Festival day 3
Friday November 10th: We are already midway through the festival. Also on this day there were many different highlights. In this report you will read all about it.
Invision
Scientists and filmmakers gathered in the Synthon Hall for the expert meeting Invision. Together, these experts collided with issues such as what can visual-artistic thinking mean for scientific practice. The meeting started with a short lecture by Head Art Program CERN Monica Bello. This was followed by a debate on art and science. Invision attracted much interest. The crowd walked in and out, which enabled new visions on the issues at hand. The audience participated actively in the discussions, asked interesting questions, and often offered new perspectives on the subjects. Both the audience and the speakers subsequently indicated that they were inspired by Invision and also gained new insights on the subject.
After the panel talks, The Prediction Machine had its premiere. The film focusses on the research in the lab of perception scientist Floris de Lange. Among other things, the process of active observation sent by forecasts and expectations is explained. After the film performance, De Lange and filmmaker Marleine van der Werf went on to talk to each other and to the audience about the creation of the film. It is expected that next year a scientific film will be made following this edition of Invision. After the drinks, the first rumors about possible collaborations have, in any case, spread out through the crowd.
pre-crime
What if we no longer have to punish crimes but can prevent them? It’s a popular subject, especially in successful Hollywood productions such as Minority Report and Person of Interest. But it’s actually not fiction anymore. The film Pre-crime exposes new police techniques to show how big data analytics are already being used to prevent crimes. But is that so desirable?
After the show and at the Philosophical Café, science philosopher Ton Derksen went deeper into this question. He also added some comments. PredPol, the system that tries to predict where another crime will take place, helps the police to be in the right place at the right time. What many people do not know yet is that similar systems are also being used in the Netherlands. For example, in Amsterdam, there is a Top 600, with the most sought-after criminals. And while the crime rates have deteriorated, it is only the question of whether this list has had something to do with that, as crime rates throughout the country went down.
“Even without that system, we actually already know where to find criminals, and of course it’s always a success. When a crime takes place in an area, the system has made a good forecast. If nothing happens, the police can congratulate themselves because they have prevented a crime, so the system maintains itself.”
Dusk chorus – Based on fragments of extinction
The film Dusk Chorus – Based on Fragments of Extinction had its premiere in The Netherlands during this edition of InScience. The film is a unique nature documentary, because the focus is not on the images of animals and plants in the Amazon, but on the sounds of the environment in which they are located. The film follows eco-acoustic composer David Monachhi while realizing his goal to record the soundscape of the Amazon. Sound has the first priority in this film. And that is noticeable to the public. The sounds are so pure that they almost sound like a kind of symphony.
On Friday, November 10th, cinematographer Alessandro D’Emilia, who participated in the filming process, was present for a Q&A with the audience. D’Emilia said that the purpose of the film was to record the sounds of the Amazon as best as possible, thus creating a sound archive for extinct sounds. D’Emilia explained which recording technologies were best used during the process. The idea of recording sounds directly from nature into 3D sound is a fairly new concept and quite difficult.
Photo © Almicheal Fraay, Kristina Kovalenko & Louise Plate