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Manship Artist Andrew Yang in Conversation with Composer David Ibbett Event in Cambridge
May 29, 2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
In CAMBRIDGE…
Catalyst Conversations in partnership with Manship Artists Residency Presents
Connecting the Spheres, We Are Stardust
Thursday, May 29, 6:00-7:00 pm
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Stars have a life cycle: they’re born, they pass through middle age, and they die. The birth of a star determines much of how it lives that life. For that reason, researchers study star-forming regions: the interstellar clouds of gas and dust that are both the raw materials and environment for star birth.
Manship Artist Andrew S. Yang, Ph.D and Composer and Director of the Multiverse Concert Series, David Ibbett, Ph.D, will explore the fascination we all have with our relationship to the celestial sphere on May 29 at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Phillips Auditorium in Cambridge.
Andrew S. Yang, Ph.D, who is the Jonathan Lash Endowed Chair Professor of Environmental Education and Sustainability at Hampshire College, says “During my residency at Starfield, I have been researching one of Paul Manship’s iconic work, Celestial Sphere (1939), a large sculpture representing 66 different constellations drawn from various cultures. Permanently installed at the United Nations in Geneva, it is intended to convey a sense of both cosmic and geopolitical harmony. I am developing a piece called Terrestrial Sphere to re-interpret Manship’s work as one looking inward, focused on the ecosystems of planet Earth that acknowledges animals as ecological agents rather than simply symbolic forms. I will talk about my site-specific, research-based approach through this and other projects that entangle the terrestrial with the cosmological.”
David Ibbett, Ph.D. is a composer, educator and musical advocate for science. Based in Boston, he is a Professor at WPI and directs the Multiverse Concert Series, a project that integrates music and science in live performance. In 2023, David was named the first Resident Composer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. David composes electrosymphonic music: a fusion of classical and electronic styles that interweaves influences from songs, symphonies, pop, rock and electronica. Musical strands are met with inspiration from the work of scientists: sonified data, musical metaphors for scientific theories, and experimental sound and images from cutting edge research. Read more in Nature magazine and About on David’s website.
The night sky inspired Celestial Sphere, one of Paul Manship’s most important sculptures. The work is a guide to the heavens, an idealization of the Cosmos, created in 1939 as a symbol of dialogue and peace.
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Image credit: The Celestial Sphere in progress, Manship Family Archives
