID-19 pandemic saw a rise in apps enabling users to generate astrological charts or read the Yijing [I Ching], alongside a growth in horoscope and tarot communities on social media such as ‘WitchTok’. Many aspects of our lives are now dictated by algorithmic predictions, from e-health platforms to digital advertising. Scientific forecasters as well as doctors, detectives, and therapists have taken over many of the societal roles once held by diviners. Yet the predictions of today’s experts are not immune to criticism, nor can they answer all our questions.

Curated by Dr Michelle Aroney, whose research focuses on early modern science and religion, and Professor David Zeitlyn, an expert in the anthropology of divination, the exhibition will take a historical-anthropological approach to methods of prophecy, prediction and forecasting, covering a broad range of divination methods, including astrology, tarot, necromancy, and spider divination.

Dating back as far as ancient Mesopotamia, the exhibition will show us that the same kinds of questions have been asked of specialist practitioners from around the world throughout history. What is the best treatment for this illness? Does my loved one love me back? When will this pandemic end? Through materials from the archives of the Bodleian Libraries alongside other collections in Oxford, the exhibition demonstrates just how universally human it is to seek answers to difficult questions.

Highlights of the exhibition include: oracle bones from Shang Dynasty China (ca. 1250-1050 BCE); an Egyptian celestial globe dating to around 1318; a 16th-century armillary sphere from Flanders, once used by astrologers to place the planets in the sky in relation to the Zodiac; a nineteenth-century illuminated Javanese almanac; and the autobiography of astrologer Joan Quigley, who worked with Nancy and Ronald Reagan in the White House for seven years. The casebooks of astrologer-physicians in 16th- and 17th-century England also offer rare insights into the questions asked by clients across the social spectrum, about their health, personal lives, and business ventures, and in some cases the actions taken by them in response.

The exhibition also explores divination which involves the interpretation of patterns or clues in natural things, with the idea that natural bodies contain hidden clues that can be decrypted. Some diviners inspect the entrails of sacrificed animals (known as ‘extispicy’), as evidenced by an ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet describing the observation of patterns in the guts of birds. Others use human bodies, with palm readers interpreting characters and fortunes etched in their clients’ hands. A sketch of Oscar Wilde’s palms – which his palm reader believed indicated “a great love of detail…extraordinary brain power and profound scholarship” – shows the revival of palmistry’s popularity in 19th century Britain.

The exhibition will also feature a case study of spider divination practised by the Mambila people of Cameroon and Nigeria, which is the research specialism of curator Professor David Zeitlyn, himself a Ŋgam dù diviner. This process uses burrowing spiders or land crabs to arrange marked leaf cards into a pattern, which is read by the diviner. The display will demonstrate the methods involved in this process and the way in which its results are interpreted by the card readers. African basket divination has also been observed through anthropological research, where diviners receive answers to their questions in the form of the configurations of thirty plus items after they have been tossed in the basket.

Dr Michelle Aroney and Professor David Zeitlyn, co-curators of the exhibition, say:

Every day we confront the limits of our own knowledge when it comes to the enigmas of the past and present and the uncertainties of the future. Across history and around the world, humans have used various techniques that promise to unveil the concealed, disclosing insights that offer answers to private or shared dilemmas and help to make decisions. Whether a diviner uses spiders or tarot cards, what matters is whether the answers they offer are meaningful and helpful to their clients. What is fun or entertainment for one person is deadly serious for another.

Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s [a nickname? Bodleian Libraries were founded by Sir Thomas Bodley] Librarian, said:

People have tried to find ways of predicting the future for as long as we have had recorded history. This exhibition examines and illustrates how across time and culture, people manage the uncertainty of everyday life in their own way. We hope that through the extraordinary exhibits, and the scholarship that brings them together, visitors to the show will appreciate the long history of people seeking answers to life’s biggest questions, and how people have approached it in their own unique way.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the book Divinations, Oracles & Omens, edited by Michelle Aroney and David Zeitlyn, which will be published by Bodleian Library Publishing on 5 December 2024.

Courtesy: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

I’m not sure why the preceding image is used to illustrate the exhibition webpage but I find it quite interesting. Should you be in Oxford, UK and lucky enough to visit the exhibition, there are a few more details on the Oracles, Omens and Answers event webpage, Note: There are 26 Bodleian Libraries at Oxford and the exhibition is being held in the Weston Library,

EXHIBITION

Oracles, Omens and Answers

6 December 2024 – 27 April 2025

ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library

Free admission, no ticket required

Note: This exhibition includes a large continuous projection of spider divination practice, including images of the spiders in action.

