What's On at UWA

In celebration of the University’s centenary, UWA School of Music joins with UWA Choral society for an extravagant evening of sound. As part of the celebration, an orchestra of over 170 will perform Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring on it’s 100th anniversary before being joined on stage by the combined forces of the UWA Symphonic Chorus, UWA Choral Society and soloists for the exuberant Rachmaninoff composition, The Bells. This is a concert of epic proportions. For tickets, please visit: http://www.music.uwa.edu.au/concerts/artistry

Through the UWA Health & Rehabiliation Clinic a variety of Clinical Pilates options are now available to staff and general public!

Clinical Pilates is a form of physical exercise that focuses on posture, balance, control, strength, flexibility, and breathing. It incorporates mat and equipment based exercises to optimise function, improve fitness and aid the management or rehabilitation following pain or injury. Using the experitse of Physiotherapy and Exercise Physiology trained staff to tailor exercises, Clinical Pilates is able to ensure optimal gains whilst minimising risk of injury or aggravation.

Initial assessment may be required prior to starting classes. Sessions are available Mon-Fri at various times between 6am-6pm. Private Health Rebates May Apply.

LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "A microscope in a needle: New technologies to image disease" by A/Professor Robert McLaughlin, Optical+Biomedical Engineering Lab, The University of Western Australia. A light lunch will be served from 12.00pm with a 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.

Sharks have excited the imagination of literary and visual artists for centuries. There are literally thousands of references to sharks in poetry, drama, novels, painting and sculpture. Since the twentieth century they have been appropriated for film, TV and advertising campaigns, but often in ways that have increased the perception of sharks as monstrous man-eaters.

An unconscious elision of the real shark, about which we still know relatively little, and the shark within human culture, about which we all know something, has generated many misconceptions about real sharks. Those who work with them closely often refer to them with admiration and affection. They are acutely aware of the fact that it is the cultural representation of sharks that has facilitated their exploitation, some species of which are now on the verge of extinction.

This lecture will draw attention to the distinction between the monster that we have created and the real shark. It will explore some of the many representations of sharks in a variety of artforms as a means of understanding the complex role of sharks in culture, the human emotions that they evoke, and the impact of representation on their existence.

Vivienne Westbrook is an Associate Professor at National Taiwan University. Her project 'Shark in Art' brings her to UWA this semester, where she is researching the cultural responses to and emotional contexts for sharks with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.

Cost: Free, but booking essential http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/westbrook

Victoria Rogers: John Blacking, Composer

John Blacking (1928–90) made his mark as an ethnomusicologist and social anthropologist and his enduring reputation stems from his work in these areas. Yet his interests were more far reaching and included cognition and language, dance and movement, the biology of music making, music psychology, and – perhaps surprisingly – composition. The very existence of Blacking’s compositions raises a number of enticing questions. What was the nature of his musical language? What might a study of his compositions tell us about his ethnomusicology? What might his ethnomusicology tell us about his compositions? These questions give rise to the central focus of this article: the intersection of Blacking’s composition and ethnomusicology. The article concludes that Blacking’s conceptualisation of music as an expression of social processes and cultural values extended beyond non-Western musics, infusing the compositions which he himself created within the musical paradigm of his own culture.

A public lecture by Professor Lyn Beazley AO FTSE, Chief Scientist of Western Australia.

Australia has a reputation for scientific discoveries and engineering innovations that are amongst the best in the world. In this lecture, Professor Beazley will discuss two of them. One is Australia’s $50M program to develop bionic vision, aiming to restore sight to the blind and emulate the Australian success of the Bionic Ear that has given hearing to many from the deaf community.

The other is the largest science project ever planned for our planet: the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). This multi-nationally supported mega-network of radio telescopes is being built across desserts in South Africa and Western Australia. It will require computing powers that far outreach our present capacity and is likely to generate many technological spin-offs. Its projected completion date of 2025, along with its probable lifespan of some 50-100 years, means that we are building the SKA for you if you chose to become a scientist or an engineer! Even if you don’t, just knowing what Australia can achieve will be exciting.

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Institute of Advanced Studies at The University of Western Australia and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). Cost: Free, but RSVP essential. Bookings: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/beazley-atse

Two world-renowned maestros of Indian classical music – Pundit Kumar Bose (tabla) and Pundit Debojyoti Bose (sarod) – will present a workshop at the UWA School of Music.

