Abstract
Sue Bowler takes her seat at The Flowering Desert, an opera inspired by a system of exoplanets, performed in the rarefied atmosphere of a planetarium
Perhaps it's the combination of spectacular images and a comfortable, enclosed space, but there's something about a planetarium show that can open your mind to new ideas. Now add live action, musical performance and operatic storytelling and you have some idea of what The Flowering Desert offers. This immersive presentation at Thinktank Planetarium in Birmingham was devised by Infinite Opera in collaboration with Amaury Triaud of the department of astrophysics at the University of Birmingham, and it offers a strikingly stylised take on exoplanets.
“Since my PhD I have been working with artists,” said Triaud. “It started with writers and filmmakers and then visual artists, dancers; this was a chance to work with musicians. When I was last at the Hebridean Dark Skies Festival in Stornoway, I witnessed one of the most beautiful performances of my life, by Karine Polwart, a very skillful and engaging mix of music, science, personal experience, song and storytelling, to a sold-out concert room. Most of the people in the audience did not come because they wanted to hear about nucleosynthesis and supernovae, but because she produced a show, and they wanted to be wowed and entertained. The public did not come in similar droves to talks by astronomers that also took place during that festival.”
The Flowering Desert is inspired by the recently-discovered TRAPPIST-1 exoplanet system, seven rocky planets orbiting a cool star, all of which could have liquid water at the surface. The first three planets in the system were discovered in 2016 with the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) in Chile, and further observations of the system revealed seven in all. Triaud was part of the team that discovered the system; he also had a longstanding interest in collaborations between artists and scientists. “TRAPPIST-1 has seven planets; the ratios of their orbital periods produce ratios of integers. This means that as the planets transit their star, there is a natural rhythm that appears,” said Triaud. “In addition, thanks to these integer ratios, ratios of frequencies can be made, and those are chords. This was something I noticed while I was preparing our graphs for publication, but I did not have a clue about how these could be translated into a performance and a piece worth listening to.”
Enter the opera
This is where the Infinite Opera team, librettist Roxanne Korda and composer Daniel Blanco Albert, came in. “The Flowering Desert aimed to develop the connections between art and science that we explored in our physics dissemination opera, Entanglement! An Entropic Tale. But naturally, this project also drew from other previous works such as Besse, in which we built an interest in using alternative spaces in a tailored manner. These combined ideas resulted in this 180° operatic spheric immersive experience designed specifically to be performed in planetariums.
“I showed them how the system itself was playing music but we also talked about many aspects of TRAPPIST-1, tides, atmospheric conditions, hopes for the future about studying alien climates, the search for life, what it would be like there, the type of star they orbit, its flares etc.,” continued Triaud. “In addition, I described how observations take place. The telescope we used for the discovery is robotic, but is located in an observatory, La Silla, where I've lived for more than a year, all observing runs combined. They loved the idea that from one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, we attempt to detect the most hospitable places in the universe. The observatory's monastic-style life, and the description of the blooming flowers that paint the desert from time to time were central in creating the drama of this opera.”
Story-telling is at the heart of the production. There is an astronomer figure, the Measurer, alongside the characters Pantele, the planet, Xoe, the comet, and the Mother Star, a powerful, all-embracing presence. “In order to convey the nuances of a subject to an audience I have chosen to look through the lens of a storyteller, searching for archetypal human characteristics which can be seen reflected in the theories and discoveries of science,” said Korda.
The Infinite Opera team see some specific advantages in their artform for introducing scientific ideas. “We wanted to work in a more interactive collaborative manner with scientists in the creation of this piece. We also explored a dual narrative, focusing on both the experience of the scientist and the planetary system, tackling the meaning of the search for life outside of our specific mindset – all very operatic.
“When an audience attends the opera, they are already expecting something unusual or impossible to happen. Characters constantly sing on stage; we think it is equally absurd, but also exciting, to have an object or an idea singing and acting. Many characters in opera are representations of ideals or archetypes, especially in those operas inspired directly by mythology, where gods may represent an idea or an emotion.”
Staging an opera in a planetarium is not straightforward, largely because of the nature of the space. “A planetarium is a venue with many particularities that are tackled in a very different manner to traditional venues,” noted Daniel Blanco Albert. “Lighting is an issue: you need to see to perform, but you also need to avoid compromising the visuals if you bring too much light. It also has specific acoustic properties that you need to use in order to achieve your desired effect. The immersive experience in the planetarium is truly unique, making the audience feel like they are in a different world, a different universe.”
The whole performance benefitted from being in that enclosed, immersive planetarium setting, with images and music that encouraged wonder and wondering. Striking illustrations created by Leon Trimble flooded across the dome, subtly underpinning and enhancing the extraordinary transformation that is at the heart of the show. Although Triaud gave a short presentation about science aspects of the TRAPPIST-1 system before the performance, The Flowering Desert embodies a different approach to outreach. “Every time I've worked with artists, the interactions have been different, but every time too, I try to avoid suggesting ideas that are too precise and let artists join the dots they wish to join,” said Triaud. “I loved talking with the performers during the early rehearsal and finding their interest in the topic behind the piece and I loved the show. To see one's hopes and work interpreted by someone else, and transposed into a work of art is really motivating, and humbling too.”
Born in Birmingham
The Flowering Desert owes its existence in large part to the cultural environment in Birmingham. “For the past few years, the number of interactions between artists and physical scientists has been increasing, driven by an increasingly engaged generation of artists, who have realised science is part of our society and is worth exploring,” noted Triaud. “Scientists are in on it too, and have found that connection worth exploring. During the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in the summer of 2022, the University was part of the Cultural Programme, and requested suggestions from its academic staff. It received more suggestions from our College of Engineering and Physical Sciences than all other faculties and colleges combined, and that included the College of Arts. I really like that this show could take place in Birmingham, involving the conservatoire, local artists, and a local researcher,” he continued. “Birmingham is not a city associated with the avant-garde. I'd give a shout out to Colin Hutcheson, director of Birmingham Planetarium, which is part of the Thinktank, Birmingham's Museum of Science, for taking Dani and Roxanne's suggestion on board, and really working with them in producing their artistic expression.”
“There is a desire to do things differently in Birmingham and we can see that the motto ‘Forward’ really applies here in the arts,” notes the Infinite Opera team. “Having the space to experiment with different venues and subject matters, finding new niches and audiences, has allowed us to learn about our own creative processes and to keep innovating and exploring.”
“Artistic performance is the right way to engage audiences with science, sometimes about very complex topics,” agreed Triaud, “and I am so glad Infinite Opera gave me a chance to experience that first-hand. This is certainly something I will seek out to do again.”
The Infinite Opera team pictured inside the dome after the performance
AUTHOR
Sue Bowler, A&G Editor, experienced The Flowering Desert by kind invitation of Amaury Triaud, Professor of Exoplanetology at the University of Birmingham and the Infinite Opera team.
The Flowering Desert is an opera in two acts produced by Infinite Opera (infiniteopera.com) with the support of the University of Birmingham, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Thinktank Planetarium and Midlands4Cities.
Music, Daniel Blanco Albert; Libretto, Roxanne Korda: Projections, Leon Trimble; Planetarium Lead, Colin Hutcheson; Movement Direction and Costumes, Alexander Kaniewski; Designs: Amy Bradley, Niambi Robinson and Yuan Wang.
