Science in Society Archive

ISIS Event

Colours of Water

A festival of art, science, and music inspired by water

The ISIS Colours of Water festival took place from 12th-28th March 2013 (see the original programme here). Following the success of this event, ISIS will be releasing content on the ISIS website, in issue #58 of Science in Society, on youtube/vimeo and on DVD.

You are Water I am Water - Lotte Anker and Mark Sanders

An improvisation on the theme of water, by Jazz saxophonist Lotte Anker and percussionist Mark Sanders. The performance was recorded at the Colours of Water festival on March 22nd 2013. To buy a DVD of the entire performance, see the ISIS online store.

Poet Stephen C. Middleton, a long-time fan of Lotte Anker (saxophonist/composer and one of the leaders on the Scandinavian improvised/experimental jazz), was in attendance at You are Water, I am Water. Here is his poem with references to various previous performances by Lotte and one by Ellery Eskelin at the Vortex Jazz Club in North London.

Lotte in London

She puts a bottle in the bell of the saxophone. Ellery had his cleaning stick to blow past, but (neck swelling) didn’t know. She knows – she puts a bottle in the bell of the saxophone - & takes her own sweet time. Then they (she & percussionist / drummer Mark Sanders) are clicking & bleating in unison, until bang / blat (no visible signal), & silence. Flown in from Woodstock. Challenges – shift of time, zone, thrown like particles at Cern – trained reflexes / honed instinct. Reactions at the speed of improvisation. Beyond that velocity will take care of itself. Lotte in her own sweet time. Lotte in Copenhagen. Lotte in London.



Reflections - Earth Music Unlimited

Earth Music Unlimited improvised on the theme of water at the festival on the evening of March 21st. They are: Edward Cowie, piano; Stephen Preston, flute; Mifune Tsuji violin. The first piece, 'Reflections' is reproduced here. To buy a DVD of the entire performance, see the ISIS online store.


Raindance - Chris Lee Trio

The Chris Lee Trio performed at the festival on March 20th - the first track of the evening was Raindance, based on a painting by Li Poon, and is reproduced here. To buy a DVD of the entire performance, see the ISIS online store.


Opening Reception and Art Preview

Colours of Water Art Exhibition opening reception and preview photographs

Opening reception and art preview photographs

The art exhibition preview took place on March 12th 2013, featuring works by Edward Cowie, Heather Cowie, Kathy Haffegee, Mae-Wan Ho, Li Poon and Matt Poon

Colours of Water Art Exhibition Collection

Exhibition collection

Artworks by ISIS artists: Kathy Haffegee, Mae-Wan Ho, Li Poon and Matt Poon

Three Indepth Workshops on Water

Three indepth workshops on water

Three indepth workshops on water

Three water workshops were held in the opening few days of the festival: Martin Chaplins Molecular Models of Water on the 16th March, Jim Oschmans Water and Energy Medicine on the 19th March and Susan Alexjanders Fluid, a Creation in Sound on March 20th.

Waterscapes - Chris Lee Trio

Chris Lee Trio - Waterscapes jazz concert photographs
Chris Lee Trio - Waterscapes Jazz Concert photographs

Chris Lee Trio - Waterscapes Jazz Concert

Images taken during the Chris Lee's Waterscapes, 20th March 2013

Chris Lee Trio Waterscapes jazz concert DVD

DVD of the Waterscapes performance, by piano-led jazz trio.

World premiere of Waterscapes; a selection of music inspired by the water-themed artwork by ISIS Artists, and other water-related songs. Chris Lee piano, Joe Pettitt bass, Rod Youngs drums, Jenny Howe vocals.

New Science of Water for Life Conference

New Science of Water for Life conference photographs
New Science of Water for Life conference photographs

New Science of Water for Life conference photographs

Images taken during the science event, 21st March 2013

New Science of Water for Life conference DVD

DVD of lectures from this sell-out science conference, 21st March 2013.

Featuring: Gerald Pollack, Martin Chaplin, Djuro Koruga, Emilio Del Giudice, Mae-Wan Ho, Peter Fisher, Elmar Fuchs and Tim Crowe


Water Music Unlimited - Earth Music Unlimited

Earth Music Unlimited - Water Music Unlimited concert photographs
Earth Music Unlimited - Water Music Unlimited concert photographs

Earth Music Unlimited - Water Music Unlimited Concert

Images taken during the Earth Music Unlimited's Water Music Unlimited, 21st March 2013

Earth Music Unlimited Water Music Unlimited concert DVD

(Pre-order, available June 2013). DVD of the Water Music Unlimited performance.

