Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space Art and Science Symposium

We hope you can join us!

Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space is a major exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol (24 January-19 April 2026) in partnership with the Royal Astronomical Society.

Curated by visual artist, Ione Parkin RWA, the exhibition will bring together a body of work by over 30 contemporary artists alongside loan items from public collections. The artists are inspired by themes of astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics, planetary science, space-exploration, solar dynamics and celestial mechanics.

This celebratory art-science symposium includes talks by astronomers, archivists and a selection of the exhibiting artists.

The exhibition catalogue (published by Sansom & Company) contains a Foreword by Professor Chris Lintott (University of Oxford; Co-presenter of Sky At Night), essays by Professor Amaury Triaud (University of Birmingham), Dr Sian Prosser (RAS Librarian) and Ione Parkin RWA. The catalogue is available through the RWA website and at the event.

Symposium Schedule:

Symposium Speakers:

Introduction to RAS/partnership with Cosmos exhibition:

Professor Mike Lockwood, the current President of the Royal Astronomical Society, has had a distinguished career spanning over 45 years. He has studied solar-terrestrial interactions at institutions such as Exeter, Auckland, Southampton, and Reading universities, as well as at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre, and the Space Science Department of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. With over 450 published scientific papers on space physics, Mike is also a fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society.

Ren Renwick, Director of the RWA
Royal West of England Academy: A Lifelong Journey with Art

Founded in 1844 by pioneering artist Ellen Sharples, the RWA is Bristol’s first art gallery and England’s only regional Royal Academy. Today, we champion excellence, ambition and inclusion, creating opportunities for everyone to connect with art. As we prepared for Cosmos, we sought to highlight how art creates conversations that unite disciplines, from astronomy to everyday life.

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Ione Parkin RWA

Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space

Visual artist, Ione Parkin RWA, will share insights into the broader themes of the current Cosmos exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy (Bristol), both as curator and contributing artist.

Parkin’s work is informed by her on-going dialogue with space researchers as co-founder of the Creativity and Curiosity project (www.creativityandcuriosity.com). She considers the nature of interdisciplinarity within the practice of visual thinking, and her engagement with scientists has influenced a new body of work on show at the Cosmos exhibition. Her creative practice explores materiality and atmospherics, contemplating time and space and our place within it.

Ione Parkin RWA is a painter, printmaker and the curator of ‘Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space’. She co-leads the international art–astronomy project, Creativity and Curiosity (C&C), which has received funding from the Royal Astronomical Society, Arts Council England and the Scottish Institute of Physics. She is a Visiting Honorary Fellow, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester. She has co-curated C&C exhibitions in Berlin, Glasgow, Leicester and the Isle of Lewis. Since 1990 Parkin has exhibited nationally and internationally and her work is included in numerous private, corporate and public collections.

https://ioneparkin.com/about

The Royal Astronomical Society Archive
Dr Sian Prosser

The Royal Astronomical Society has been collecting books, manuscripts and other works since it was founded in 1820. Sian Prosser will introduce the collections and focus on works loaned to the Cosmos exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy. Drawings and illustrations by John Russell, James Nasmyth and other astronomers whose work has contributed to astronomy’s visual culture will be discussed from a scientific, historical and artistic perspective.

Sian Prosser manages the library and archives of the Royal Astronomical Society, making them accessible to researchers and working with colleagues to use them in outreach and education activities. She promotes the history of astronomy and of the people who created and used the RAS collections. After a PhD on medieval manuscripts, she qualified as a librarian and has completed the Certificate in Astronomy at University College London. She is Treasurer of the Historic Libraries Forum.

Measuring the Heavens: a collaboration in book form

Kate Bernstein

In 2018 book artist Kate Bernstein joined Creativity and Curiosity on a visit to the Royal Astronomical Society Library. Introduced to the collection by librarian Sian Prosser and funded by the Arts Council, Bernstein undertook a body of work which culminated, in collaboration with Dr Prosser, in Measuring the Heavens, a celebration in book form of early printers, astronomers and the RAS Library.

Kate Bernstein studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths and has an MA in Medieval Studies (University of Bristol) and an MA in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking (University of the West of England, Bristol). She has exhibited widely, and her work is held in public and private collections including: the Bodleian Library Oxford; Trinity Library Cambridge; Centre for Fine Print Research Bristol; Royal Astronomical Society London; Baylor University Library USA. Bernstein takes part in collaborative projects and teaches Book Arts.

https://www.katebernsteinbookartist.co.uk/

An imperfect account of a comet

Lynda Laird

Lynda Laird will speak about her installation An Imperfect Account of a Comet, inspired by the celestial discoveries of 18th-century astronomer Caroline Herschel. Developed during her artist residency with the Royal Astronomical Society, the work reflects on the intersections of art and science, while illuminating Herschel’s groundbreaking yet often overlooked contributions to the history of astronomy.

