The Crossroads Project is a breathtaking stage presentation where art meets environmental activism to create a truly interdisciplinary view of the critical issue of climate change. The performance examines one of the most important conversations of our time—a contemplation of the paths before us, and the power we hold within ourselves to set a new path. At the center of Crossroads is its music, performed live by a quartet of classical musicians. The Project combines musical performance and the spoken word with scientific visualizations and art as it presents an evocative and powerful perspective on climate science.
In a feature story in NPR’s “All Things Considered,” physicist Robert Davies, the founder of the Crossroads Project, described why he started this important endeavor. As a scientist, he said he was taken aback by “the broad gap between what science understands about climate change, and what the public understands.” He realized that public lectures on the fate of our planet due to climate change were not compelling people to take action. His passion for finding ways to motivate change led him to leave his work in Oxford, England for work in the United States at the Utah State University Climate Center. It was here that the idea of a performance combining art with science became a reality. In the Crossroads Project, the Fry Street Quartet performs commissioned music composed by composer Laura Kaminsky. Evocative images taken by nature photographers Garth Lenz, Lu Guang, and Joel Sartore, and projections of nature-inspired paintings by Rebecca Allan, are presented behind the musicians.
This Crossroads Project visit to UCF is organized by the
Department of Philosophy Ethics Center Initiative and the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies.