Making a Universe

An evening event with artist, Alistair McClymont, and Dr Ceri Brenner, Making a Universe explores artistic and scientific practices that deal with contained and extreme environments. Artist Alistair McClymont creates poetic machines that contain ‘natural’ environments, making a universe of their own. Scientists similarly create miniature stars that imitate the birth of stars.

Alistair McClymont recently completed a three-month residency at the Central Laser Facility. Dr Ceri Bremmer is a physicist who enjoys communicating the extreme and inspiring science that she and others carry out at the Central Laser Facility.

The CLF produces some of the world’s most powerful light beams, providing scientists with an unparalleled range of state-of-the-art laser technology. These high powered lasers are used to recreate the extreme conditions inside stars and planets, others can reveal intricate detail on a microscopic scale enabling scientists to build up a complex picture of the exact molecular interactions that lead to disease. The CLF also uses laser beam ‘tweezers’ capable of holding individual micro-droplets that make up clouds helping scientists gain an insight into climate change.

Alistair’s previous work has included making night-time rainbows, suspending raindrops in mid-air and creating tornadoes with deceptively simple machines. A UK based artist working in sculpture, photography and video, McClymont describes these as ‘phenomena’ artworks, in which he tries to capture natural, often overlooked occurrences and evoke a sense of wonder.

He will be discussing his work, and time spent at the CLF, thinking about his work with scientists on experiments both as an outsider and insider, and how this has influenced his practice.