Manchester Thursday 20 October – Sunday 30 October Science Supported by Festival 16 Produced by #msf16 manchestersciencefestival.com Welcome to Manchester Science Festival Over the last ten years Manchester Every October, our Festival creates a Science Festival has grown to become place for innovative, surprising and the most popular science festival in meaningful experiences, where people England. of all ages can ignite their curiosity in science. This year the Festival marks the culmination of Manchester's For 2016, some of the programme celebrations as European City of highlights include Paris-based artists Science. People and organisations HeHe, who deliver three original from across the city have come art installations at the Museum of together as never before to showcase Science and Industry, to creatively scientific achievements produced in explore the atmosphere around us. Manchester and across the world. The partnerships that make this The Chronarium Sleep Lab at Festival so successful are stronger Manchester Arndale will offer an than ever and mean we can be even immersive environment exploring more ambitious this year and in the role of public space in promoting years to come. Thank you so much health and wellbeing in the city. to all our partners and funders Public Service Broadcasting will - this programme reflects your take your imagination on a space inventiveness, your creativity and journey with a specially commissioned commitment. performance of their album The Race for Space at the beautiful Albert Hall. It's an amazing programme and whether you're a regular or a new The greatest strength of our Festival visitor, I promise you a fantastic time. is our unique alliance of partners. See you there! Together, we have curated more than 150 experiences where you can Sally MacDonald, explore, discover and create science Director, Museum of Science with us. and Industry We look forward to seeing you at the Festival. Antonio Benitez, Manchester Science Festival Director Headline sponsor Lead educational sponsor Front cover Image: Loop.pH 2 Back cover image: Museum of Science and Industry Image: Museum of Science and Industry Contents 04 Headline programme 06 Fun for all ages 16 Make, do and hack 21 Art meets science 28 Science after dark 33 Science on screen 36 Conversations 39 Walks and tours 40 At-a-glance guide 44 General information manchestersciencefestival.com 3 Headline programme Manchester Science Festival is proud to present three firsts in the intertwining worlds of art, science and music. See atmospheric cloud research brought to life through surprising artistic interventions, experience a sleep laboratory in a shopping centre and enjoy a unique music performance inspired by the space race. Image: HeHe The Chronarium Sleep Lab Immerse yourself in the UK premiere of The Chronarium by Loop.pH. This public sleep laboratory aims to transform a bustling public space into a communal haven for relaxation and wellbeing. Lie back and rest inside hanging swings, while an audiovisual experience aims to reset your circadian rhythm for better, more harmonious sleep. The Chronarium was originally commissioned by FutureEverything Singapore and debuted with a fully booked run in 2015. Audience: All ages (under 14s to be accompanied by an adult) Venue: Manchester Arndale Date: Thursday 20 October – Sunday 30 October Time: 11am – 8pm (Monday – Friday), 11am – 7pm (Saturday), 11.30am – 5.30pm (Sunday) Cost and booking info: Free. Book on the day at the venue 4 Image: Loop.pH Image: Dan Kendall Cloud Crash For the world premiere of Cape Farewell’s 2016 Lovelock Art Commission, Paris- based artists HeHe have taken inspiration from James Lovelock, the Museum of Science and Industry’s collection and the research of the Natural Environment Research Council. Three new site- specific works depict micro-climates and manufactured airspaces of artificially engineered clouds, in an imaginative appropriation of atmospheric cloud research. In their engagement with the industrial landscape, HeHe blur the boundaries between natural and man- made clouds. Also see Cloud Crash: Preview (p28) and Cloud Crash: Artist tours (p39). Audience: All ages Venue: Museum of Science and Industry Date: Thursday 20 October – Friday 3 February 2017 Time: 10am – 5pm Cost and booking info: Free. Drop in any time Image: HeHe Public Service Broadcasting: The Race For Space Acclaimed electronic music outfit Public Service Broadcasting play their hit album The Race For Space in its entirety for the very first time, accompanied by a brass section and musicians from the Royal Northern College of Music, including a string quintet and 13-piece choir. This special event will be preceded by an exploration of the stories of the American and Soviet space race at the heart of the songs; and insights into the making of the album from J Willgoose, Esq, in conversation with Jodrell Bank’s Professor Tim O’Brien. Audience: Adults and teenagers 14+ Venue: Albert Hall Date: Thursday 20 October Time: 7.30pm – 11pm Cost and booking info: £27.50. Booking required manchestersciencefestival.com 5 Image: Loop.pH