This is an amazing opportunity to see some fantastic music from two of India’s best musicians.

The external casualties of war have an obvious presence to the interested observer and encompass human, environmental and political dimensions. The internal casualties of war are less obvious and more intimately experienced.

Working with the human aftermath of military conflict has brought many questions to the fore in the professional and private life of clinical psychologist Tom Locke. He will share his perspectives on the nature of critical incident trauma, its treatment and prognosis and connect this to “civilian” trauma that no individual can avoid in a normal lifetime.

Short Bio,

Tom is a clinical psychologist who specialises in the treatment of defence force veterans and current serving members suffering and post traumatic stress disorder. He recently returned from a visit to Gallipoli as part of the Australian Government’s ANZAC Day commemorative service team and will privately visit again in 2015 to reflect on his military clients and compete in a 2 day surfboat race to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC landing.

PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****

A public lecture by Dr Thomas Scirghi, SJ, 2013 St Thomas More College Chair of Jesuit Studies.

Francis I is the first Jesuit pope in the history of the Catholic Church. Sometimes called the “Pope’s marines,” the Jesuits – formally known as the Society of Jesus – take a special vow of obedience to the Pope. The Superior General of the Jesuits, clad in a black cassock, has been named “the Black Pope.” Yet the Jesuits promise to refrain from aspiring to hierarchical positions of authority. With the election of Pope Francis many are asking, “What is a Jesuit?” and “What may we expect from a Jesuit pope?”

Cost: Free, but booking required through http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/scirghi

Countries don’t get lucky; people do.

The Lucky Culture tells the story of Australian exceptionalism - the unique national quality that within 200 years of settlement transformed a raw, unbroken continent into the great civilisation of the south.

In the beginning, Australians were driven by the spirit of progress and united by the faith that human wit and energy could overcome any obstacle. They were ingenious, hardworking and inventive.

Today, however, Australia has a new class of people, a self-appointed elite, who consider themselves to be smarter, more sophisticated and better mannered than the rest. This is what Cater calls the new ‘ruling class’ - a group of people who are changing Australia, irrevocably, and not for the better. Cater fears that what is happening in Australia is moving us away from our original notion of who Australians are - egalitarian, innovative, fearless and spirited – instead creating a more conflicted, scared and divided nation.

Almost half a century after Donald Horne first tried to define ‘The Lucky Country’ in his seminal book, Nick Cater looks at the country that Australia has become. He argues strongly for Australians to resist the ascendency of this emerging class and to return to our original, best selves, aspiring to the principles of fairness, egalitarianism and enterprise that first defined us.

With a background in sociology, 30 years experience in journalism and a detached eye for detail, no one is better placed than Cater to help Australians understand.

Price: Members / Guests $59 Price includes a two-course lunch with selected wines, and presentation by Nick Cater on ‘The Lucky Culture’.

Held in conjunction with UWA Extension.

Bring your friends along to the Propagation Group’s Autumn Campus Community Plant Sale.

Lots of herbs, succulents and other plants are available for purchase. The sale will be held at the Taxonomic Garden on Thursday 30th and Friday 31st May from noon to 2pm.

Please find below the link for the Taxonomic Garden location: http://www.uwa.edu.au/campus-map?id=1999

Free 50min Concert every Thursday during Semester at 1:10pm

An Inquiring Minds lecture by Oron Catts, Director, SymbioticA, Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, UWA.

In 1906 Jacques Loeb suggested making a living system from dead matter as a way to debunk the vitalists’ ideas and claimed to have demonstrated ‘abiogenesis’. In 2010 Craig Venter announced that he created “the first self-replicating cell we’ve had on the planet whose parent is a computer”, the “Mycoplasma laboratorium” which is commonly known as Synthia. In a sense Venter claimed to bring Loeb’s dream closer to reality. What’s relevant to our story is that one of the main images Venter (or his marketing team) chose for the outing of Synthia was of two round cultures that looked like a blue eyed gaze; a metaphysical image representing the missing eyes of the Golem. These are the first bits of a jigsaw puzzle that will be laid in this talk. Through the notion of Neolifism, this puzzle will explore and Re/De-Contextualise the strange materiality of things and assertions of regenerative and synthetic biology.

