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Bringing Together Art, Science, and Education Using the Aurora Borealis
Around 69å¡N in the chilly, dark of winter, three colleagues are racing down the road in a micro-Yaris in search of clear skies. They are the self-funded Trosmo team, venturing from their base in Trosmo, Norway, to photograph and blog about the ethereal aurora borealis.
The blog featuring the trip is called Northern Lights—Trosmo 2014, and it is housed on the site ArtSciencEduation, managed by Dr. Cherilynn Morrow, a Ph.D. in solar physics who later branched into science education.
The quest to document the adventure of seeking the aurora borealis began in 2013 when Morrow teamed up with Duke Johnson of the Salt Lake City Clark Planetarium and Will Stoll, a high school physics teacher pursuing a Ph.D. in education.
Driving toward DÌ´fjord. Image Credit Duke Johnson, and Will Stoll, Cherilynn Morrow.
Together they formed an expedition to Yellowknife, Canada. The purpose of the trip was to create a photo record of the Northern Lights for use by planetariums and schools. As an addition, Morrow blogged about the experience so that that any interested members of the public could follow along in near-real time. The mission was such a success that the team reunited in February for a second expedition, this time to Trosmo, Norway.
The blog offers beautiful images of the Northern Lights and joyous descriptions of the landscapes in Norway. Intertwined with the stories and descriptions is scientific information about the aurora borealis, such the magnetic fields that cause the light shows and where they occur.
The blog also provides anecdotes that reveal the human (and artistic) side of science. Morrow humorously recounts situations such as being stuck at a stoplight at 1a.m., uncertain of their location with no other cars in sight. The night was redeemed from disappointment later when they were treated to a dazzling display in the sky.
Other insights into the daily odds and ends of an educational expedition include: hauling gear, stuffing loads of stands and cameras and winter coats plus three researchers into the limited space of a car, and the cozies needed to keep equipment from freezing.
The Trosmo expedition began Feb. 26 and ends March 13. To read the blogs or find out more about the expedition, see ArtSciencEducation.
Previous Earthzine articles about the aurora borealis include:
Butterfly. Image Credit: Duke Johnson, Cherilynn Morrow, and Will Stoll
HOTA lights up with Borealis
Some of us dream of seeing the magical northern lights but cannot travel to the other side of the world. The good news is that an immersive installation as part of the Wonder festival at HOTA provides a perfect opportunity to experience it.
The Northern Hemisphere has the Aurora Borealis while here in the Southern Hemisphere we have the Aurora Australis, but you’d have to go to Tasmania at a certain time of the year to see that.
The outdoor art show Borealis, part of the 10-day Wonder festival, brings the spectacle to us. It has travelled to cities around the world, and is the creation of internationally renowned Switzerland-based artist Dan Acher.
Differences in movement, colour and density of the light beams together with changing weather conditions means that the variations within the work are infinite, with a unique aurora created each time.
As Acher explains, Borealis is much more than a light show. His creation seamlessly merges light and sound into a mesmerising symphony, with an evocative musical composition by Guillaume Desbois as the soundtrack.
“I’m really interested in situations where we can get people to come together beyond their differences,” Acher says. “And I’m really interested also in events or situations where there’s a before and after – when people transform at transformative events.
“I started to interview people who have seen the real northern lights in their lives. And they said they are different afterwards, and they feel really small. It’s this big event and it really transforms them.
“And then my mind started to think, okay, this is really powerful and more people should be able to experience this, but what’s the percentage of people who have this opportunity once in a lifetime? It’s really, really tiny. So, the thought process was: Am I able to recreate something that looks like it and bring it to the people around the world? That was the trigger.”
In keeping with that ethos, Borealis is free for people to experience at HOTA’s outdoor stage. Acher encourages people to walk around from within the artwork to see it from every angle.
“One message to the people is that the installation looks very different depending on your point of view,” Acher says. “So don’t hesitate to move around, to go in front or to go all the way to the back. It’s really different depending on where you are.
“That’s the beauty of this project. I’m tapping here into something that is universal. People slow down, sit down, even lay down and take their time. People slow down and that’s important to me. And the voices go down and there’s this awe, this sense of, oh, look here, look there.”
From Seoul to Madrid, Borealis has toured to 40 cities with the Gold Coast being the 40th.
Acher hopes the installation prompts philosophical conversations about the importance of communing with nature, versus human compulsion to control it. He also wants to explore the interplay of technology with nature and show that they can coexist rather than compete.
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“What was also really important to me, because it’s an installation where we speak about technology and nature, there is the question: Should the northern lights be here?” he says. “Will technology be able to replace everything that nature provides for us?”
Wonder and Borealis continue until October 15. The installation will be closed to the public for other ticketed events on October 7 and October 13.
hota.com.au
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