Water Music Unlimited Concert By Earth Music Unlimited Trio: Edward Cowie piano, Stephen Preston Baroque flute, Mifune Tsuji violin. Three classically trained musicians with a single purpose: that music and the forces of nature coalesce and blend. All are deeply concerned with a quest to find new musical forms and new forms of acoustic self-expression. A recital of mainly improvised music in which the trio intercommunicate to translate their experiences of water. Cowie also premieres two new studies for solo piano from his cycle, The Waters of Life.

World Water Day Conference

World Water Day conference photographs
World Water Day conference photographs

World Water Day conference photographs

Images taken during the World Water day event, 22nd March 2013

World Water Day conference DVD

(Pre-order, available June 2013). DVD of lectures from this important conference held on World Water day, 22nd March 2013.

Featuring: Eric Landen and Stevo Hausheer, Chee Yoke Ling, Dinabandhu Karmaker, Joe Cummins, Shui-Yin Lo, Jim Oschman, Mae-Wan Ho, Adrian Ho, Eva Sirinathsinghji

You are Water I am Water - Lotte Anker/Mark Sanders

You are Water I am Water

You are Water I am Water

Images from the performance on 22nd March 2013

You are Water I am Water - Lotte Anker and Mark Sanders

You are Water I am Water DVD.

An unusual musical improvisation on the theme of water, featuring Lotte Anker on saxophone and the drum/percussion skills of Mark Sanders, recorded on the 22nd March 2013.

Water Carnival

Water carnival

Water carnival

A rare opportunity to see the living organisms that inspired Mae-Wan Ho to write the rainbow and the Worm. Julian Haffegee with introduction by Mae-Wan Ho. March 23rd.

Julian Haffegee’s Water Carnival mixes Tom Lawrence’s award-winning hydrophone recordings with his own music and liquid crystalline images of organisms discovered in Mae-Wan Ho’s laboratory. Download the full video from the online store.

Mae-Wan Ho scientist/artist and director of ISIS wants the whole world to quantum jazz with her

Mae-Wan Ho will be talking twice at the festival: on 21st March 2013, with a lecture entitled 'Living H2O, the Rainbow Within' Further details 21st March - and on 22nd March, with a lecture entitled 'Science & Art of Water' Further details


Sustainable Water Technology Expert Elmar Fuchs on the Amazing Floating Water Bridge

Elmar Fuchs will be talking at the festival on 21st March 2013, with a lecture entitled 'Understanding the Floating Water Bridge' Further details 21st March

You can also see an existing video clip of a lecture by Dr. Fuchs here


Water is an ocean of inspiration to jazz Improviser/composer Lotte Anker

Lotte Anker and Mark Sanders will be performing at the festival on 22nd March 2013, with jazz improvisation 'You are Water, I am Water' Further details


Dr. Shui-Yin Lo from Caltech on discovering stable water clusters and health

Shui-Li Yo will be talking at the festival on World Water Day, 22nd March 2013, with a lecture entitled 'Stable Water Clusters & Health' Further details


ISIS artist Li Poon discovers he has been painting living water

Li Poon's paintings will be exhibited at the Colours of Water art exhibition, 12-28th March 2013.


Cell biologist/biophysicist/energy medicine pioneer Jim Oschman says water can teach us to be healthy

Jim Oschman will appear twice at the Colours of Water Festival. He will present a workshop entitled 'Water is Key to Energy Medicine' on March 19th Further details. He will also talk at the New Science of Water for Life Conference, 21st March 2013, with a lecture entitled 'Water & Energy Medicine' Further details 21st March


Founding partner of ZeusJones Adrian Ho says business should take inspiration from the new science of water

Adrian Ho will be appearing at the festival on World Water Day, 22nd March 2013, with a lecture entitled 'Learning to Flow' Further details

You can see another recent interview with Adrian, 'Our conversation with Adrian Ho' here


ISIS research/staff writer Eva Sirinathsinghi says GM crops are a recipe for disaster in times of water depletion

Eva Sirinathsinghi will be appearing at the festival on World Water Day, 22nd March 2013. Further details 22nd March


Visual artist Heather Cowie paints to encourage respect for and celebration of water

Heather Cowie creates shimmering ever-changing surfaces on canvas with infinite flakes of colours subtly juxtaposed and superimposed, to express “water’s infinite capacity to carry, translate and transform image, [its] reflection and colour.”

