Professor David R. Glowacki of the University of Bristol has put together, along with his team, a project that has delight ‘written’ all over it. From the Oct. 23, 2013 University of Bristol press release (Note: Links have been removed),
Developed by Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Bristol and Pervasive Media Studio resident Dr David Glowacki, danceroom Spectroscopy is a remarkable new way to visualise the invisible nanoscale atomic world that makes up everything around us, including our own bodies.
A stunning 21-metre 360° visual projection will be created at Brunel’s Old Station in Bristol that will shift and change as visitors play with their own movements and energy forces.
The show includes an award winning dance performance entitled ‘Hidden Fields’ [Friday 25 and Saturday 26 October] by a group of dancers whose beautifully choreographed movement creates unique interactive visualisations. The daytime programme will feature several talks from Dr Glowacki explaining the meaning and the science behind danceroom Spectroscopy.
Dr Glowacki has been developing a way to visualise and interact with our own energies and molecules since becoming a Pervasive Media Studio resident in 2010. He said: “It’s always been a challenge for scientists to visualise the invisible world of nano-molecules. We’re used to seeing ball and stick representations, but by working with a talented team comprised of musicians, computer scientists, choreographers, dancers and artists, we have been able to do something completely new and different – an interactive and inspiring way to catch a glimpse of the dynamic atomic world in which we’re embedded, and imagine how our own energy fields link to the atomic world that surrounds us all the time, but is too small for our eyes to see. It’s incredible to experience, and will hopefully make us see ourselves in a completely different way.”
An Oct. 25, 2013 posting by Glowacki on the Guardian (Small World Nanotech blog sponsored by NanOpinion) offers more insight into the project (Note: Links have been removed),
Tibetan texts quote the Buddha as having said: “All the many things in the universe are appearances of collections.” These words, spoken nearly 2,500 years ago, resonate with the recent Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry, and physics – which recognise advances in our understanding of how tiny things are composed of even tinier things.
In medicine, the prize was awarded for insights related to the machinery that enables substances to be shuttled in and out of living cells. Cells are collections of molecules, and the chemistry prize recognised the development of detailed computer models explaining how molecules work (nearly 100,000 times smaller than cells). Molecules are collections of atoms, and the physics prize was awarded for the theory that led to the discovery of the Higgs boson, helping us understand the fundamental particles that make up an atom.
These awards highlight two general lessons that modern science teaches us about nature. First, lots of the mechanics that drives nature occurs on a scale that is very small and far beyond human sense perception – it is invisible to our eyes. Second, the invisible world is dynamic. No matter how many textbooks show stationary snapshots of cells, molecules and atoms, they are misleading. Tiny things are actually dynamic and perpetually changing. They are engaged in a delicate dance that depends on how their energy fields interact with their surroundings.
…
We would do well to cultivate an intuition and sensitivity to the invisible, both as individuals and as a culture. It’s fascinating to imagine what might come about through this sort of heightened sensitivity. For example, what if we could see ourselves inhaling the same gas molecules exhaled by others?
Here’s a description of the danceroom Spectroscopy installation taking place from Oct. 24,-26, 2015 in Bristol (from the event page on the watershed.co.uk website; Note: Links have been removed),
Combining physics, high performance computing, music, dance and installation art, award winning danceroom Spectroscopy (dS) is a new interactive visualisation of the nano-world, but with a twist.
Part video game, part art installation, part immersive science visualisation, part social experiment and completely surprising: danceroom Spectroscopy invites Bristol to move, observe, play and dance for a weekend fusion of art and science that makes the invisible visible.
Fusing 3D imagery with real molecular dynamics, dS is a unique project that brings together scientists and artists each motivated by a desire to reveal and interpret our connection to the beautiful and subtle microscopic world. Set inside a 21-metre 360-degree immersive projection dome you will be able to not only see your own energy field, but use it to interact with the otherwise invisible atomic world. dS makes serious science seriously fun.
dS is here in its home town of Bristol, where it all began, for three days in Brunel’s Old Station Passenger Shed by Temple Meads (see a map here) before it goes on an international tour. So come and interact with the subtle beauty of the atomic world by dropping in for the family programme on Sat 26 Oct or by buying a ticket for the unique dance performance Hidden Fields on Fri 25 or Sat 26 Oct. Daytime on Thu 24 and Fri 25 is reserved for schools and university partners.
danceroom Spectroscopy has been developed at the Pervasive Media Studio. Led by Dr. David Glowacki, a Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, it has resulted from the collaborative effort of a a talented multi-disciplinary team, comprising Dr. Thomas Mitchell (University of the West of England), digital artist Phill Tew, Professor Joseph Hyde (Bath Spa University), choreographer Laura Kriefman, and a talented group of contemporary dancers including Lisa May Thomas, Emma Harrie, Tomomi Kosano, and Miyako Asano. http://danceroom-spec.com/people/
For those of us who can’t get to Bristol this weekend, there’s this video of Glowacki describing his project and showing a group of people interacting with a previous installation,
You can find out more on the danceroom Spectroscopy website. The events page lists previous installation sites (Including a June 2013 installation at the World Science Festival in New York City) and upcoming installations, mostly in the UK, but there’s also a January 2014 installation scheduled in Germany..