Lynda Laird is a multidisciplinary photographic artist whose work interweaves research, archival material, photography, moving image and sound. Her practice often explores the intersections of science, history and the natural world. Residencies include: Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, Kent, developing a body of work on the endangered Sussex Emerald moth; the Royal Astronomical Society, focusing on the celestial discoveries of eighteenth-century astronomer Caroline Herschel. Laird regularly exhibits her work across the UK and teaches as an Associate Lecturer on the MA in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at London College of Communication.

https://www.lyndalaird.com/

Colliding image worlds: Translating the scientific image through drawing.

Dr Johanna Love

Johanna Love will discuss her interests in working collaboratively across art and science to explore the material power of dust. She explores how scientific imaging technologies reveal the world through images that are unlike everyday human perception. Dr Love has examined dust particles from the Bennu asteroid in collaboration with Dr Alex Ball (Natural History Museum), producing meticulous drawings and laser etchings for the Cosmos exhibition.

Johanna Love is an artist, academic and researcher. She is currently Pathway Leader for the MA in Printmaking at Camberwell College of Art, and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art Printmaking at the University of Brighton. Recent exhibitions include: ‘For Want of (Not) Measuring’, Project 78 Gallery/Solaris, St Leonards-on-Sea, UK; ‘Planetary Scale’, Filet Gallery, London; ‘Zeichenen im Garten auf unendilichen zeit’, Kloster Bentlage, Rheine, Germany. Recent awards include: international scholarship for excellence in printmaking, Förderverein Kloster Bentlage, Germany; Tallinn International Drawing Triennial, Estonia; Münchner Künstlerhaus-Stiftung, Germany.

https://www.johannalove.co.uk/

Unconformity

Annie Cattrell RSA
Cattrell will explore how her work is informed by deep time as understood through the work of James Hutton 'the father of modern geology'. Hutton proposed the term Unconformity and at Glen Tilt noted: ‘that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end’. Additionally, Cattrell will include work made during a recent residency at Corning Museum of Glass in the USA. Corning Inc contributed to the design and development of the convex mirror for the recently completed Vera. C. Ruben Observatory in Chile.

Annie Cattrell RSA FRSS was born in Glasgow and studied at Glasgow School of Art, University of Ulster and the Royal College of Art. Exhibitions include: Pier Art Centre; the Faraday Museum; Mori Museum, Tokyo; Victoria and Albert Museum; National Museum Stockholm. Large-scale public commissions in Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford Universities. She is Lead Artist at University College London and a Tutor at the RCA. Fellowships/residencies: Camden Art Centre; Australian National University; the Royal Institution of Great Britain; Oxford University; British School at Rome; the Rakow Library at Corning Museum.

https://sculptors.org.uk/artists/annie-cattrell

Revealing the Unseen

Susan Eyre

Susan Eyre shares her fascination with cosmological phenomena, such as space weather and magnetic fields, in a talk about how we might relate the human experience, with our limited sensory capacity, to the complex entanglement of the vast and unfathomable universe that we inhabit.

Susan Eyre creates work to encourage a sense of wonder in and awareness of an entangled and interconnected universe. She has collaborated on projects alongside academics, astro-physicists, the UK High Altitude Society and Imperial College Space Society, and also led a touring programme inspired by visiting Boulby Underground Laboratory dark-matter research facility. Exhibitions include: ‘The Geological Unconscious’, Hypha HQ gallery, Euston; ‘CARBON: Under Pressure’, Glasgow University/Science Gallery Bengaluru; [longlisted] Aesthetica Art Prize 2024, York Art Gallery; ‘The Stone Sky’, Thames-Side Studios Gallery.

https://www.susaneyre.co.uk/

Moon Rising in Daylight

Christopher Le Brun PPRA, Hon RWA

Whether or not it is identified as the moon, the image of a planet or disc has always been a significant motif in my work. At night our eyes are irresistibly drawn towards it, but by day, we must actively look. The title of this talk is intended as a metaphor concerning the subject of art.

