Seymour Centre and the University of Sydney's Discipline of Theatre & Performance Studies present
Art + Information
Exploding Stars, Small Pleasures, and the Humble Oyster
Spark your curiosity at an evening of performance lectures, where art brings big ideas to life.
Experience Art + Information, a new series of performance lectures fusing drama and academia to bring big, bold ideas to life.
In collaboration with distinctive and daring independent theatre director, Kate Gaul (Sydney Festival’s H.M.S Pinafore, The Trouble with Harry), three leading University of Sydney scholars will draw on the art of live performance to present their cutting-edge research in radical new ways, sharing intriguing insights into First Nations land care, the cosmos, and the small pleasures that make life worthwhile.
Mitchell Gibbs, proud Dunghutti man through kinship and scientist as part of Geoscience and History and Philosophy of Science, is learning from thousands of years of knowledge to help our aquatic environments thrive long into the future, and will spotlight the vital contemporary relevance of First Nations land care practices.
Tara Murphy, leading astrophysicist, will take us deep into space, revealing what happens at the very moment a black hole forms and sharing her role in the once-in-a-lifetime discovery of a cosmic event that took place 130 million years ago.
And Beth Yahp, award-winning author and creative writing lecturer, will illustrate the importance of small pleasures—of noticing the unnoticed, finding joy in the little things, and 'stealing time' from the institution to write, think, and be creative as a form of cultural resistance.
Designed to spark curiosity and conversation, Art + Information invites audiences to watch as theatre and science challenge and champion each other, to reflect on truth, perception, and knowledge, and to learn from some of our most brilliant minds.
Image credit: Sascha Parbery
Kate Gaul has established herself as a distinctive and inventive director, with directing credits including plays, opera, physical theatre, devised works, and classics for numerous theatre companies and schools in Australia.
She is Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co, where her passion is for text-based drama that challenges artists and audiences to have bold, imaginative experiences.
Image credit: Alex Vaughan
Tara Murphy is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sydney, and a member of the OzGrav Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. She is a world expert on radio transients – astronomical objects that change rapidly with time.
Since 2015 she has led the Australian effort in radio follow-up of gravitational wave events, culminating in the first detection of radio emission from a binary neutron star merger GW170817 in collaboration with international colleagues. She has published 150 scientific publications on topics ranging from gamma-ray bursts, to flaring stars, to pulsars.
Tara loves sharing her passion for astronomy, and has been featured on national television and radio, in newspapers, and on social media. Her writing has featured in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Conversation, and Cosmos Magazine. She has spoken at public events including VIVID Sydney, Sydney Astrofest, and the Sydney Science Forum.
Beth Yahp lectures in Creative Writing in the Discipline of English at the University of Sydney.
Beth’s fiction and creative non-fiction include: The Red Pearl and Other Stories; a memoir Eat First, Talk Later, shortlisted for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Award for Literature (Non-Fiction); and a prize-winning novel, The Crocodile Fury.
Beth wrote the libretto for composer Liza Lim’s opera Moon Spirit Feasting, which won the APRA Award for Best Classical Composition in 2003.
Her current projects include ‘Living Archives: Life Writing with Personal Objects’ in collaboration with Malaysia Design Archive, a series of essays on life in Reformasi Malaysia, and a book of Small Pleasures set in Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Honolulu, a chapter of which was published in Life Writing (2020).
Image credit: Kyle Powderly
Mitchell Gibbs is a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney.
Mitchell is creating space for research that draws on the experiences and epistemologies of First Nations people, asking how we can learn from thousands of years of knowledge to help our aquatic environments into the future.
He holds a PhD degree in Marine Biology/Biochemistry and is a Thunghutti man through kinship of the Dunghutti nation.
Image credit: Aline Maciel Silva
Director Kate Gaul
Scholar/ Performers Mitchell Gibbs, Tara Murphy, and Beth Yahp
Lighting and Video Designer Morgan Moroney
Sound Designer, Composer Zac Saric
Stage Manager Emma Van Veen
Production Manager Daniel Potter
Curators Paul Dwyer, Barbara Campbell, and Timothy Jones
Access the Art + Information program and get to know the scholar/ performers and creatives bringing the show to life at Seymour Centre.
We are a registered COVID-Safe business with measures in place to make your next Seymour visit safe and enjoyable. You can find out more about our safety measures here, and we will also send safety information directly to you prior to your visit. To ensure we can reach you, we recommend checking that your contact information is up to date.
