While the back flap of Kip Thorne's famous book Black Holes and Time Warps (1994) states 'BLACK HOLES down which anything can fall but from which nothing can return', the first image of a black hole only dates from 2019. This Laser Talk will focus on philosophical, scientific and cultural perspectives on black holes, exploring questions about the nature of reality, the interconnectivity of the cosmos and the limits of human knowledge. Historical research in the field of astronomy questions issues linked to cultural memory and collective heritage. The talk aims to gain insight into scientific research and artistic thinking around this matter.
Speakers bio's
Dr. Valery Vermeulen is a Belgian electronic musician, mathematician, music producer, visiting professor at KASK & Conservatorium – School of Arts Ghent (BE), guest lecturer at Master ArtScience Interfaculty KABK Den Hague (NL) and researcher at Antwerp University (BE). He holds a Phd in Mathematics and MA Music Composition. In his practice Vermeulen focuses on the intersection between music, math and physics. Topics in his work cover a broad range of disciplines including algorithmic music composition, (generative) sound synthesis, AI, biofeedback, psychofysiology, astrophysics, theoretical physics, econometrics, data sonification and data visualisation.
Vermeulen's work has been featured extensively in global news outlets and magazines such as Music Radar, Tech Radar, BBC6, The Wire, Electronic Sound Magazine, Neural, 15 Questions, New Scientist, DJ Mag, Mixmag, Trax Magazine, Future Music, FazeMag, on national radio channels Deutschland Funk, Radio Eins, Yle Radio1, Radio Canada, The Wire on Air, VRT Radio1, VRT Radio2, Studio Brussels and on VRT Max.
In 2021 Vermeulen released the black hole album Mikromedas AdS/CFT 001 on the label Ash International, a subsidiary of the renowned Touch label. The album was picked up internationally and was awarded in 2022 with an Honorary Mention for the STARTS Prize-Ars Electronica issued on behalf of the European Commission.
More info www.valeryvermeulen.net; instagram: @valeryvermeulen.studio
Dr. Stéphane Detournay is a FNRS research associate and professor at Université Libre de Bruxelles and the International Solvay Institutes. He was the holder of a Marie Curie Fellowship, is an honorary BAEF alumni, and received the 2016 Adolphe Wetrems and 2020 De Donder Prizes from the Belgian Royal Academy of Science. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Milan, UC Santa Barbara and Harvard University. His research interests lie in the area of high-energy and gravitational physics, with particular focus on quantum aspects of black holes. He is also interested in outreach, and in establishing connexions between arts and sciences, being in mixing sciences, music and smoky cocktails https://www.scienceandcocktails.org/en/info/science-cocktails-brussels), throwing cellists into a black hole to check how it sounds (https://klaasverpoest.com/), or discussing the nature of reality with illusionists (https://www.halles.be/fr/ap/).
