“The mandate for great and difficult achievement is manifest in the science of sustainability and climate change. Yet information alone has not taken us far enough, nor will it; emotion, as well as intellect, is needed. It is science and art together — the synergy of these two great human enterprises — that can compel a more powerful response by creating both intellectual and emotional clarity.” ––Dr. Robert Davies
The Crossroads Project is a response to this reality, grounded in science, elevated by art, in the service of genuine understanding, and determined to unlock a growing desire for meaningful response. The Project brings together physicist Robert Davies of Utah State University, the Fry Street Quartet, composer Laura Kaminsky, painter Rebecca Allan, photographer Garth Lenz, and sculptor Lyman Whitaker.
The performance begins with an exploration of the enterprise of science itself. Through this lens, the performance then examines what we understand about the Earth system, the fundamentally unsustainable societal structures embedded within this system, what we’ve learned about successfully transforming these structures, and the progress that we’ve made. Punctuating these scientific vignettes, the music of Haydn, Janáček, and New York-based composer Laura Kaminsky, performed by the Fry Street Quartet, provides space for visceral experience, making tangible — and personal — the message of the science. Kaminsky’s work, Rising Tide, was commissioned especially for this performance, and is organized around four movements: H O, Bios, Forage, and Societas. Intensifying the experience, evocative images by painter Rebecca Allan, photographer Garth Lenz, and sculptor Lyman Whitaker, chosen to emphasize the scientific and musical themes, appear throughout the performance. Through this layering of scientific, musical, and visual elements the performers seek to take the audience from intellectual understanding to visceral experience, to courage and resolve.
Learn more about the Crossroads Project and read Bud Ward’s report for Yale’s Climate Connection.
The views and opinions expressed through the MAHB Website are those of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect an official position of the MAHB. The MAHB aims to share a range of perspectives and welcomes the discussions that they prompt.