This event is supported by the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts and by the Chancellor’s Committee of the University of Sydney.
Reginald Theatre
| Thu 17 Nov | 7:30pm |
|---|---|
| Fri 18 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Sat 19 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Wed 23 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Thu 24 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Fri 25 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Sat 26 Nov | 7:30pm |
90 minutes (no interval). Partial lockout applies. Duration encompasses all three performance lectures.
| Full | $35 |
|---|---|
| Concession (Senior, Pensioner, Veteran, Full-time Student)* | $28 |
| Under 35, Group 8+ | $25 |
$6 transaction fee applies.
*ID required during ticket purchase for verification purposes. Read more.
Photography and filming prohibited.
The only authorised ticket seller for this event is Seymour Centre. If you purchase from an unauthorised seller, you risk that your tickets may be fake or invalid.
Kate Gaul has established herself as a distinctive and inventive director, with directing credits including plays, opera, physical theatre, devised works, and classics for numerous theatre companies and schools in Australia.
She is Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co, where her passion is for text-based drama that challenges artists and audiences to have bold, imaginative experiences.
Image credit: Alex Vaughan
Tara Murphy is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sydney, and a member of the OzGrav Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. She is a world expert on radio transients – astronomical objects that change rapidly with time.
Since 2015 she has led the Australian effort in radio follow-up of gravitational wave events, culminating in the first detection of radio emission from a binary neutron star merger GW170817 in collaboration with international colleagues. She has published 150 scientific publications on topics ranging from gamma-ray bursts, to flaring stars, to pulsars.
Tara loves sharing her passion for astronomy, and has been featured on national television and radio, in newspapers, and on social media. Her writing has featured in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Conversation, and Cosmos Magazine. She has spoken at public events including VIVID Sydney, Sydney Astrofest, and the Sydney Science Forum.
Beth Yahp lectures in Creative Writing in the Discipline of English at the University of Sydney.
Beth’s fiction and creative non-fiction include: The Red Pearl and Other Stories; a memoir Eat First, Talk Later, shortlisted for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Award for Literature (Non-Fiction); and a prize-winning novel, The Crocodile Fury.
Beth wrote the libretto for composer Liza Lim’s opera Moon Spirit Feasting, which won the APRA Award for Best Classical Composition in 2003.
Her current projects include ‘Living Archives: Life Writing with Personal Objects’ in collaboration with Malaysia Design Archive, a series of essays on life in Reformasi Malaysia, and a book of Small Pleasures set in Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Honolulu, a chapter of which was published in Life Writing (2020).
Image credit: Kyle Powderly
Mitchell Gibbs is a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney.
Mitchell is creating space for research that draws on the experiences and epistemologies of First Nations people, asking how we can learn from thousands of years of knowledge to help our aquatic environments into the future.
He holds a PhD degree in Marine Biology/Biochemistry and is a Thunghutti man through kinship of the Dunghutti nation.
Image credit: Aline Maciel Silva
Reginald Theatre
| Thu 17 Nov | 7:30pm |
|---|---|
| Fri 18 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Sat 19 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Wed 23 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Thu 24 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Fri 25 Nov | 7:30pm |
| Sat 26 Nov | 7:30pm |
90 minutes (no interval). Partial lockout applies. Duration encompasses all three performance lectures.
| Full | $35 |
|---|---|
| Concession (Senior, Pensioner, Veteran, Full-time Student)* | $28 |
| Under 35, Group 8+ | $25 |
$6 transaction fee applies.
*ID required during ticket purchase for verification purposes. Read more.
Photography and filming prohibited.
The only authorised ticket seller for this event is Seymour Centre. If you purchase from an unauthorised seller, you risk that your tickets may be fake or invalid.
Director Kate Gaul
Scholar/ Performers Mitchell Gibbs, Tara Murphy, and Beth Yahp
Lighting and Video Designer Morgan Moroney
Sound Designer, Composer Zac Saric
Stage Manager Emma Van Veen
Production Manager Daniel Potter
Curators Paul Dwyer, Barbara Campbell, and Timothy Jones
Access the Art + Information program and get to know the scholar/ performers and creatives bringing the show to life at Seymour Centre.
We are a registered COVID-Safe business with measures in place to make your next Seymour visit safe and enjoyable. You can find out more about our safety measures here, and we will also send safety information directly to you prior to your visit. To ensure we can reach you, we recommend checking that your contact information is up to date.
This event is supported by the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts and by the Chancellor’s Committee of the University of Sydney.
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