Cost:Free, but RSVP essential. Bookings: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/catts

Choral Evensong with the Winthrop Singers. Feat. Mereno's Te Deum; choir member Cardell-Oliver's Nunc Dimittis; Britten's Hymn to St Cecilia.

Callaway Series is unreserved and ticketed at the door. All tickets are $10.00. Doors open 15 minutes prior to the event.

Talk#1 Sensory Trap: Communication and collaboration with honeybees in the ultraviolet

During this talk Adelaide Cohalan will present ideas that she has been working on as part of her proposal for her final year Masters project, Sensory Trap. Sensory Trap intends to explore the subjective colour perception of the honeybee in comparison to the human by attempting to communicate with honeybee workers through ultraviolet paintings. By overlaying several different perceptual filters, she aims to investigate the complexities of perception and deception in communication between human and non-human animals. Overall this project intends to contribute to a body of work that aims to redefine our relationship with our environment and with non-human animals by turning away from an anthropocentric view of the world. This project will be carried out in collaboration with the Centre for Integrated Bee Research at the University of WA.

Adelaide Cohalan is currently undertaking the Master of Biological Arts degree with SymbioticA at the University of Western Australia. She has previously completed a Bachelor of Science (majoring in Zoology) and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (majoring in Painting) at James Cook University in Townsville, North Queensland.

Talk#2 The increasing role of hobbyist and urban beekeepers in the maintenance of honeybee populations.

In the past seven years more than a billion honeybees have died as a result of Colony Collapse Disorder. The health of the honeybee was previously the interest entomologists, evolutionary biologists and beekeepers, but the recent collapse of colonies has created widespread concern. Artists, designers, engineers, filmmakers, popular media and policy makers are increasingly recognizing the role of the honeybees within an ecological, social and cultural context. As a result of this growing awareness, the traditional model of maintaining colonies is changing. Hobbyist and urban beekeeping has dramatically increased in developed countries around the world and offers an alternative model of colony maintenance. Rooftop apiaries are an increasingly popular in cities like London, Melbourne, New York City and Paris. In Switzerland, hobbyists maintain the majority of honeybee populations.

This talk examines the existing model of honeybee maintenance – one in which a small number of beekeepers maintain the majority of hives – and looks at a potential alternative in which a large number of hobbyists and urban apiarists maintain a small number of hives. This model is termed 'crowdkeeping' and takes its cues from Switzerland's success with hobbyist beekeeping. The presentation will also look at potential needs and requirements for hobbyists and urban apiarists. The materials and forms of urban apiaries need not adhere to the traditions of industrial beekeeping. New hive designs have the potential to increase human engagement with bees and emerging technologies such as 3D-printing may assist in the production of hives that fulfill the requirements of hobbyists and urban apiarists.

Devon Ward is a designer, interdisciplinary researcher and a prospective master of biological art at SymbioticA within the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia. He is a graphic designer for the Centre for Integrated Bee Research (CIBER) and a member of the Australian Graphic Design Association. He obtained his bachelor's of fine arts from the University of Florida and has previously worked as a print and web designer. His current research investigates the interface between technology and biology.

Callaway Series is unreserved and ticketed at the door. All tickets are $10.00. Doors open 15 minutes prior to the event.

The Prospective Students Office is providing a guided walking tour of UWA's Crawley Campus on the long weekend (3 June 2013).

These tours are for prospective students (and their parents) who would like to find out more about studying at UWA whilst taking in the beautiful gardens and buildings at the Crawley campus.

The tour finishes at the Admissions Centre & Prospective Students Office where you will be able to collect course brochures.

Tours run for approximately one hour. Please bring a jacket and wet weather gear if necessary.

Callaway Series is unreserved and ticketed at the door. All tickets are $10.00. Doors open 15 minutes prior to the event.

A public lecture by David Simpson, Distinguished Professor of English, UC Davis.

Terror and catastrophe are commonly distinguished as (respectively) man-made and natural phenomena, but there is increasing evidence for seeing them as historically related. There is also a strong case for attempting to devise a theoretical model that takes account of the history of both terms in political and aesthetic discourses. Without such theoretical efforts, we risk remaining the passive consumers of a rhetoric deployed in the service of vested interests.

Cost: Free, but RSVP essential. To register a place http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/simpson