Weel 10: Matej & Thanassis

Matej

This week we applied with Thanassis to a National Academy of Sciences Arthur M Sackler
Colloquium on Collaborative Creativity While we discussed the colloquium, we stumbled upon a
science fiction movie both of us admire - 2001: A Space Odyssey. We decided to watch it again
and write about it. So here are my notes from the movie:

I applaud the fact that music and sound effects do not drive this film. They are present but only
where it is necessary. This lack of sound renders the piece almost a silent movie. This absence is
very well balanced with stunning imagery. I have three favorite scenes. The opening scene, the
"trans-dimensional" flight, and the ending.

Of course, I also appreciate all the spaceship designs, but these three scenes, or at least one of
them, are quite unusual for a science fiction movie. The one that stands out for me the most is
the opening scene. The invention of the tool, how the tool turns into a weapon, and discovery
of the obelisk are contrasted with the "everyday life" of the mammals. The way how this scene
cuts into the following image, a flying spaceship, are just gorgeous. There is so much said
without words. Regarding the relationship between sound and image, I would also highlight the
silent explosion scene in the decompression chamber. 

The space travel that follows after the discovery of the last obelisk near Jupiter represents that
state of the art computation and computer graphics of the end of the sixties. Personally, I
appreciate its simple proto-aesthetics.

The ambiguity of the storyline and its ending is forcing the viewer to rely upon, or just
appreciate images. This uncertainty was quite radical at the time and leaves the ending to the
viewer interpretation.

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Thanassis

Woohoo! It’s been 10 weeks since we started collaborating with Matej and things have started
to become really interesting! As you may already know if you read that blog - I’ve mentioned
it so many times - this week I’m traveling to Vancouver, BC to participate in two experiments
in the TRIUMF lab and Matej will also be there for few days to work together on our science
fiction planetarium movie. At that time we will also takeover SciArt Center’s Instagram
account, so get ready for some really neat science posts!

Beyond that, we have also submitted an abstract for a symposium organized by Leonardo -
the international society for the arts, sciences and technology. It is called Role/Play:
Collaborative Creativity and Creative Collaborations and it’s something Julia brought to
our attention - thank you once again! Actually this is my first time submitting an abstract for a
non-physics related conference and I’m very excited about it! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to
attend it, since I’ll be in Germany for - guess what - a nuclear physics workshop/conference,
but I’m sure that Matej will represent our collaboration perfectly! Working for the actual
abstract was also a very funny experience, because it turned out that we have both written
very similar texts after we compared them. I conceive it as a sign that our collaboration is in a
good track :)

While working on that, Matej also shared a short video from Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece
2001: A Space Odyssey, the dawn of man scene.

This is an iconic science fiction movie and we both agree on the fact that we should use it as
an inspiration for our own creation. Obviously we are not even close to the genius of
Kubrick’s, however we can grab some of his ideas and incorporate them to the movie. We
want the audience to realize that its existence is inseparable with the rest of the universe.
See you all next week from Vancouver!