22 October 2008

A free weekend event on Saturday 8 November at Wellcome Collection explores improvisation and wellbeing.

Ever wondered how to put the spark into routine conversations with loved ones? Keen to get your creative juices flowing and learn more about musical performance? Want to explore how improvisation can enhance your physical and mental wellbeing? If so, then this event is definitely for you.

On Saturday 8 November, Wellcome Collection will be filled with sound. ‘Tune-In: Music with the Brain in Mind’ is an all-day free event as a result of a partnership between Artakt - a research cluster of Central St Martins Innovation - and new recording label Plushmusic.

Tune-In: Saturday 8 November, 11.00-17.30
Tickets: Free of charge. Some events need booking.
Venue: Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE.
Gallery opening times: Tues.-Wed., Fri.-Sat.: 10.00-18.00; Thurs.: 10.00-22.00; Sun.: 11.00-18.00. Closed Mon. (except bank holidays: 10.00-18.00).

Throughout the day, musicians, scientists and the public will join forces to discover the secrets of performance, practice and improvisation by way of a series of interactive workshops, live music and experiments.

“Wellcome Collection gives musicians and scientists a great opportunity to explore aspects of their interests and work that are relevant to everyone's life,” Director of Artakt Professor Marina Wallace comments. “Artakt are delighted to be able to work in association with Wellcome Collection for a project that will form the basis of future research in music and the mind.”

Taking a look behind the scenes of music-making, performance and creativity, ‘Tune-In’ will combine live performance with the science behind improvisation, increasing our understanding of the way in which music is created, performed and appreciated.

Dr Ken Arnold, Head of Public Programmes at Wellcome Collection, comments: "After so many centuries of musical history, it seems miraculous that there are still new musical ideas being created. This marvellous day of listening, playing, talking and exploring makes clear that improvisation potentially allows us all to be innovators of sorts."

The musicians and scientists taking part include: Oscar Bohorquez, (violin), Gareth Lubbe (viola), Adrian Brendel, (cello), and Dr Mark Lythgoe, Dr Alan Watson, Dr Tim Blackwell and Dr Peter Lovatt.

Violinist Oscar Bohorquez and Dr Mark Lythgoe, Director of the Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging at University College London, and colleague Ben Martynoga will reveal the mental activities involved in musical improvisation. Psychologist Peter Lovatt from the University of Hertfordshire will consider how improvisation, intuition and creativity can improve our wellbeing and the impacts it can have in daily life.

During a live experiment, Adrian Brendel and Dr Alan Watson, senior lecturer in anatomy at Cardiff University, will search for the traces Adrian's musical career has left upon his body, musculature and mind.

Throughout the day, insights from psychology, physiology and neuroscience will show the common ground between very different styles of music-making, and will reveal the musicality underlying everyday life.

‘Tune-In’ is an unmissable day for the curious. No prior experience or musical ability is required.

The day's music is a diverse amalgam of improvisations and audience games, computer-enhanced jazz by Tim Blackwell from Swarm Music, and performances of music composed by Bach and Saariaho.

Entry to the event is free. Doors open at 11.00 and the instruments are packed away at 17.30.

For more information telephone (0)20 7611 2222 or email: info@wellcomecollection.org

Notes to editors

For further details, please contact:

Mike Findlay, Media Officer (Wellcome Collection)
T 020 7611 8612
E m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk

Oscar Bohorquez combines a fierce classical training with a fascination for improvisation and jazz, and has collaborated with diverse musicians and composers including Gidon Kremer, Gareth Lubbe and Bertold Hummel, while maintaining a busy international concert schedule.

Gareth Lubbe, Viola and Voice, is the first principal violist of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in Belgium under the baton of Phillippe Herreweghe and has performed regularly with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra working with conductors such as Claudio Abbado and Daniel Harding. As conductor he has worked with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra. He received numerous prizes at national competitions and in 1994, he had the honour of playing at the presidential inauguration of Nelson Mandela in Pretoria.

Adrian Brendel's commitment to chamber music takes him on recital and trio tours around Europe, and has led to projects with Lisa Batiashvili, Imogen Cooper, Till Fellner and Paul Lewis, among others. His recent two-year partnership with his father Alfred Brendel, performing all of Beethoven’s music for cello and piano at venues throughout the world, was a huge public and critical success.

Tim Blackwell of Swarm Music is a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research interests encompass physics, psychology, computer science, digital art and music. He is an active musician and is well known for the application of swarm intelligence to improvised music.

Simon Ings is a novelist and critic, and the editor of Plushmusic. He is also a science writer: ‘The Eye: A natural history’ was published in 2007 by Bloomsbury and has been widely translated. He is currently working on a new novel and a history of learning.

Dr Peter Lovatt, Reader in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, is a former professional dancer. He leads several research projects looking at the impact of musical, dance and verbal improvisation on human cognition and the way our genetic makeup influences how we communicate through dance.

Dr Mark Lythgoe is a Neuroscientist and Director of the Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging at University College London. Mark is also Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival, one of the world's largest science festivals.

Ben Martynoga is a Neuroscientist and Career Development Fellow in the division of Molecular Neurobiology at the Medical Research Council, National Institute of Medical Research in London.

Alan Watson is a senior lecturer in anatomy and neuroscience at Cardiff University. He has lectured extensively on musicians’ health and has recently completed a forthcoming book on the biology of musical performance.

The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £600 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.

The Wellcome Trust's former headquarters, the Wellcome Building on London's Euston Road, has been redesigned by Hopkins Architects to become a new £30m public venue. Free to all, Wellcome Collection explores the connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future. The building comprises three galleries, a public events space, the Wellcome Library, a café, a bookshop, conference facilities and a members' club.

Artakt: Curating in action
Artakt curates and manages pioneering exhibitions and research led projects at a national and international level in the field of art, science and culture.