Exhibition tours

Oracles, Omens and Answers exhibition tours are available on selected Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1–1.45pm and are open to all.

These free gallery tours are led by our dedicated volunteer team and places are limited. Check available dates and book your tickets.

You do not need to book a tour to visit the exhibition. Please meet by the entrance doors to the exhibition at the rear of Blackwell Hall.

Happy 2025! And, once again, thank you.

From AI to Ancient Greece; the 2024-25 theatre season at Concordia University (Montréal, Québec)

An October 30, 2024 Concordia University news release by Vanessa Hauguel announces the upcoming theatre season, which features a focus on how current technology and historical narratives intersect, Note: Links have been removed,

The Concordia Department of Theatre recently announced its 2024-25 season, featuring a diverse lineup of scripted and devised works. The program delves into themes relevant to today’s world, from artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes to the timeless human experiences and societal change.

Two upcoming productions highlight the department’s wide range of creative approaches. The first is Concord Floral by Jordan Tannahill, directed by Emma Tibaldo. The second is a devised adaptation of La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream), based on Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s classic play, directed by Peter Farbridge.

While these two productions kick off the season, additional performances are planned throughout the year until April 2025, continuing the department’s exploration of contemporary and classic themes. Directors Farbridge and Tibaldo, as well as this season’s artistic producer, Noah Drew, share the creative vision behind the shows and the thematic connections between them.

Modern ghost story

Concord Floral, by Canadian playwright Tannahill, is a modern ghost story set in an abandoned greenhouse where a group of teenagers face a buried secret. Directed by Tibaldo, a Concordia theatre graduate, 99, and artist-in-residence, it incorporates cutting-edge technology to navigate themes of guilt, adolescence and the weight of collective silence.

Concord Floral is a play that sticks with you,” Tibaldo explains. “It speaks to growing up, discovering yourself and grappling with your accountability to others. The haunting or ‘plague’ in the play is represented through movement, lighting and sound, creating a visceral embodiment of guilt and regret.”

The play draws on The Decameron as a point of reference, adding a sense of timelessness to the teenage experience. “During our teen years, we often react or make impulsive decisions, as we’re discovering or aiming to break boundaries, and sometimes they come with lasting consequences,” Tibaldo says. “This play will resonate strongly with many, as it captures that intense, confusing period of early adulthood.”

La vida es sueño: mixing AI, deepfakes & philosophy

Meanwhile, La vida es sueño offers a reimagining of Calderón de la Barca’s work, making allusions to contemporary issues like AI deepfakes. Farbridge, MA 22, explores the philosophical themes of illusion and reality in this adaptation, examining how modern technology manipulates perception.

“At the heart of the play is the idea that our lives are shaped by false narratives, a timeless concept that feels increasingly relevant in today’s world,” Farbridge says.

“Our adaptation looks at how political systems manipulate truth on a massive scale. And the deeper question we’re asking is, if belief in what we see and hear in online media collapses, where will we land?”

Farbridge’s production will use a combination of video screens, shadow-play and physical performance to explore these themes. “We’re experimenting with form and trying to find new ways of engaging with the audience. It’s an exciting process, and unnerving too, as we won’t know the full impact of it until the public is in the theatre with us..”

A season of learning and innovating

As this season’s artistic producer, Drew sees the productions as essential learning experiences for students. “A big part of students’ education has to come from ‘stage time’ — those moments when a live audience is experiencing their work,” the associate professor says.

“These two productions offer a chance to engage with classic stories radically reinvented —Concord Floral reinterprets The Decameron, while La vida es sueño rethinks a Spanish Golden Age play. I hope it gives students the opportunity to see how historical narratives can connect with today’s issues, and grasp a deeper, more personal understanding of how history loops and cycles.”

Drew also points out the importance of technology in both productions.

“Lighting, sound and video are used all the time in many forms of art and entertainment media. What’s special about their use in theatre is that audiences get to see them in a real three-dimensional space interacting with our species’ original ‘technology’ — the human body. This liveness and immediacy can create almost-hallucinatory images that make audiences rub their eyes and wonder if the haunting moments in Concord Floral or the manipulations of truth in La vida es sueño are illusions or are really happening.”

