A unique exhibition that translates science into images, music and dance
June 13, 2024
What happens when Leiden scholars from different fields, looking at complex social problems together, unite with artists? The results were presented on Tuesday, June 11, during a unique exhibition. Watch and discover.
How can you reach a wider audience with your research? For example, by replacing classical methods, such as laboratory research or publishing articles, with musical compositions, photo essays and visual projections. That’s why the Young Academy Leiden (YAL, a partnership between doctoral students within Leiden University) and JUL (Young University Leiden, a network for young employees who want to get more out of their work and time at Leiden University) have joined forces with artists in A. The result can be seen today during the exhibition.
Music and meditation
“It is a unique event,” says organizer Jan van Rijn as he opens the meeting to a full room in the Lipsius building. You can see this exhibition as a new form of science communication. All researchers give a brief explanation of their project, where the audience will watch a small musical performance by musician Vincent Martigues and student Lynthe van Rooij will restore peace through a meditation exercise. After that, visitors get the chance to wander around on their own. Visitors’ senses are stimulated in a new way for over two hours. take a look:
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Have you ever wondered what your brain waves look like? First-year Master of Media Technology student Linthe van Rooij is investigating this in the project: “Neural Jamming: Controlling Sound with Your Brain.” In the interactive game, two people sit opposite each other, wearing headphones and a sensor that measures brain activity. (1/2)
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The person who can relax best is the one who sets the sound in the room. Visitor Inaya wins the first time and then loses the game: “It’s interesting – can you relax on call when there’s a whole group around you watching?” However, I didn’t quite succeed. (2/2)
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Master’s program graduate in Media Technology Olaf Wesselink investigated the relationship between physical interfaces and digital audio synthesis of musical instruments in the project “Bar, Rope, String”. There are three large, self-developed instruments in the room that produce sound. As soon as the visitor touches the string, a low tone sounds across the room. (1/2)
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Wesselink noted that with acoustic musical instruments there is a relationship between the person controlling the instrument and the sound it produces. This is separated from digital musical instruments. Wisselink was interested in what happens if we replace the separation and develop three new music interfaces. (2/2))
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Joyce den Hertog says that “learning by doing” is key. In collaboration with Zoë Breed, she created the artwork “Pure Dance” in which the music that can be heard is determined by the body movements made by someone in front of a computer webcam. We calculated the angles of the body parts and determined different starting points, each of which produced its own sound and pitch. For example, the camera records my nose and when my legs go down, the tempo of the music changes, for example. Visitors shape their bodies into all kinds of positions and new sounds fill the space.
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Visual anthropologist Mark Westmoreland presents Broken Earth: Expanding the Landscape, a photo essay featuring aerial photographs of northern Ghana. This project, in collaboration with the local community, aims to collect “embodied knowledge”: knowledge embedded in our bodies and actions. (1/2)
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New research techniques such as drawing, photography, photography and audio recording are used in place of traditional written methods. “I’m not an artist, but I’m not a scientist either,” Westmoreland says. “It’s something in between.” (2/2)
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From 2007 to 2009, visual anthropologist Christiana Strava directed Ori Me Bi within Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab about women who weave in Nigeria. In the 12-minute film she critiques older forms of ethnographic filmmaking, which are often about the “exotic other” and aim to learn about other cultures. This idea is fully reviewed in the film Strava, where you collaborate with women. Methods such as photovoice and giving women the camera provide new forms of representation.
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Students Rianne Jorritsma, Lisanne Schoonebeek and Wout den Buurman, part of the Master’s specialization in Science Communication and Society, want to draw attention to the extracellular matrix (ECM) with their audiovisual project. The ECM is an important part of the body that holds cells together and plays an important role in cell-to-cell communication. Their project “Collagen Canvas” is a black digital canvas that slowly fills with colorful lines that react to music – a representation of the interactions in our bodies through the ECM.
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Even before visitors enter Room 2.17, the sounds of Vincent Martigues’ flute can already be heard. It plays abstract, computer-generated pieces of music. While earning his master’s degree in media technology, researcher Peter Biro investigated whether musicians could play pieces developed with artificial intelligence. This led to the project “Shapes and Staff: Exploring Computer-Generated Graphical Results.” (1/2)
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This research focused on the meaning and essence of music in an era where artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over creative tasks. Beirut: “The most striking thing is that the meaning of music does not come from the player or the composer, but from the listener. If the listener thinks something of it, it is meaningful.
Text and photo: Wilke Gerdes
About the exhibition
This exhibition was the final activity of YAL’s “Interdisciplinary Seasons” series, in which researchers from different disciplines work together to solve complex issues. The exhibition was created in collaboration with LIACS Media Technology and ReCNTR and showcased a total of seven projects that pushed the boundaries between art and science. The exhibition was a one-off visit, but organizers Jan van Rijn and Bram Buchen Hospers are excited about the result. As far as they’re concerned, there will be a sequel next year so they can continue bridging the gap between art and science.
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