SY019-09
Consilience - exploring the spaces where the sciences and the arts meet

Tuesday, 8 December 2020: 19:25
Virtual
Louise Arnal, University of Saskatchewan Coldwater Laboratory, Canmore, AB, Canada, Samuel Illingworth, The University of Western Australia, The School of Biological Sciences, Crawley, Australia, Oriana Chegwidden, University of Washington Seattle Campus, Seattle, WA, United States, Caitlyn A Hall, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States and The Consilience Team
Abstract:
Consilience (https://www.consilience-journal.com) is a new, free, and open online journal for people interested in exploring the liminal spaces between the sciences and the arts. It is a platform for people to write poems about science, published in quarterly thematic issues. Each issue contains an “Editor’s Pick” of our favourite four/five poems, accompanied by audio clips of the poets reading their work. We also publish science-inspired visual artworks via our visual arts section ConciliARTe, encouraging submissions that respond to poems in previous issues, the current issue’s theme, or any scientific theme in general.

Consilience launched in February 2020 with the aim to do things a little differently. All poetry and visual art submissions are subjected to a fair and transparent peer review, adopted from the model used in many scientific journals. However, unlike those journals that operate a desk reject policy, we aim to publish all pieces that we receive, providing that they meet our guidelines; thereby offering a platform to artists of all backgrounds, ages, and professions. We currently accept submissions written in Italian, Spanish, French, German, Czech, English, and American Sign Language (the native languages spoken by our editors and reviewers). Furthermore, we want to keep Consilience free for all to address the barriers that payments can present to some audiences in submitting work; we believe that art should be accessible to everyone. Consilience is entirely curated by an international group of 35 volunteers, spanning five continents and 26 local time zones. Through this inclusive platform, we collaborate with artists (both new and experienced) to provide the support that they need to develop their craft and identities.

The theme of the first issue, published in June 2020, is Connectivity. The current (second) issue’s theme is Uncertainty. These are two themes that resonate with many Geosciences fields, and across our society, especially in these times of social distancing and vibrant social movements. We don’t profess that the poems and visual artworks gathered here have all, or even any, of the answers to mending these connections and overcoming these uncertainties, but we hope that in reading, hearing, and seeing them they cause you to think about the possibilities that can occur when two worlds collide.

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