Talking Space: Art, Science and Colour on Earth and Mars

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Summary:Recent images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed that the Beagle 2 had in fact landed intact on the surface of Mars In 2003 and was not lost as previously assumed. Following discussions with Dr Judith Pillinger of the Beagle 2 mission, the Fitzwilliam Museum will mount an special display using the flight spare of the spacecraft's calibration target, a spot painting by artist Damien Hirst (and the first work of art from Earth to land on another planet) to engage non-specialist audiences with the art, science and essentially multidisciplinary, collaborative nature of space exploration. The display is planned for Autumn 2016 to form part of the Museum's programme for the University of Cambridge's annual Festival of Ideas. Entitled 'Talking Space: Art, Science and Colour on Earth and Mars', it will complement the Fitzwilliam's major Bicentenary exhibition, COLOUR: The Art and Science of Manuscript Illumination. It will also be one of several activities marking the 40th anniversary of the Hamilton Kerr Institute, the Museum's Department of paintings conservation, whose conservators sourced the pigments Professor Colin Pillinger and Hirst used in the spot painting. It will also coincidentally fit with the projected landing of the Schiaparelli technical demonstrator, which forms part of the first mission of the European Space Agency's ExoMars programme.Specifically, the aims of the project are:1. To engage visitors to the Fitzwilliam Museum with the science of exploring Mars.2. To organise in conjunction with the exhibition, a series of talks and lectures. A number of scientists involved in current or past Mars missions have been approached informally and have expressed their willingness to contribute.3. Through specific activities and events - and as part of the University of Cambridge's broader Widening Participation programme - to engage pupils (aged 14-18) from secondary schools in Cambridge and East Anglia that are under-performing and / or under-represented at the University.4. Through revisiting the collaboration between Professor Pillinger, Damien Hirst and the art conservators at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, to highlight an example and outcome - a work of art that was also a piece of scientific instrumentation - a collaborative partnership across the arts and sciences.