Far From Equilibrium: Curiosity, Creativity, Uncertainty

What drives research in science and in art? Is it curiosity? Uncertainty? Creativity? Perseverance? How are making art and doing science similar? In “Far From Equilibrium,” a choreographer, a composer, and a physicist work with artists and engineers to explore these questions.

We start by exploring the concept of turbulence — a chaotic and mysterious twisting and stretching of fluid — with a thrilling modern dance accompanied by a live clarinet quartet. Then we immerse you, our audience, in an interactive research environment and invite you to carry out your own exploration. Ask your own questions about the double pendulum, generate your own turbulent flow, improvise your own turbulence dance, or write your own musical composition.

Interactive Research Environment Designed by: Mary Wu, Nick Marchuk, Steve Tarzia, Andy Hudson, Megan Rhyme, Elizabeth Hicks, Roger Zare

Dancers: Chrissy Martin, Gretchen Soechting, Sara Nelson, Monica Carrow , Eve Chalom, megan amal, Stephanie Anderson, Jessica Morales

Musicians: Andy Hudson, Brady Richards, Manuel Ramos, Emily Beisel

Elizabeth P. Hicks is a research scientist and the founder of Epsilon Delta Labs, a new research collective focused on interdisciplinary exploration. She specializes in interdisciplinary research at the boundary between astrophysics and fluid dynamics, studying problems where simulations of pure fluid phenomena can inform astrophysical research. In her research, Elizabeth has used both theoretical methods and large-scale numerical simulations. She also loves science+art collaborations.

Megan Rhyme is a dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist based in Chicago. She has performed as a contemporary dancer with Chicago artists such as Synapse Arts Collective, Salty Lark Dance, Renegade Dance Architects, Nicole Gifford Dance, Janet Schmid, 3 card molly, and Jonathan Meyer. Her choreography has been produced by The Chicago Fringe Festival, The Field Chicago and Links Hall. She has worked with notable art integration programs such as Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, the Auditorium Theater’s ArtsXChange, and Dancing With Class, Inc.

Roger Zare’s colorfully descriptive music is often inspired by science, nature, mathematics, and mythology, and he has been praised for his “enviable grasp of orchestration” (New York Times) and for writing music with “formal clarity and an alluringly mercurial surface.” Zare’s compositions, including solo, chamber, orchestral, and wind ensemble works, have been 
performed across the United States and on five continents by such ensembles as the American Composers Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and such musicians as Cho-Liang Lin and Alexander Fiterstein. An award winning composer, Zare has received honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and Broadcast Music, Inc., among others. A recent collaboration brought Zare to Switzerland, where he partnered with CERN to present his saxophone quartet, LHC, at the 2014 Montreux Jazz Festival in a program featuring the collision of music and physics. Zare holds degrees in music composition from the University of Michigan, the Peabody Conservatory, and the University of Southern California, and currently resides in Evanston.