THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL - However, there are still tickets for the post event screening of IKARIE XB-1

If you wish to join the waiting list, please email us info@sci-fi-london.com

SCI-FI-LONDON, in association with the INSTITUTE FOR INTERSTELLAR STUDIES, present an informal day of talks, film and workshops at THE CRYSTAL.

The mission of the Institute for Interstellar Studies is to foster and promote education, knowledge and technical capabilities, which lead to designs, technologies or enterprise that will enable the construction and launch of interstellar spacecraft.

The mission of Icarus Interstellar is to realise interstellar flight before the year 2100. Researching and developing the science and the technologies that will make interstellar flight a reality will accomplish this objective. Icarus Interstellar aims to ignite the public’s interest and engage with everyone prepared to invest in interstellar exploration.

SCI-FI-LONDON are excited about the project and invite you to join us and leading experts to discuss:

1. what is a starship?
2. how do we build one?
3. where do we go when we have one?
4. how far have we got?

We begin the day with a series of science-based, inspirational presentations that charter our current journey towards the stars, then invite you to develop your own starship concepts! Working in teams with our experts, you can do some 'black sky thinking' and talk over some big ideas on what an interstellar starship would have to have to support a crew for possibly several generations!

Speakers include: (full details below)

• Dr Rachel Armstrong
• Pat Galea
• Kelvin Long
• Jerry Stone
• Stephen Ashworth
• Dr Ian Crawford

The end of the event will be rounded off with a screening of IKARIE XB-1 (see below) in the main auditorium at London's newest landmark, THE CRYSTAL, Siemen's amazing new green tech building.

• Dr. Rachel Armstrong (Event moderator and advisor) - Rachel is a Co-Director of AVATAR (Advanced Virtual and Technological Architectural Research) specialising in Architecture & Synthetic Biology at The School of Architecture & Construction, University of Greenwich, London. She is a consultant to the Institute for Interstellar Studies and Project Leader for the Icarus Interstellar group's Persephone. She is also a Senior TED Fellow, and Visiting Research Assistant at the Center for Fundamental Living Technology, Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of Southern Denmark. Rachel is a sustainability innovator who investigates a new approach to building materials called ‘living architecture,’ which suggests it is possible for our buildings to share some of the properties of living systems. She collaboratively works across disciplines to build and develop prototypes that embody her approach.
• Pat Galea - Pat is a former Director of Icarus Interstellar. He has worked in the software industry since 1993 for IPL on a variety of systems. Pat is an engineer, and has worked in the communications and software world for a couple of decades. He spends his time designing starships as part of Project Icarus, and breaking things open to see how they work. He also loves monkeys and Doctor Who.

Assisted by:

• John I Davies - John is a Researcher for the Institute for Interstellar Studies. He is a software engineer whose career includes working with satellite technology. He is also the coordinator of the Institute’s presence at Loncon3, the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention.
• Anastasios Maragiannis - Anastasios Maragiannis is the Academic Portfolio Leader and a Senior Lecturer in the Design Futures Department, University of Greenwich, and an Academic Fellow, at the University of Advancing Technology in Arizona, USA. Informed by design theory, his practice-based research focuses on how computational technologies impact on the existing principles and forms of static typography and text. His current work explores how innovative processes of design evolve within creative media, scrutinising in particular how forms of virtual typo.graphic design expand into Virtual space, interactive, sonic and animated components.Anastasios has presented his work in various international conferences and in numerous places including the British Film Institute and the V&A museum. He is member of the ‘tdc’ Type Directors Club, New York, USA; Board member of DRHA conference; Board member of The Thursday Club, Goldsmiths, University of London and he has been awarded with the ‘University of Greenwich Recognition Award’ as the ‘Staff Member of the Year 2012’
• Jon Goodbun - Jon studied architecture at the PCL, UEL and the Bartlett. In addition to basic architectural training he also completed masters courses in computer scripting and design, and architectural history. He has worked in London and Berlin on projects ranging from the Millennium Dome to a refurbishment of Norman Foster’s penthouse! He has co-founded the practice WAG in 2002, which has completed a series of small research, competition and building projects (often focussing on ideas around ecological design and spatial interface.) He joined the department of architecture at the University of Westminster in 1999, and has taught a diploma design studio for five years. His architectural research draws together material from ecology, cybernetics, cognitive science and extended mind theory.
• Khyle Raja - http://khylearaja.com - Khyle Alexander Raja is an exhibited artist and practicing architect based in London, England.
• Khyle creates vivid landscapes through the art of drawing, influenced by his professional background in architecture and a life-long fascination with science fiction.He is also a creative producer with Soul City Arts, an urban arts organisation that brings together artists from various fields to collaborate across theatre, visual arts and performance.
• Lizzie Ann Wiliams - Lizzie is an architect who works with environmental architectures, specializing in physical vulnerabilities and changing systems as control tacticsin the built environment. Lizzie is a part time tutor in architecture at the University of Greenwich.
• Dan Slavinsky - http://findingslav.blogspot.co.uk  - Dan Slavinsky is an architect and graphic designer currently based in London. Prior to his recent qualification, he had graduated from UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture, where he received a Distinction in Design. Dan’s artwork and drawings have since been exhibited, most notably at the V&A Museum, and he has been widely published in several architectural magazine (including the AD, Blueprint and BD), as well as featuring in numerous blogs and online articles.
• Frank da Silva -  Frank is director of Earth 2 Hub™ whichbrings together leading-edge international creatives, scientists, technologists and futurists to explore how new science, new technology and new thinking can positively impact on the future.

About IKARIE XB-1

"Remains one of the most original and exciting science fiction films ever made... A game-changing film that profoundly influenced the genre and showed that science-fiction movies weren't only about special effects; they were also high art" - Alex Cox, The Guardian

The film is based on the novel The Magellanic Cloud (Obłok Magellana) by Stanisław Lem and is one to be seen on a big screen!

Jindřich Polák’s pioneering and much-imitated feature Ikarie XB 1 is one of the cornerstones of contemporary sci-fi cinema. It predates Star Trek and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and was clearly an influence on both, as well as on almost every other science-fiction work that followed.

Presented in a superb new anamorphic digital transfer with restored picture and sound. Second Run have allowed us to present this seminal work of fantasy cinema in its complete and original form for the first time ever in the English-speaking world.

Director: Jindřich Polák
Year: 1963
Language: Czech /English subtitles
Runtime: 83mins
Country: Czechoslovakia
source: Second Run