For our 11th Laser Talk we’re extremely happy to have been invited by Kikk Festival Namur to host a talk with artists Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand as well as scientist Yoann Olivier. Find the video registration here.
The central point of discussion is formed around the notion of liquid crystals which have been used by Domnitch and Gelfand in their installation and performance Lemniscate Cascade (2022).
Life on Earth originated in an intricate dialogue between light and soft matter (liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, liquid crystals, flesh and numerous other biological materials). In Lemniscate Cascade, a laser beam is reshaped during its passage through a light-sensitive liquid crystal – which is reciprocally transformed along the beam’s path. While stirring the liquid crystal, the laser light induces a state of lifelike self-organisation. Liquid crystal flows like a liquid, but is structured like a solid latticework. It has been broadly implemented as a medium for flat panel displays, yet the commonest example of this two-phase condition is DNA – the molecular foundation of living matter. To trace the liquid crystal’s light-propelled flow, hollow glass microspheres are suspended in the solution. These tiny lenses also serve to expand the liquid crystal’s sensitivity to brightness and color. During the laser beam’s self-shaping journey, it creates a projection that magnifies microscopic landscapes in the liquid’s depths.
SPEAKERS BIOS:
Dmitry Gelfand (b.1974, St. Petersburg, Russia) and Evelina Domnitch (b. 1972, Minsk, Belarus) create installations and performances that merge physical phenomena with uncanny philosophical practices. Current findings, particularly regarding wave phenomena, are employed by the artists to investigate questions of perception and perpetuity. Such investigations are salient because the scientific picture of the world, which serves as the basis for contemporary thought, still cannot encompass the unrecordable workings of consciousness.
Having dismissed the use of recording and fixative media, Domnitch and Gelfand’s installations exist as ever-transforming phenomena offered for observation. Because these rarely seen phenomena take place directly in front of the observer without being intermediated, they often serve to vastly extend the observer’s sensory envelope. The immediacy of this experience allows the observer to transcend the illusory distinction between scientific discovery and perceptual expansion. To trace the liquid crystal’s light-propelled flow, hollow glass microspheres are suspended in the solution. These tiny lenses also serve to expand the liquid crystal’s sensitivity to brightness and color. During the laser beam’s self-shaping journey, it creates a projection that magnifies microscopic landscapes in the liquid’s depths. http://portablepalace.com(link is external)
Yoann Olivier obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Mons in 2008. From 2009 to 2013, he held a postdoctoral fellowship from Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) and went on postdoctoral stays with Prof. Claudio Zannoni at the University of Bologna and Prof. Henning Sirringhaus at the University of Cambridge. From 2013 to 2019, he was a research associate at the University of Mons and recently joined in July 2019 the Chemistry and Physics departments of the University of Namur as a lecturer.
His research interests deal with the understanding of electronic processes in organic conjugated (small molecule and polymers) and 2D materials, using a multiscale approach combining quantum-chemical methods, Monte Carlo approach and molecular dynamics simulations. Recently, he developed an interest in a new class of materials for organic light-emitting diodes exhibiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence, focusing on their electronic structure and their energy transport properties. https://www.unamur.be/en/research/narc/fellows/yoann-olivier(link is external)
When: Thursday 26th October 2023, 2-4pm Where: KIKK, Studio at floor -1, Théâtre de Namur, place du Théâtre 2, 5000 Namur
Moderator: Edith Doove Organisation: Alexandra Dementieva http://www.ademlabo.eu/
Supported by FÉDÉRATION WALLONIE-BRUXELLES CULTURE.BE, CYLAND and LEONARDO
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