Space in Your Living Room! presents the third edition of Arts and Space Collide, taking place on 26 August 2020 at 17:00 CEST. This edition will feature a conversation between the first female French astronaut Claudie Haigneré and Belgian artist and astronomer Katrien Kolenberg, moderated by the first Senegalese astrophysicist Salma Sylla Mbaye.

Arts and Space Collide III brings together astronaut Claudie Haigneré and artist and astronomer Katrien Kolenberg in an informal conversation about the power of art and space sciences in shifting our perspectives and understanding on Earth and how these different fields can bring us closer to make sense of our existence. This active discussion will be moderated by astrophysicist Salma Sylla Mbaye and will be streamed on the spaceEU Facebook and YouTube channels.

About the Speakers

Claudie Haigneré 

Claudie Haigneré is a French astronaut, doctor, and politician who was the first French woman in space. Born in 1957 in Le Creusot, France, Claudie was selected as a French candidate astronaut in 1985, after her selection she performed a wide range of experiments in life sciences, fluid physics and technology. On August 17, 1996, she launched into space aboard Soyuz TM-24 and docked with the Mir space station. She returned to Earth on September 2, 1996. In 2001, Claudie became the first female European cosmonaut on a ‘taxi flight’ to the International Space Station as a Soyuz Flight Engineer. After her experiences in space, Claudie served in several political positions in France, including as Minister for Research and New Technologies. She has been a Senior Adviser to ESA’s Director General in European space policy, and ESA’s strategic adaptation. And she has served as CEO of Universcience, a French science museum that combined the Cité des Sciences and the Palais de la Découverte in Paris, to make science more accessible for the general public. 

Katrien Kolenberg

Katrien Kolenberg is an artist and professor of astronomy at the University of Antwerp, and associate research fellow and STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) coordinator at KU Leuven. As a professor of astrophysics, Prof. Dr. Kolenberg is currently studying the sound of the stars. Her astronomical research concerns mostly asteroseismology and pulsating stars, with a special love for the RR Lyrae stars, the lighthouses of our cosmos. With her cello and other instruments close by, she often combines music and stars. In Katrien's world, art and science are always linked.

Salma Sylla Mbaye

Salma Sylla Mbaye is a PhD student in Astrophysics at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. Her background is atomic and nuclear physics, and for her PhD, Salma is working on collisions on Jupiter. The purpose of this study is to estimate the age of the external solar system. Her PhD is a collaboration between Senegal, the University of Antwerp in Belgium, the Cadi Ayyad University in Morocco and the University of Toulouse in France. She is also the National Outreach Coordinator for Senegal of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) and a member for the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD). 

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