Reflecting on the broader significance of theatre, Drew believes that storytelling plays a vital role in addressing the challenges of today’s rapidly changing world.

“We live in a time of war, climate crises, political polarization, flawed AI, and many forms of injustice,” he says. “Theatre can help us step outside of our routines, wake up, and yearn for more. It’s a way to make sense of a complicated world and spark inspiration.”

La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream) runs from November 14 to 16 [2024] in room 240 of the Molson (MB) Building, 1450 Guy Street.

Concord Floral runs November 27 to 30 [2024] at the Concordia Theatre in the Henry F. Hall (H) Building, 1455 Boulevard De Maisonneuve West.

Should you be in Montréal and able to attend the performances, you can find more details via Concordia University’s PUBLIC PERFORMANCES 2024-25 webpage.

Happy Canada Day! Breakdancing at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics: physics in action + heat, mosquitoes, and sports

Happy July 1, 2024, also known as, Canada Day!

Onto breakdancing (or breaking), which for the first time will be an official event at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Amy Pope, principal lecturer, physics and astronomy, Clemson University (South Carolina, US), has written a June 12, 2024 essay for The Conversation that describes breakdancing as physics in action, (h/t June 13, 2024 news item in phys.org), Note: Links have been removed,

Two athletes square off for an intense dance battle. The DJ starts spinning tunes, and the athletes begin twisting, spinning and seemingly defying gravity, respectfully watching each other and taking turns showing off their skill.

The athletes converse through their movements, speaking through a dance that celebrates both athleticism and creativity. While the athletes probably aren’t consciously thinking about the physics behind their movements, these complex and mesmerizing dances demonstrate a variety of different scientific principles.

Breaking, also known as breakdancing, originated in the late 1970s in the New York City borough of the Bronx. Debuting as an Olympic sport in the 2024 Summer Olympics, breaking will showcase its dynamic moves on a global stage. This urban dance style combines hip-hop culture, acrobatic moves and expressive footwork.

Since its inception, breaking has evolved into a competitive art form. An MC narrates the movements, while a DJ mixes songs to create a dynamic atmosphere. The Olympics will feature two events: one for men, called B-boys, and one for women, called B-girls. In these events, athletes will face off in dance battles.

… Success in this sport requires combining dance moves from three basic categories: top rock, down rock and freeze.

And now for the physics of it all, from Pope’s June 12, 2024 essay, Note: Links have been removed,

Top rock moves [emphasis mine] are performed while standing up, focusing on fancy footwork and hand movements. These movements are reminiscent of hip-hop dancing.

Top rock moves rely on having lots of friction between an athlete’s shoes and the floor. Friction is the force [emphasis miine] that resists when you slide something across a surface.

This friction allows the athlete to take very quick steps and to stop abruptly. The dancers must intuitively understand inertia, or the fact that their bodies will continue in the direction they’re moving unless they are acted upon by an external force. To stop abruptly, athletes need to engage their muscles, getting their shoes to grip the ground to stop themselves from continuing forward.

Down rock moves [emphasis mine] are performed while on the floor. Athletes may spin in circles with their head, back, elbows or shoulders touching the ground and their feet in the air. B-boys and B-girls rely heavily on an internal knowledge of physics to complete these moves.

Consider the physics of a backspin. A backspin occurs when the athlete is on their back with their feet lifted in the air, rotating around a specific area of their back.

Sitting on the floor, the athlete’s left foot stays in contact with the floor while they spread their right leg wide, gathering linear momentum [emphasis mine] as they sweep their right leg toward their left foot in a wide arc. Then, they release their left leg from contact with the ground and roll onto their back.

Now that only their back is in contact with the ground, the linear momentum from their leg turns into angular momentum [emphasis mine], which rotates the athlete around an axis that extends upward from their back’s contact point with the ground. This move turns magical when they bring their legs and arms inward, toward the axis of rotation. This principal is called conservation of angular momentum.

When an athlete brings their mass in more closely to the axis of rotation, the athlete’s rotations speed up. Extending their legs and arms once again and moving their mass away from the axis of rotation will cause the competitor to slow their rotation speed down. Once they slow down, they can transition to another move.

Freeze [emphasis mine] occurs when athletes come to a stop in a funky pose, often occurring in time to the music and in an upside-down position. To freeze effectively, the athlete must have full control over their center of mass, placing it right above the point of their body that is in contact with the floor. The center of mass is the average position of all the parts of an athlete, weighted according to their masses. The “balance point” where the entire mass of the athlete seems to be concentrated is the center of mass.

