Please note: The venue is Waterstones on Sauchiehall Street, and the start time is set for 7pm.

So we don’t have an official Glasgow Skeptics event on this date … but our friends over in Cafe Scientifique have got something to tickle your fancy instead.

Can Art Ever Inform Science?

The relationship between art and science is one that had been long discussed before, and since C.P Snow lamented the division between them in his famous 1959 “Two Cultures” lecture. In this Café Scientifique, Human Geneticist Professor Darren Monckton, and contemporary artist Dr Jacqueline Donachie, will explore how different the two cultures really are. Jackie and Darren have collaborated over a number of years, including producing together the art work ‘Tomorrow belongs to me’, which was presented at an exhibition at the Hunterian Art Gallery and Museum. Whilst many artists have been successful at using art to explore scientific concepts, does art ever inform science? Can artists do science? Can scientists do art? Darren and Jackie will share their own experiences in exploring these ideas.

About the Speakers:
Jacqueline Donachie is one of Scotland’s most respected contemporary artists. One of a group of artists who established Glasgow in the 1990s as one of the world’s most dynamic contemporary art communities, she is still based in the city, and has forged an international reputation for a socially engaged art practice, with a special interest in healthcare and biomedical research. Jackie studied Fine art from 1987 to 1991 at The Glasgow School of Art. She graduated from The Glasgow School of Art’s Environmental Art department, which encouraged artists to place their work in a variety of public contexts out-with the gallery space. She completed a Masters of Fine Art at Hunter College, New York in 1996 and obtained a PhD in Art Research from the University of Northumbria in 2017 culminating in the ‘Deep in the heart of your brain’ exhibition at the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art. Donachie creates socially-engaged art, often occupying public space. She explores biomedical research and ideas of communication, participation and how public spaces are designed, managed and used in her work. Donachie’s exhibition ‘Right here among them’, a mid-career retrospective, at The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh 2017 to 2018, was funded by a prestigious award from The Freelands Foundation.

Darren G. Monckton was born at home in Bishopstoke in August 1966. He was educated at Stoke Park Infants School, Bishopstoke Junior School, Wyvern Comprehensive and Barton Peveril Sixth Form College. Despite experiencing England’s world cup glory in utero and hours of daily practice, he was never picked for England or any of his school football teams. He did though obtain a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Bath (1989) and a PhD in human genetics from the University of Leicester (1992). He did postdoctoral research in Houston, Texas, where he was the Muscular Dystrophy Association Sammy Davies Junior Neuromuscular Disease Research Fellow. In 1996 he was recruited to a lectureship in genetics at the University of Glasgow, where he was also the recipient of a Lister Institute Research Fellowship. He is currently Professor of Human Genetics and teaches genetics on a range of postgraduate and undergraduate courses, and leads an active research team. His group is investigating the basis of genetic instability in disorders such as myotonic dystrophy and Huntington disease, with the aim of providing improved diagnostics and treatments. He has published over 70 scientific papers , and has presented his research in more than 200 invited seminars and lectures, including the Genetics Society Balfour Lecture, the Tenovus Medal Lecture and many international conferences, and many to patient groups and other lay audiences. He was the Muscular Dystrophy UK 2017 Scientist of the year and is a Scientific Advisor to the Myotonic Dystrophy Support Group (UK) and the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation (USA).

For more information about Café Scientifique:Visit their website: http://www.gla.ac.uk/events/cafescientifique/

The talk is free – although they do ask for donations
Accessibility information for the venue can be found here: https://www.disabledgo.com/access-guide/glasgow-city-council/waterstones-3