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10.08.09

Contacts: Lelavision, Leah Mann, 206-329-3724, lela@lelavision.com; Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts, Sally Corbett, 404-727-6678, sacorbe@emory.edu.

“THE ACCUMULATION OF CHANGE” SEEKS TO DEFINE EVOLUTION THROUGH ART, SCIENCE

“The Accumulation of Change” is both a definition of evolution and a new art science performance collaboration between Seattle’s Lelavision Physical Music and Biomolecular Chemistry Professor, Dr. David Lynn of Emory University. This performance experiment, sponsored by the Emory College Program in Science and Society, combines Lelavision’s hybrid genre of art (kinetic musical sculpture, music and dance) with excerpts from Dr. Lynn’s research on the chemical origins of life, self-assembly and molecular evolution .  The first show will be Oct. 16, 8 p.m., at Eyedrum, www.eyedrum.org, $15 /$10. The second show will be Oct. 18, 7 p.m. at Emory’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, Theater Lab, www.theater.emory.edu, for faculty, staff and students of Emory University.

Lelavision will premiere performance pieces inspired by Dr. Lynn’s research featuring kinetic musical sculptures engineered and fabricated by co-founder Ela Lamblin. The centerpiece for the show is Lamblin’s newest creation called the “Warm Pond,” an eight-foot tall, spinning, stainless steel helix with a five-foot diameter musical pool at its base. Lelavision co-director and choreographer, Leah Mann, has pulled movement vocabulary from modern and aerial dance to animate Lamblin’s sculptures.

David Lynn will tell stories accumulated through his research, framing and explaining concepts with which Lelavision has been experimenting and exploring with the audience the question: “Where did we come from?”

The performance will include whole audience participation in an “emergent form” game and will also tap into instantaneous audience feedback through the use of classroom clicker technology. Local musicians and dancers, Klimchak, Alan Welty Green, Neil Fried, Lori Teague, Charne’ Furcron Mack and Dana Lupton will participate in a twisted game, which can only be described as “science based reality show spawns with speed dating.” The game will demonstrate an interdependent ecosystem in which “couplings” arise and die out based on spontaneous selection by the audience.

Dr. Arri Eisen, head of the Program in Science and Society, in addition to contributing his poetry and emcee skills, will lead a round table discussion with the collaborators and the audience as part of the evening presentation.

This is the third collaboration in a series of eight that Lelavision has conducted with scientists from around the country as part of the “The Propagation Project.” These art and science collaborations are the brainchild of local scientific illustrator, Nancy Lowe, who gathered all the participants. The purpose of these collaborations is to re-infuse the story of science and our natural world with wonder, awe and curiosity for the general public. The event will be accessible to all ages, informative, humorous and not without a bit of chaos. All are encouraged to come dressed down in genes.

CALENDAR LISTINGS:

“The Accumulation of Change,” Oct. 16, 8 p.m., Eyedrum, Suite 8 , 290 MLK Jr. Dr. SE , Atlanta, 404-522-0655, no reservations, $15 adult, $10 student, senior, artist . Come early! We anticipate a good crowd for this show! Lelavision Physical Music and Emory College Program in Science and Society. A performance experiment that combines Lelavision’s hybrid genre of art (kinetic musical sculpture, music and dance) with excerpts from Dr. David Lynn’s research on the chemical origins of life, self-assembly and molecular evolution . 

“The Accumulation of Change,” Oct. 18, 7 p.m., Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, Theater Lab, 1700 N Decatur Rd, Atlanta, GA 30322, 404-712-4624, free to Emory University faculty, staff and students, reservations suggested. Lelavision Physical Music and Emory College Program in Science and Society. A performance experiment that combines Lelavision’s hybrid genre of art (kinetic musical sculpture, music and dance) with excerpts from Dr. David Lynn’s research on the chemical origins of life, self-assembly and molecular evolution . 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

For more info on Lelavision: http://www.lelavision.com
For more info on Science and Society: http://www.scienceandsociety.emory.edu/
For more information on David Lynn: http://www.chemistry.emory.edu/faculty/lynn/index.html

BIOGRAPHIES:

David Lynn is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Chemistry and Biology at Emory University. He received his A.B. degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and his Ph.D. in organic/biological chemistry from Duke University. In addition, he was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellowship at Columbia University. Dr. Lynn received the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship, and was selected as one of only 20 National Million $ Professors by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He has served on NIH scientific advisory boards ranging from genetics to bioorganic and natural products and is on the advisory boards for “Amyloid: The Journal of Protein Folding Disorders and Current Organic Synthesis.”

Arri Eisen is Senior Lecturer in Biology and Director of the Program in Science & Society at Emory University in Atlanta and is currently the Distinguished Visiting Professor in Biology at the United States Air Force Academy.  Arri has a PhD in Biochemistry from the UW-Seattle and spends his time teaching, writing and thinking at the boundaries of science, ethics, education, and society.

Lelavision Physical Music is comprised of sculptor/musician Ela Lamblin and choreographer Leah Mann. Founded in 1996, the company tours internationally to festivals, theaters and special events playing with their whimsical hybrid form of performance incorporating sculpture, music and dance in simultaneity. Ela and Leah are particularly interested in the physics of sound and the science of the body as it relates to art and health.

Nancy Lowe is an artist who works by day in biology labs. She is fascinated by the connections between art and science and became inspired by the "choreography" of cells in embryological development to initiate collaborations between biology researchers and artists who use movement as a medium, thus catalyzing “The Propagation Project.” She is interested in using alternative means of communicating the wonders of natural sciences with students, scientists and the general public.

Additional links about the history of the evolution projects from 2008:

Playwriting Center “Brave New Works” Involve and Evolve
Brave New Works Evolve On Stage
Evolution is Focus of Artist Commissions and Festival at Emory University During Darwin Bicentennial in Feb. 2009

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