Athletes are most stable when their center of mass is as close to the ground as possible. You will see many competitors freeze with arms bent in an effort to lower their center of mass. This lowered center of mass reduces their distance from the floor and minimizes the tendency of their body to rock to one side or the other due to torque.

Torque is a twisting force [emphasis mine], like the force used to turn a wrench. The torque depends on two things: the amount of force you apply, and how far from the pivot point you apply the force. With an athlete’s center of mass closer to the ground, the athlete decreases the distance between the pivot point – the ground – and where the force of gravity is applied – the athlete’s center of mass.

Athletes need great strength to halt their motion mid-movement because they have to apply a force to resist the change in inertia.

It’s not just about the moves, clothing is a factor, Pope’s June 12, 2024 essay,

Many sports require a specific uniform. Breaking doesn’t – an athlete can wear whatever they want – but the right outfit will maximize their chance of success.

The athlete wants a shirt that minimizes the friction between their body and the ground during a spin. Lettering or images on the back of the shirt will add friction, which hinders an athlete’s ability to perform some down rock moves. An athlete may choose to wear long sleeves if they plan to slide on their elbows, as bare skin in contact with the floor provides more friction.

Athletes also have to think about the headgear they wear. …

There’s a bit more information about the breakdancing competition on the 2024 Olympics website.I cannot find a full list of athletes for the August 9, 2024 (B-Girls) and August 10, 2024 (B-Boys) competitions. There is this June 2, 2024 article (from the Associated Press) on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) online news website,

Victor Montalvo (B-boy Victor), United States: A breaker who describes himself as a student of old school b-boys from the founding era of hip-hop, the 30-year-old Montalvo, who is from Kissimmee, Florida, qualified for Paris by besting all other b-boys at the 2023 WDSF World Breaking Championship in Belgium.

Sunny Choi (B-girl Sunny), United States: The 35-year-old Choi, a cheerful Queens, New York-bred breaker, has long been an ambassador for b-girls globally. She qualified for the Paris Games with her win at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile.

Philip Kim (B-boy Phil Wizard), Vancouver, Canada: Consistently ranked in the top three b-boys in the international breaking competitive community, Kim secured a spot for Paris when he came out on top at last year’s Pan American Games.

Dominika Banevič (B-girl Nicka), Lithuania: Banevič was the youngest in her category at last year’s WDSF World Breaking Championship, when she punched her ticket to Paris. Banevič turns 17 this month.

I thought the competition would be dominated by Americans and certainly wasn’t expecting to see a Lithuanian (Dominika Banevič or ‘Nicka’) listed as a competitor to watch. The Canadian (Philip Kim or ‘Phil Wizard’) is also a surprise. Who knew Vancouver was home to a leading B-boy?

Two comments: heat and mosquitoes (dengue and other fevers)

The organizers of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics are to be complimented for their work towards making the games ‘green’ but that is a complex process.

Heat

For example, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) ran a news item on The National news telecast on June 17, 2024 (see telecast for embedded video clip) regarding concerns about and preparations for heat,

Preparing for extreme heat at the Paris Olympics

Paris Olympic organizers plan to make this summer’s games the greenest ever, but that includes offering less air conditioning to cut down on energy use. [emphases mine] As temperatures rise globally, some suggest the organizers should take extreme heat into account when awarding cities with the next big Olympic games.

Some of the reporting in the CBC news item is based on information from a June 18, 2024 University of Portsmouth (UK) press release, Note: Links have been removed,

Leading athletes are warning that intense heat at the Paris Olympics in July-August 2024 could lead to competitors collapsing and in worst case scenarios dying during the Games. [emphasis mine]

Eleven Olympians, including winners of five World Championships and six Olympic medals, have come together with climate scientists and leading heat physiologists Professor Mike Tipton and Dr Jo Corbett from the University of Portsmouth to unpack the serious threat extreme heat poses for athletes in a new Rings of Fire report.

Dr Corbett, Associate Professor of Environmental Physiology in the School of Sport, Health and Exercise Science at the University of Portsmouth, said: “A warming planet will present an additional challenge to athletes, which can adversely impact on their performance and diminish the sporting spectacle of the Olympic Games,. Hotter conditions also increase the potential for heat illness amongst all individuals exposed to high thermal stress, including officials and spectators, as well as athletes.”