See Heather's work at the Colours of Water art exhibition, 12-28th March 2013


Professor of Nanotechnology Djuro Koruga says water is beautiful and sublime, like the number e

Djuro Koruga will be appearing at the festival at the New Science of Water for Life Conference, 21st March 2013, with a lecture entitled 'Molecular structure of water based on e' Further details 21st March


Prof Joe Cummins demands clean drinking water for all

Joe Cummins will be appearing at the festival on World Water Day, 22nd March 2013. Further details 22nd March


Corporate Sustainability Consultant Eric Landen is in Colours of Water for Inspiration

Eric Landen will be appearing at the festival on World Water Day, 22nd march 2013. Further details 22nd March


Edward Cowie, musician/artist/naturalist, on cosmic mind & senses in creativity

Edward Cowie will be performing with his Earth Music Unlimited Trio: Edward Cowie piano, Stephen Preston Baroque flute, Mifune Tsuji violin; and separately premiering two new studies for solo piano from his cycle, The Waters of Life. Further details 21st March


World’s foremost water researcher Gerald Pollack says simple models are elegant and beautiful

Gerald Pollack will be talking at the New Science of Water for Life Conference 21st March


Chris Lee - Jazz composer pianist bridging cultures and raising consciousness with his music

Chris Lee and his band will be performing Waterscapes on 20th March

Chemist Martin Chaplin on What is water really like

Martin Chaplin will present a workshop Molecular Models of Water on March 16th, and will be talking at the New Science of Water for Life Conference, 21st March


Agriculturalist Dinabankhu Karmaker from India: water provides food & income security for the poor

Dinabankhu Karmaker will be talking at the World Water Day Conference, 22nd March


Textile artist Kathy Haffegee on stitching the magical texture of water

Kathy Haffegee As a textile artist I am continually challenged by the creative process of transforming the drab surface of a fabric to one with amazing patterns and textures. I love the tactile quality of cloth but also work with a variety of mixed media –paper, metals, wires, paint, and embossing powders. I did a City and Guilds course in creative embroidery, and have been showing and selling my work and leading workshops in the Milton Keynes area for the last 12 years. For the past few years, images of my embroideries have appeared frequently in the pages of Science in Society magazine. I am a member of the Stacey Hill Stitchers, a group that meets in and supports the local Museum of Agriculture. The group’s activities include making historic costumes, samplers, fund-raising and teaching sewing skills to local children.

Kathy Haffegee's artwork will be displayed at the Colours of Water Art Exhibition 12-28th March


Composer sound designer Susan Alexjander on music as universal knowledge

Susan Alexjander's multimedia workshop entitled Fluid, a Creation in Sound will be at the festival on 20th March


Emilio Del’Giudice, quantum-field theorist, tells us how the new quantum physics of water raises physical truth to the level of poetic truth

Emilio Del Giudice was born on 1 January 1940 in Naples, Italy, and is now retired from the position of Senior Scientist at the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). He has done research at MIT (Cambridge, USA) and at Niels-Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. A theoretical physicist whose main interests are quantum field theory and physics of collective and coherent processes, he has also investigated the structure of liquid water, with particular reference to living matter.

Emilio Del Giudice will be talking at the New Science of Water for Life Conference (21st March)


Prof. Peter Saunders says the new science of water tells us how science should be done

Peter Saunders is co-Director of ISIS and Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at King’s College London. He is a Vice-president of the UK Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, and has worked for a long time on the scientific alternative to the neo-Darwinist theory of evolution, complex systems, and more recently, modelling physiological control and finding the cause of Type II diabetes.

Peter Saunders will chair the New Science of Water for Life Conference (21st March - buy tickets) and World Water Day Conference (22nd March)


Dr. Mae-Wan Ho talks on water; why it is important, and why it is the subject of this festival

Mae-Wan Ho, Director and co-founder of the Institute of Science in Society (www.i-sis.org.uk) to reclaim science for the public good, is best known for pioneering work on the physics of organisms and sustainable systems and the liquid crystalline water of the living matrix; also a staunch critic of neo-Darwinian theory and the biotech industry. Much in demand as a public speaker and a prolific writer, Mae-Wan has more than 170 scientific publications, 18 books, and over 500 popular articles and essays across all disciplines.

Regarded by some as “the most influential scientist alive today,” her work not only informs the public and policy-makers, but is also deeply appreciated by other scientists as well as those trained in arts and the humanities, being herself an artist and occasional poet.

It has been her life-long ambition to integrate sciences, arts and the humanities in a complete way of knowing, understanding, and living. She started painting over 40 years ago, and has finally found her element in water. In an astonishing burst of creativity, she produced a new book on the quantum physics and chemistry of water in living organisms, 'Living Rainbow H2O', and dozens of energetic new paintings within a year, a selection of which will be on show in the Colours of Water festival.

Mae-Wan Ho will be talking twice in this festival New Science of Water for Life Conference (21st March) and World Water Day Conference (22nd March)

Article first published 16/05/13


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