A new piece in The Conversation from the Ordered Universe team, in the persons of Cate Watkinson, Tom McLeish and Giles Gasper, on our creative collaborations over the last two years, and the on-going exhibition at the National Glass Centre, Illuminating Colour. The article, How we explored medieval theories of colour through glass, emphasises the importance of collaborative discussion in producing something more extraordinary and fulfilling than would be possible in individual research. The exhibition, for example, is another medium for the interpretation for Grosseteste’s works. Both Cate and Colin, who created the pieces in the exhibition brought their own scientific knowledge, artistic vision and skill to the texts we read together, in the same was as the physicists, historians, philosophers, psychologists and engineers, bring their pre-existing interpretative tool-kits. In deciding to collaborate, all contributors acknowledge, and relish, the challenge of different interpretations. In operating around different disciplines we all encounter ideas that seem fixed, that require understanding, and sometimes confrontation, to allow all voices, and the shades of meaning they represent, to be heard. When you go to the exhibition, you will encounter pieces designed with expertise, passion, care, thought and inspiration. But you’ll also be reading Grosseteste.
Photos by Rosie Reed Gold