June 2014: Contribute to “Sky Scrolls” project

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From the website hereSky-Scrolls-Image-Bar2

SKY SCROLLS

Looking up on a clear and dark night the brilliant lights of our visible Universe reveal themselves. The vast territory of the night sky becomes a mesmerizing field of seemingly infinite luminosity and motion. The abundant array of stars, planets, galaxies and nebulae has been a wellspring of inspiration and meaning since we made our first mark on a cave wall. Unexpected astronomical phenomena—a meteor shower, scintillating auroras and the streak of a radiant comet—have written enduring messages upon human minds and souls across time. Looking up at the night sky has sparked awe and wonder, given rise to worldviews and cosmologies, motivated art and architecture, and awakened philosophy and science.

Yet our dark night sky is in peril from increasing artificial light pollution, and many urban environments are veiled entirely from a view of the night sky. As a global culture and a creative species, if we lack a view of our Universe, a view that has connected us with a sense of awe and left an imprint of wonder on our souls, what part of us wanes?

Sky Scrolls is an artwork that intends to chronicle our personal and heartfelt experiences under the night sky. Throughout each of our lives there are moments which are marked indelibly by an experience under the night sky—a moment of profound significance, however fleeting, that connects us in some way to an expanded understanding or feeling. Your experience of the night sky tells a poignant story, and links you to many others around the world and across time.

To participate in Sky Scrolls, write down your night sky story in your native language in the space provided below, including any details that will help us visualize your experience vividly. Fill in the requested contact info and then submit your story! Please feel free to submit more than one night sky story. The hope is to gather 1000 stories by the autumn of 2014, at which point more will be revealed…

Enter your story on the webpage

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Dr Jill Stuart is an academic based at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is an expert in the politics, ethics and law of outer space exploration and exploitation. She is a frequent presence in the global media (print, radio, television, documentary) and regularly gives lectures around the world. From 2013-2017 she was Editor in Chief of the Elsevier journal Space Policy where she remains on the Editorial Board. She is also on the Board of Advisors of METI International, conducting scientific research into messaging potential extraterrestrial intelligence. She is one of an elite number of people to be endorsed by the UK Home Office as an Exceptional Talent Migrant/ World Leader in her Field. In 2015 she was awarded the prestigious Margaret Mead Award Lecture by the British Science Association in recognition of her cutting edge research. She is trained in both domestic and international mediation and has done consultancy work for the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. She has a sub-specialism in women, peace and security and gender based violence. She is a Trustee of Luton All Women’s Centre.

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