Journey of the Universe is an award-winning one hour documentary film and education project produced by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim from Yale University. Uniting cosmology, astronomy, astrobiology and evolutionary theory, It narrates the story of the universe from the Big Bang to the present day in a visual, poetic and evocative manner. The film seeks to give the viewer a sense of wonder at the cosmic history that has enabled life on earth to develop, and a sense of responsibility toward all forms of life in the face of environmental devastation and climate change. The film will be shown in the IB auditorium on Thursday October 10, starting at 7pm, and there will be a Q and A with the film-makers afterwards.
Preceding the film will be the first world-premiere mass participation art project at DKU. Designed by student researchers in the Planetary Ethics and Artificial Intelligence Lab (PETAL) of the Humanities Research Center, and led by DKU sophomores Rudy Lu and Ryan Trombly, the art work will trace seven stages of the story of the universe, from the Big Bang to the present day, in the form of the constellation of the Big Dipper mapped out on the inner campus of DKU.
For this art project to occur, we need approximately two hundred DKU students, with their phone or other flashlights to process through the campus of DKU from the Student Residence Hall, via the Water Pavilion and the Conference Center to the Innovation Building. The phone-light procession will symbolize the unity of the DKU community with the guiding presence of the Big Dipper and with the 14 billion years of cosmic evolution that have brought us together to this place. The art project will be filmed by eight cameras and a drone that will capture the formation of the Big Dipper constellation on the DKU campus.
The Big Dipper, known in Chinese as the seven stars of the northern dipper (Beidou qixing 北斗七星) has great significance in Chinese culture and science. Beidou points towards Polaris, the northern point around which the heavens were thought to rotate. In Chinese mythology, the personification of the dipper is known as Doumu 斗姆, or Mother of the Dipper, an important goddess in Daoist religion. In modern China, Beidou is the name of the Chinese GPS system that was the life’s work of former DKU Chancellor Liu Jingnan. Through history, culture, mythology and science Beidou continues to provide orientation and meaning for human beings within a universe of immense possibility.
To participate in the art project, register online, and bring your phone or other flashlight to the student residence halls at 615pm on Thursday, October 10.