Christopher Le Brun PPRA Hon RWA is one of the leading painters of his generation and an instrumental public figure in his role as President of the Royal Academy of Arts, 2011–19. He is an Honorary Royal West of England Academician. Le Brun has served as Trustee of major British institutions and was a founding Trustee of the Royal Drawing School. He was awarded a Knighthood (Knight Bachelor) for services to the Arts in the 2021 New Year Honours. His work can be found in the collections of Tate, the Whitworth, Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

https://www.christopherlebrun.co.uk/

Architecture of enquiry

Ian Chamberlain RWA, RE

I will discuss how I use drawing and print to record architectural structures of symbolic and technological value and how this has led to the development of a body of work titled Architecture of Enquiry. I will expand on how further research at the Royal Astronomical Society archive has been used to inform works based on The Royal Observatory Greenwich and The Observatory Science Centre in Herstmonceux.

Ian Chamberlain RWA RE is a Senior Lecturer on the MA Fine Art Printmaking and Researcher at the University of the West of England. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and was awarded the Flourish Printmaking Award in 2024. His work is held in public collections including: the Victoria and Albert Museum; Tate Modern; Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; Royal West of England Academy (RWA); Pallant House Gallery; the University of Chichester; the Ashmolean; Chippenham Museum.

For more information on my work please use the links below:
instagram.com/ianchamberlainartist

www.ichamberlain.co.uk

https://www.interaliamag.org/audiovisual/ian-chamberlain-structures-of-communication/

Earth, a Cosmic Spectacle

Louise Beer
Louise Beer will discuss her ongoing project exploring the cosmic significance of life on Earth, and the climate crisis. Through photography, sound, and writings from astronomers, geologists, biologists and community groups, she considers how light pollution may erode our awareness of deep time, and how it may reshape our understanding of the fragility and the wonder of all life on Earth.

Louise Beer has an MA in Art and Science, Central Saint Martins, and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Middlesex University. Recent highlights include: Delfina x Gaia Art Foundation UK Associateship (2020); ACE DYCP Grant (2021, 2023); Amant Siena Residency (2021); Rubin Observatory Kickstarter Grant (2022); Derby Cathedral and FORMAT23 Photography Festival (2023); GRAIN Projects (2023); Dark Skies: Places, Practices, Communities book (2023); British Council (2024); LaunchPad Lab Residency (2024); ORT Gallery Residency (2024); Artist in Residence Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge (2025–26).

https://www.louisebeer.com/

Worlding the Heavens

Gillian McFarland SSA

Artist Gillian McFarland will share new work created for the Cosmos exhibition, emerging from the interdisciplinary project, Creativity and Curiosity. McFarland considers the craft of the maker, materiality and how objects are defined through process; the dwell time of creative engagement and how we map understandings of ourselves onto place and across time; and climate concerns focusing on our relationship to the universe.

Creativity and Curiosity is an interdisciplinary collaboration co-founded by artists Gillian Adair McFarland SSA and Ione Parkin RWA.

https://www.creativityandcuriosity.com/

Gillian Adair McFarland is a visual artist and researcher with a collaborative practice. She is co-founder and co-lead artist on the art-science project Creativity and Curiosity. A graduate of Central Saint Martins (London), McFarland has been involved in a range of interdisciplinary research projects collaborating with art therapists, artists, astronomers, geneticists and social scientists. She is an elected professional member of the Society of Scottish Artists and Visual Arts Scotland, and a member of Council. She works from her studio in rural Fife.

https://gillianadair.co.uk/

Bringing exoplanet research to art venues

Professor Amaury Triaud, University of Birmingham

Most research papers remove the human from the research. However, the hope of discovering an important clue to a physical process is subjective behaviour. Meanwhile, the public is fascinated by new discoveries but does not always have the language to understand them. In both instances, Art is an effective medium, for researchers to convey their motivation, for the public to appreciate that Science too is a creative process as well as a valuable component of culture.

(The illustration is by artist, Amanda Smith)

Amaury Triaud, Professor of Exoplanetology at the University of Birmingham, is an expert in the field of exoplanet detection and characterisation. Exoplanets are planets that orbit around stars other than the Sun. Triaud has engaged in regular collaborations with artists throughout his career – spanning literature, music, dance and the visual arts – and is a key collaborating astronomer with Ione Parkin and Gillian McFarland’s Creativity and Curiosity project. He holds a strong conviction that artistic and scientific practices are two complementary means to explore and make sense of the world around us. Thanks to collaborations with artists, he hopes that society will become more scientifically literate and appreciative of science as an integral part of culture.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/physics/triaud-amaury