Dr Elizabeth Baquedano, Lecturer at University College London, Institute of Archaeology, will give an overview of the importance of obsidian in Aztec Mexico with special reference to obsidian mirrors and its symbolism, whilst Dr. Elizabeth DeMarrais, who teaches in the department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge will be reflecting on time, trade, and social relations: obsidian and archaeology and will have some obsidian objects on hand to show.
Dr. Spike Bucklow, Conservator and Senior Research Scientist at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge will consider the metaphor of mirrors in the European painting tradition; both the act of reflection and that which is reflected.
Dr. Jennifer Rampling, Research Fellow at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge on The Mirror of Alchemy: Images and Reflections of the Medieval Alchemical Cosmos, including examples of work by the fifteenth-century English alchemist George Ripley and the Elizabethan mathematician and astrologer, John Dee.
A reading of six letter wordds in halves
Patrick Coyle - ANSWERS
Sound artist Kaffe Matthews presents new audio work made from the sonification of constellations for a star-gazing project.
Tim Heath, Chair of the Blake Society, presentation on The Artist As Universe, William Blake's Cosmogony.
Dr Kenneth McNamara, Director of The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, in-conversation with residency artist Flora Parrott.
Professor Gerry Gilmore of the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, presentation on The Artistic Perception of Astronomical Time.
Author and musician Nigel Pennick makes a presentation on The Cosmic Axis and the Seven Stars, as part of his research into symbolism and the landscape.
Astrophotographer Paul Beskeen shares his images of space taken from the Pumpkin Patch Observatory in Bourn village and gives an introduction to some of the phenomena they document and how the images are made.
Adam Davison, Research Associate with the High Energy Physics group at University College London talks about his work searching for the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider with CERN.