Excerpt from "Untitled" by Peter Burr, as seen in The Universe in a Grain of Sand
Los Angeles premiere!
Conversation following the screening with Mark Levinson and Kate Balsley
A meditation by the award-winning filmmaker/physicist Mark Levinson (Particle Fever) on how we make sense of the world. Juxtaposing scientific developments with the works of artists, the visually rich film explores how both scientists and artists use their understanding of nature to create tools and representations to probe the deepest mysteries of the universe. This art-film crossed with creative documentary takes us on a journey from experimental film to the frontiers of quantum computing.
Curated by Adam Hyman
SCREENING
The Universe in a Grain of Sand
By Mark Levinson
USA, 2024, digital color, sound, 73 min.
Los Angeles premiere!
How do we make sense of the world around us? Our understanding of nature is shaped by the tools we create to observe it. Both scientists and artists have pushed the frontiers of understanding through an astounding array of human ingenuity and innovation: from glassmaking to semiconductors; from Leibniz’s 17th century binary systems to the art of M.C. Escher; from the diverse boat-building techniques of First Nations peoples to the latest advances in computer generated art and quantum computing. Featuring a dazzling integration of artwork and experimental cinema – Picasso to Hilma af Klint to Stan Brakhage – interwoven with scientists striving to understand the deepest mysteries of nature, the award-winning director Mark Levinson (Particle Fever) celebrates the transcendent power of the imagination to make sense of the universe.
Cosmos Obscura
By Kate Balsley; Music by Irina Escalante Chernova
2018, digital, b&w, sound, 4:00
This video contains flashing images.
In Cosmos Obscura, the universe is at once known and unknowable. New patterns, rhythms and metaphors are born from old ones, and familiar celestial bodies are refracted into strange and unusual forms.
The visuals were created from photographs taken from the Voyager II spacecraft. Photographs of the planets and their moons were abstracted and animated in order to create various patterns, rhythms and images. Other images were inspired by astronomical charts and diagrams, and were created through Adobe Photoshop and After Effects.
The musical work was originally created for 8 channels and subsequently adapted to the stereo version. The music focuses on the work from different backgrounds with the noises of nature and those which have an electronic source. Different techniques of electronic experimentation are used such as subtractive synthesis for filtering and modeling of the white noise, as well as granular synthesis, additive synthesis, phase vocoder; in addition to effects with some filters. Technique: Sound Forge 4.5, Ableton Live, Keyboard DX-7 and Soprano voice.
Microspectrum
By Kate Balsley
2016, digital, color, sound, 1:30
A surreal journey through the natural world. Leaves, flowers and other organic materials are abstracted and exist as shapes, forms, colors and textures. Nature is at once strange and beautiful. Microspectrum invites the viewer to reflect upon its complexities. Winner of the Jury Award at the Black Maria Film and Video Festival.
Mark Levinson is the award-winning director of the documentary feature Particle Fever about the discovery of the Higgs boson. Before embarking on a film career, he earned a PhD in particle physics from UC Berkeley. In the film world he was a specialist in the post-production writing and recording of dialogue, working on over 40 feature films including The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Johnny Mnemonic and The Social Network. He directed the fiction film Prisoner of Time about two former Russian dissident artists after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most recently he directed The Bit Player about Claude Shannon, “The Father of Information Theory.” Mark won the inaugural Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication.
Kate Balsley is a video artist, animator, screenwriter, and educator based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has a BFA in film studies and production from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, an MFA in mass communication and media arts from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, and is currently earning an MA in digital animation from Kennesaw State University. Her work includes narrative screenplays, experimental videos, and children’s films. She does not limit herself to a single subject or style, and her work has explored topics such as space exploration, sexual harassment, and our engagement with the natural world. She has been screened in venues such as the Museum of the Moving Image, the Anthology Film Archives, the REDCAT center, and the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro. She strongly values education and prioritizes teaching above all else. She has taught film studies and production at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Facets Multimedia, Chicago Filmmakers, Lake Forest College, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and is currently an Associate Professor of Film at Georgia Gwinnett College.