Arts and Culture Collaboration
CIRA’s collaborations in the arts and culture play an important role in translating the world of radio astronomy to a wider audience and giving back to community.
Yamaji Art
Since 2009, radio astronomers from Curtin Unviersity and Aboriginal artists from Yamaji Art have fostered a deep collaborative relationship, motivated by their mutual connections with the night sky. Through the media of visual and performing arts depicting the night sky, astronomy has provided the basis for cross-cultural story-telling, perspective sharing, and education, all in the spirit of the principles of Reconciliation. Learn more
This relationship was born out of CIRA’s construction and operation of the MWA telescope on Wajarri Yamaji Country. To mark the 10-year Anniversary of MWA Operations in July 2023, Yamaji Art Manger, Roni Kerley, presented the MWA Collaboration with 3D models of telescope ‘beam patterns’ which had been painted by Yamaji artists, Margaret Whitehurst, Roni Kerley and Lily-Mae Kerley.
About the Beam Patterns
The 3D models are of simulated beam patterns of the MWA telescope and the SKA-Low, created by ICRAR-Curtin research engineers Daniel Ung and Dr Maria Kovaleva. Each telescope is electronically steered to capture signals from different directions. These models illustrate the effect of each telescope pointing at zenith: the tallest centre beam of each illustrates mirrors the most sensitive part of the antenna tile (or station, in the case of SKA-Low).
Impact of our work
Star Dreaming
Star Dreaming is an immersive, 180-degree dome cinema/planetarium experience, exploring Indigenous sky stories as seen through the eyes of Yamaji artists, and the science behind them, with the assistance of the world’s largest radio telescope – the SKA – located on the land of the Yamaji people. Star Dreaming is a collaboration between Curtin University, ICRAR, Yamaji Art, Prospero Productions, and Last Pixel.
Ilgarijiri – Things Belonging to the Sky
ICRAR-Curtin’s Indigenous art projects have brought the work of WA artists to gallery walls in Berlin, Brussels, Cape Town, Genoa, Manchester, The Hague and Washington DC. It’s just one of the ways that CIRA works to support local communities and has seen Aboriginal culture —arguably that of the world’s first astronomers— showcased on the global stage.
Lucy in the Sky with Debris
Lucy in the Sky with Debris is an interdisciplinary research and visual art project investigating the visibility of orbital debris. Artist, Isabella Ong, enjoyed a Residency at CIRA to support her project research, where she met with astrophysicists, space scientists, and engineers. Isabella drew inspiration from the dark skies at the site of the MWA and from her conversations with Yamaji artists. Lucy in the Sky with Debris exhibited Errant Stars in Singapore in April 2024.