“For athletes, from smaller performance-impacting issues like sleep disruption and last-minute changes to event timings, to exacerbated health impacts and heat related stress and injury, the consequences can be varied and wide-ranging. With global temperatures continuing to rise, climate change should increasingly be viewed as an existential threat to sport,” said Lord Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics and four-time Olympic medallist.

The Tokyo Games became known as the “hottest in history,” with temperatures exceeding 34°C and humidity reaching nearly 70 per cent, leading to severe health risks for competitors. The Paris Games have the potential to surpass that, with climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels contributing to record heat streaks during the past months.

2023 was the hottest year on record according to the EU’s [European Union] Copernicus Climate Change Service and 2024 has continued this streak. April 2024 was warmer globally than any previous April in the record books, said experts at Copernicus.

The Rings of Fire report discusses the deadly heatwave in France in 2003 – which killed over 14,000 people – and subsequent years of record-breaking temperatures, exceeding 42°C. It underscores the heightened risk of extreme heat during the Paris Olympics, especially considering the significant rise in the region’s temperatures since the city last hosted the Games a century ago.

You can find the Rings of Fire report here and the Corpernicus Climate Change Service here.

Mosquitoes and dengue and other fevers

Obviously, the world is changing as you can see in this June 18, 2024 Institut Pasteur press release (also on EurekAlert),

Olympics: how many days does it take for mosquitoes in Greater Paris to transmit arboviruses, and what preventive measures are needed?

The number of imported cases of dengue in the Greater Paris region increased significantly in the first few months of 2024. In the run-up to the Olympic Games, with huge numbers of international visitors set to come to Paris – especially from endemic dengue countries –, we need to be vigilant. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with the Regional Mosquito Control Agency (ARD) and the National Reference Center for Arboviruses (Inserm-Irba), have demonstrated that the tiger mosquito, now present in Greater Paris, is capable of transmitting five viruses (West Nile, chikungunya, Usutu, Zika and dengue) within different time frames ranging from 3 to 21 days, at an external temperature of 28°C. These results highlight the importance of stepping up surveillance of imported cases of arboviruses this summer. The study was published on May 16 [2024] in Eurosurveillance.

Between January 1 and April 19, 2024, 1,679 imported dengue cases were reported in mainland France, 13 times more than the number reported over the same period the previous year (source SPF). It is likely that this number will increase during the Olympic Games, as more people come to Paris from countries that are endemic regions for other arboviruses. The vector for dengue transmission is Aedes albopictus, more commonly known as the tiger mosquito. Arboviruses are transmitted when a female mosquito bites a virus carrier and ingests viral particles. One particular feature of arboviruses is that they can replicate in mosquitoes (unlike other viruses such as influenza, which are destroyed when ingested by mosquitoes). The viral particles multiply and spread within the mosquito, reaching the salivary glands in a few days. When the female mosquito bites another human, she injects the virus while taking her blood meal.

The tiger mosquito is now present in 78 départements in mainland France, and this together with other climate change-related factors is facilitating vector-borne transmission. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur’s Arboviruses and Insect Vectors Unit, in collaboration with the Regional Vector Control Agency (ARD) and the National Reference Center for Arboviruses (Inserm-Irba), therefore decided to analyze the ability of Aedes albopictus in Greater Paris to transmit five arboviruses at a temperature of 28°C, which is likely in the region at this time of year, and counted the number of days between initial infection and the possibility of the virus being transmitted through a further mosquito bite. As well as the dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses, which we already know can be transmitted by the tiger mosquito, the scientists studied the Usutu and West Nile viruses, which are naturally transmitted by another mosquito species, Culex pipiens (known as the “common mosquito”). Culex pipiens mosquitoes transmit viruses to humans after feeding on birds, which act as viral reservoirs.

Tiger mosquito susceptible to five arboviruses

Working in a BSL3 laboratory, the scientists studied the ability of tiger mosquitoes to transmit these five viruses and determined the extrinsic incubation period required for the virus to reach the mosquito’s salivary glands in sufficient quantities to infect a human. At 28°C, West Nile virus needs three days before it can be transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. The incubation period is 3 to 7 days for chikungunya and Usutu, and 14 to 21 days for dengue and Zika.(1) 

This information is crucial to gage the additional risk represented by the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, which will see significant intermingling of populations combined with the return of travelers from endemic regions and a season conducive to mosquito proliferation. The findings can also be used to develop suitable control strategies.

