Karmela Padavic Callaghan

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a group of actors and physicists put together a mash-up of Dante's Inferno, the Nutcracker and a quantum mechanics textbook? And then a Nobel laureate and a bunch of very serious physicists made cameos because it is his 80th birthday? The devised theater piece Quantum Voyages answers that question and many more, including but not limited to the nature of reality itself.

Quantum Voyages is an original performance piece by Smitha Vishveshwara and Latrelle Bright, that premiered at the celebration of the 80th birthday of Sir Anthony J. Leggett. It was later staged two more times and future productions are in the works.

​

For the first two productions of Quantum Voyages, I served as Production Manager and worked closely with actors, authors and technical crew to bring about the show. In addition to having input as a physicist and a creative I coordinated with administrators, facility managers and production sponsors to ensure succesful logistical execution and marketing of the production. Working with such a broad range of professionals and volunteers and encountering many challenges a physicist usually would not have to grapple with pushed me as an organizer and a coordinator and ultimately multiply paid off in the success of the production that surpassed everyone's expectations in its creativity. 

​

The multidisciplinary exhibit Flowing from Quantum to Cosmic at the Krannert Art Museum (KAM) was the culmination of the interdisciplinary course Where the Arts Meet Physics offered in the Spring of 2017. Drawing on all facets of the natural world, its patterns, natural beauty and mysteries not yet explained by science, as well as a broad range of artistic expression the course brought together both physics and arts students at the graduate and undergraduate level and allowed them to create large conceptual pieces of their choosing.

​

As a Teaching Assistant for the course and Exhibit Coordinator I collaborated with faculty members in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Physics and KAM staff to arrange and install the two-week exhibit and advised and supported student artists throughout their work. Seeing their projects progress from an idea in physics they had just learned about to a sull piece displayed in a museum was rather powerful and inspiring.

​

Spiraling into a black hole as a dramatic dance, radioactive atoms as hip hop material, red giants inspiring poetry, curved spacetime represented in light. In 2018, participants of the UIUC Physics's Where the Arts meet Physics course took part in Mayfest at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center and  explored themes of the cosmos and quantum world through multimedia art and short performances.

Having been the Teaching Assistant for the course, I supported students through the development of their pieces and performances through one-on-one meetings centering underlying physics concepts and help with acquiring materials and identifying and contacting collaborators. I also provided logistical support for the event itself, working together with the course instructor and the venue staff.