Wonderments of Cosmos Seminar Series

This 4-week seminar series brings together scholars from across UCL and beyond to present the different ways in which their work engages with the wonderments of cosmos, and explore how these may speak to each other. How far might different approaches to cosmology provide the scope for a genuine cross-disciplinary conversation? How does the scientific study of the cosmos relate to the ways in which its wonders have been engaged in other fields, across history and in different cultural settings? How far might a shared interest in cosmology and questions of ultimate horizons cast in a new light age-old debates about the relationship between science, religion and art? And how far might it serve to re-cast or even re-negotiate the boundaries between the proverbial ‘two cultures’ of the sciences and the humanities?

The seminars will take place on Tuesdays from 5pm to 6.30pm at Malet Place Engineering Building (same building as the Institute of Making), room 1.02. Each week’s paper will be followed by 5-10 minute ‘responses’ from scholars in contrasting fields and then the floor will be opened up for discussion, followed by an informal reception. ALL WELCOME!  Please follow the links below to register for each session:

 

25 February 2014:   

Ofer Lahav (UCL Astrophysics): The Wonderment of Dark Energy

Respondents: Dilwyn Knox (UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society);  David Napier (UCL Anthropology)

Please register HERE.

 

4th March 2014:                

David Burrows (Slade School of Fine Art): Negative Space

Respondents:  Dina Gusejnova (UCL History); Martin Holbraad (UCL Anthropology)

Please register HERE

 

11th March 2014:               

Allen Abramson (UCL Anthropology): Wonderments that converge: or can humanity be universalised through the persuasive lure of cosmos?

Respondents: Donnacha Kirk (UCL Astrophysics) and Klaas Hoek (Slade School of Fine Art)

Please register HERE

 

18th March 2014:              

Andrew Gregory (UCL Science and Technology Studies): How ubiquitous are cosmological questions (and answers)?

Respondents: Michael Scott (LSE Anthropology) and Jane Grisewood (artist, Central Saint Martins)

Please register HERE

 

Image credit: Huichol Cosmovision, by José Benítez Sánchez. Photo courtesy of the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology