Audio: Readings by the author
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Star Struck:
1962, aged four: I sat in a small transit van driven by Roy White, a warm-hearted Caribbean painter and decorator and family friend. We were travelling through Dartmoor during the hours of darkness in the vicinity of Tavistock where my parents, having moved from London, had recently set up home. At some point during our journey my companion glanced up at the night sky and exclaimed:
‘Look Aidan! Look up at the stars!’
I gazed skyward and was immediately entranced, awed by the dazzling beauty of starlight, witnessed for the very first-time.
I deluged Roy with a series of ‘whys?’ His patient answers awakened a wide-eyed child’s imagination and triggered a lifelong quest to understand our place amongst the stars. Roy switched on the radio and was thrilled to find he’d tuned directly into the unforgettable sound of The Tornado’s newly released 45rpm single ‘Telstar’. It was explained that the music had a connection with our conversation and the sparkling diamonds in the sky, and I experienced yet another first, synchronicity.
During my career I have strived to exploit media and mediums that most effectively lend themselves to the conveyance of the ideas I wish to communicate; as a consequence, I have utilised an eclectic mix of creative devises and disciplines - making, writing, film, photography, music, puppetry, exhibitions, performance, public speaking, public art, publishing and activism.
In 2005, responding to my Encounter on the village green, I sketched onto paper an idea I called StarDisc - a 21st century stone circle. The name emulates the oldest known accurate picture of the night sky in history, the Nebra Star Disc, a Bronze Age plate inlaid with gold about the size of a vinyl LP, discovered in Germany in 1999, which archaeologists believe to be an astronomical instrument with religious significance dated to around 1600 BC.
My objective was to create a 40ft diameter illuminated star chart carved into black granite; a Celestial Amphitheatre that would inspire and instil wonderment. In 2008, having identified the ideal site in my hometown of Wirksworth in the Derbyshire Dales, I intensified efforts to bring StarDisc into the world and set about gaining the necessary permissions, harnessing support, seeking partners, and developing a fundraising campaign.
In 2011 with Arts Council England and Lottery funding, plus additional contributions from family, friends, colleagues and supporters, StarDisc was actualised. During construction, my brothers and I scattered our mother's ashes into the foundations. The launch celebration was accompanied by an under the stars screening of Steven Spielberg’s classic film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
StarDisc draws on our ancient lineage, crossing cultural boundaries it combines sacred space and futuristic vision, inviting people from all walks of life to gather, contemplate and connect with whatever resides beyond the sphere of our planet.
Science is serious about the search for Extraterrestrial life. SETI [acronym: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence], is an organisation that was established to do precisely this. SETI was founded in 1984 with U.S. government backing. The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the Universe. One of its many activities is to analyse radio signals that might indicate signs of life beyond Earth. From the outset my intention was that StarDisc would share these aims; that it would facilitate transmission/reception based on the premise that each and every one of us transmits and receives as matter of course and that we need only focus our minds and project our thoughts into deep space to connect with the infinite. One can think of StarDisc as a radio telescope dish broadcasting brainwaves rather than radio waves. It has been said that thought travels faster than the speed of light - the wings on which prayers and wishes are carried.
In addition, I wanted StarDisc to be used as a platform from which to interact with UFOs and occupants, (now referred to as ‘UAP’ - Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).
Since its launch, I have attempted to establish new StarDiscs, and while my efforts, and those of my collaborators, have not yet yielded further commissions, we continue to innovate creative ways to manifest our shared vision - an earth-bound constellation of StarDiscs.
At the heart of this artistic endeavour is a threefold ethos:
■ Champion the unification of art, science and spirituality.
■ Celebrate diversity, common humanity and shared cultural heritage.
■ Cherish our home planet, the gift of life and our place amongst the stars.
In a world of conflict, chaos and confusion, there is an imperative to embrace those opportunities which unite people. StarDisc offers a non-religiously or politically divisive meeting place that accepts everyone and excludes no one. A Temple Without Walls roofed by the sky, where religion and secularism are both equally and simultaneously relevant and irrelevant, where what unites us is our individuality, diversity and shared humanity, where we can speculate about the great unknown, be open to the unexpected, and just perhaps, encounter the extraordinary.
1962, aged four: I sat in a small transit van driven by Roy White, a warm-hearted Caribbean painter and decorator and family friend. We were travelling through Dartmoor during the hours of darkness in the vicinity of Tavistock where my parents, having moved from London, had recently set up home. At some point during our journey my companion glanced up at the night sky and exclaimed:
‘Look Aidan! Look up at the stars!’
I gazed skyward and was immediately entranced, awed by the dazzling beauty of starlight, witnessed for the very first-time.
I deluged Roy with a series of ‘whys?’ His patient answers awakened a wide-eyed child’s imagination and triggered a lifelong quest to understand our place amongst the stars. Roy switched on the radio and was thrilled to find he’d tuned directly into the unforgettable sound of The Tornado’s newly released 45rpm single ‘Telstar’. It was explained that the music had a connection with our conversation and the sparkling diamonds in the sky, and I experienced yet another first, synchronicity.
During my career I have strived to exploit media and mediums that most effectively lend themselves to the conveyance of the ideas I wish to communicate; as a consequence, I have utilised an eclectic mix of creative devises and disciplines - making, writing, film, photography, music, puppetry, exhibitions, performance, public speaking, public art, publishing and activism.
In 2005, responding to my Encounter on the village green, I sketched onto paper an idea I called StarDisc - a 21st century stone circle. The name emulates the oldest known accurate picture of the night sky in history, the Nebra Star Disc, a Bronze Age plate inlaid with gold about the size of a vinyl LP, discovered in Germany in 1999, which archaeologists believe to be an astronomical instrument with religious significance dated to around 1600 BC.
My objective was to create a 40ft diameter illuminated star chart carved into black granite; a Celestial Amphitheatre that would inspire and instil wonderment. In 2008, having identified the ideal site in my hometown of Wirksworth in the Derbyshire Dales, I intensified efforts to bring StarDisc into the world and set about gaining the necessary permissions, harnessing support, seeking partners, and developing a fundraising campaign.
In 2011 with Arts Council England and Lottery funding, plus additional contributions from family, friends, colleagues and supporters, StarDisc was actualised. During construction, my brothers and I scattered our mother's ashes into the foundations. The launch celebration was accompanied by an under the stars screening of Steven Spielberg’s classic film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
StarDisc draws on our ancient lineage, crossing cultural boundaries it combines sacred space and futuristic vision, inviting people from all walks of life to gather, contemplate and connect with whatever resides beyond the sphere of our planet.
Science is serious about the search for Extraterrestrial life. SETI [acronym: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence], is an organisation that was established to do precisely this. SETI was founded in 1984 with U.S. government backing. The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the Universe. One of its many activities is to analyse radio signals that might indicate signs of life beyond Earth. From the outset my intention was that StarDisc would share these aims; that it would facilitate transmission/reception based on the premise that each and every one of us transmits and receives as matter of course and that we need only focus our minds and project our thoughts into deep space to connect with the infinite. One can think of StarDisc as a radio telescope dish broadcasting brainwaves rather than radio waves. It has been said that thought travels faster than the speed of light - the wings on which prayers and wishes are carried.
In addition, I wanted StarDisc to be used as a platform from which to interact with UFOs and occupants, (now referred to as ‘UAP’ - Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).
Since its launch, I have attempted to establish new StarDiscs, and while my efforts, and those of my collaborators, have not yet yielded further commissions, we continue to innovate creative ways to manifest our shared vision - an earth-bound constellation of StarDiscs.
At the heart of this artistic endeavour is a threefold ethos:
■ Champion the unification of art, science and spirituality.
■ Celebrate diversity, common humanity and shared cultural heritage.
■ Cherish our home planet, the gift of life and our place amongst the stars.
In a world of conflict, chaos and confusion, there is an imperative to embrace those opportunities which unite people. StarDisc offers a non-religiously or politically divisive meeting place that accepts everyone and excludes no one. A Temple Without Walls roofed by the sky, where religion and secularism are both equally and simultaneously relevant and irrelevant, where what unites us is our individuality, diversity and shared humanity, where we can speculate about the great unknown, be open to the unexpected, and just perhaps, encounter the extraordinary.