Image: Dan Kendall Fun for all ages The Festival is a playground for everyone. Be immersed in virtual reality, see exciting new research in astronomy, help make a giant megapixel display and watch a robot orchestra made from recycled junk. And take part in lots of wacky experiments, of course... Pinhole peepers This family craft workshop celebrates one of the museum’s most prized collection items – the eyes of renowned scientist John Dalton. Create a pinhole camera with a twist, adding eyes and lashes of your own design to recreate the inner workings of sight. Audience: Families 4+ Venue: Museum of Science and Industry Date: Thursday 20 October – Sunday 30 October Time: 2pm – 4pm Cost and booking info: Free. Drop in any time Image: Museum of Science and Industry Salford science jam See the natural delights of our planet in a ‘forest of curiosity’, where writers, Image: MovISee/ Cho Yen-Ting poets and actors team up with scientists, naturalists, geographers and environmentalists to take you on an MovISee interactive journey of discovery. Build Lego robots, experience life among living MovISee is an interactive experience machines and have a go at many other devised by artist Yen-Ting Cho, which exciting, hands-on activities. uses the movement of the human body to create digital images. Become Audience: All ages part of the artwork and explore the Venue: MediaCityUK campus, science and technology behind this University of Salford unique, collaborative, motion-capture Date: Saturday 22 October – performance. Sunday 23 October Time: 10am – 4pm All ages Audience: Cost and booking info: Venue: Museum of Science and Industry Free. Drop in any time Date: Saturday 22 October Time: 10am – 5pm Cost and booking info: Free. Drop in any time 6 Virtual reality playground Image: Museum of Science and Industry Once the preserve of science fiction, virtual reality has now taken the world Audience: All ages by storm. See how this truly immersive Venue: Museum of Science and Industry experience is being used in fields as Date: Saturday 22 October – diverse as entertainment and education, Sunday 23 October art and journalism. Try out different Time: 10am – 5pm virtual reality devices and experience Cost and booking info: what the future holds. Free. Drop in any time The science and beauty Autumn studio of peatlands Get close to patterns in art and nature, Peat bogs are richly biodiverse and a as you discuss how living things respond source of fascination for many scientists. to the world around them with artists Look at resident plant life, invertebrates and scientists. You can also create your and microbes through microscopes; see own colourful works to take home; and demonstrations of how bogs store carbon consider what makes us human. Plus, and affect water; and find out more take part in drop-in printmaking activities about the preserving powers of peat. inspired by bio images. Plus, hear a recording of a new poem about peatlands by Ralph Hoyte. Audience: Families 5+ Venue: The Whitworth Audience: All ages Date: Saturday 22 October – Venue: Hulme Community Garden Centre Sunday 30 October Date: Saturday 22 October Time: 11am – 3pm Time: 10.30am – 3.30pm Cost and booking info: Cost and booking info: Free. Drop in any time Free. Drop in any time Image: Sally Gilford manchestersciencefestival.com 7 Image: Museum of Science and Industry Big draw at the Whitworth The extraordinary enticement of exotic plants Get closer than ever to the gallery’s collections and be inspired by patterns Identify exotic plants and hear the tales in art and nature to create your own of eminent adventurer Professor Jigget, colourful artworks. Working with who reveals his history of adventures scientists, use this process to explore while discovering wonders of the natural what makes us human – and how living world. This mix of botany and storytelling things respond to the world around them. also includes the opportunity to see items from the historic archive of Audience: Families 5+ Quarry Bank. Venue: The Whitworth Date: Saturday 22 October Audience: Families 5+ Time: 11am – 3pm Venue: Central Library Cost and booking info: Date: Saturday 22 October Free. Drop in any time Time: 12pm – 12.30pm, 1pm – 1.30pm, 2.00pm – 2.30pm Cost and booking info: Free. No need to book Audio illusions and other curiosities Investigate acoustic illusions and other Artist Sundays auditory phenomena with live musicians and academics. Hear phantom melodies Enjoy creative challenges designed for that magically appear from rapidly all the family by extraordinary artists, repeating patterns of tones and rhythms, after picking up a specially-made family impossibly seeming to get faster and bag from the learning studio. Explore the faster; and spiralling notes that go gallery then show the artists what forever upwards. you’ve created. Audience: Adults and families 7+ Audience: Families 5+ Venue: Low Four, Old Granada Studios Venue: The Whitworth Date: Saturday 22 October Date: Sunday 23 October and Time: 12pm – 1pm, 3pm – 4pm, Sunday 30 October 6pm – 7pm Time: 11am – 4pm Cost and booking info: Cost and booking info: Free.