“If a case of dengue is detected in the Greater Paris region, we now know that disinsection is required within 21 days. We can use these results to adjust our time frame for action and optimize our approach,” explains Anna-Bella Failloux, Head of the Institut Pasteur’s Arboviruses and Insect Vectors Unit, who led the study. “Depending on the temperatures we experience in and around Paris this summer, our findings will be essential for adjusting control measures as needed.”

What precautions should be taken in the run-up to the Olympics?

Health care professionals are trained to detect the symptoms of arboviruses if people indicate that they have recently been to an endemic country. The difficulty of surveillance is that many cases are asymptomatic: although dengue is a notifiable disease, up to 80% of cases lead to few or no symptoms. If a diagnosis of one of these diseases is confirmed, an inquiry is carried out by France’s Regional Health Agencies to determine where the individuals live or spent time in the days before the diagnosis, so that they can identify the areas where disinsection is needed. Anyone coming back from a foreign trip who experiences fever or aches is advised to see their family physician immediately and indicate the region they recently returned from.

“The alert system in France is effective. The applicable procedure and measures are already well established because France’s overseas territories in endemic regions have provided us with expertise in these diseases and know-how on epidemiological monitoring. My team is affiliated with the Arbo-France network, and we are contacted as soon as an arbovirus is detected,” continues Anna-Bella Failloux.

Since 2006, vector control measures in France have led to increased surveillance of tiger mosquitoes between May 1 and November 30 each year. This involves monitoring mosquito populations in areas where they are likely to be present; disease surveillance coordinated by Santé publique France based on reporting of viruses such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika by health care professionals; and raising awareness among people living in areas where mosquitoes have been reported. France’s Regional Health Agencies (ARS) and their operators are responsible for managing reporting, monitoring the presence of mosquitoes and taking rapid action in response to human cases of infection (vector control).

This research, which focused on mosquitoes in the Greater Paris region for this first study, will soon be extended to the rest of mainland France. Extrinsic incubation periods vary from one tiger mosquito population to the next because of differences in their genetic makeup and in local temperatures. 

Find out more:

Video: “We are going to have to learn to live with tiger mosquitoes” – Anna-Bella Failloux

Disease-carrying mosquitoes – French Ministry of Employment, Health and Solidarity (sante.gouv.fr)

  1. It is important to point out that for Usutu and West Nile, the ability of tiger mosquitoes to transmit these viruses to humans in real-life conditions, outside the experimental setting, is yet to be demonstrated, as they are naturally transmitted by Culex pipiens, another mosquito species.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Aedes albopictus is a competent vector of five arboviruses affecting human health, greater Paris, France, 2023 by Chloé Bohers, Marie Vazeille, Lydia Bernaoui, Luidji Pascalin, Kevin Meignan, Laurence Mousson, Georges Jakerian, Anaïs Karchh, Xavier de Lamballerie, Anna-Bella Failloux. Euro Surveill. 2024; 29 (20): pii=2400271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.20.2400271

This paper is open access.

I covered the movement of dengue fever and malaria into the Northern Hemisphere in an August 10, 2023 posting,

The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that dengue fever cases have increased exponentially since 2000 (from the March 17, 2023 version of the WHO’s “Dengue and severe dengue” fact sheet),

Global burden

The incidence of dengue has grown dramatically around the world in recent decades, with cases reported to WHO increased from 505 430 cases in 2000 to 5.2 million in 2019. A vast majority of cases are asymptomatic or mild and self-managed, and hence the actual numbers of dengue cases are under-reported. Many cases are also misdiagnosed as other febrile illnesses (1).

One modelling estimate indicates 390 million dengue virus infections per year of which 96 million manifest clinically (2). Another study on the prevalence of dengue estimates that 3.9 billion people are at risk of infection with dengue viruses.

The disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries in the WHO Regions of Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. The Americas, South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions are the most seriously affected, with Asia representing around 70% of the global disease burden.

Dengue is spreading to new areas including Europe, [emphasis mine] and explosive outbreaks are occurring. Local transmission was reported for the first time in France and Croatia in 2010 [emphasis mine] and imported cases were detected in 3 other European countries.

The researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) couldn’t have known when they began their project to study mosquito bites and disease that Florida would register its first malaria cases in 20 years this summer, …

It seems pretty clear that there’s increasing concern about mosquito-borne diseases no matter where you live.

It looks like mega-sports events attract more visitors than you might expect.