STEPHEN

SUMMERS

Stephen Summers

INTERVIEW

60

really well. I say the same thing to artists

who complain about the fact that there’s

no funding any more. Well, you don’t

have to do something creative in the

creative sector. You can do something

creative in any sector. It works the other

way around as well. If you’re doing

something science-based, you can do it

in a creative way. I still see a lot of people

doing STEM and science communication

in a very formulaic way – disseminating

information: ‘I’m science, I’m showing

you XXX’ – try and cross over the

different fields.

HACKSPACE Is there anything that you’d

like to get into a show that you’ve not

been able to yet?

SS We’ve been doing Bass In Your Face for

a while, and I’m going to be creating a new

show for next year. There’s two shows

that I’d like to do. One combines music

and maths – I’m a musician (a cellist). I

want to use an electric cello to look at the

links between Bach and techno. There’s

a lot of cross-over there. There’s so many

cross-overs between music and maths,

and the cross-overs can get complicated

quite quickly, and it’s not my strong point.

We’ll be looking at some of the rhythmic

devices that cross over completely

different music genres, like baroque

music to modern electronic music.

The other one will be something like

DJ vs Sound Engineer. My background,

before I did this, was hiring out PA

systems, and I often worked as a sound

engineer, and I used to be a DJ as well, so

I’ve been on both sides of that timeless

war between those two roles. So, it’ll be

looking at what happens to signals, why

speakers blow, what happens when you

overheat amplifiers – signals, square

waves, that kind of thing. Basically, it’s

always the DJ’s fault – that’s what it

comes down to! What kills speakers?

DJs do.

HACKSPACE Is there any message you’d

like to leave our readers with?

SS Take things apart! They probably

already are, your readers. Some of the

best inventors started by taking their

radios apart.

Above

Water and cornflour

combine to make

one of the most

magical materials

Left

Feeling the music

has more than

one meaning