It’s Animal Magic: Festival of the Mind starts today!

If you have ever wondered how to combine birds and art today could be your day.

Professor of Zoology Tim Birkhead and Sheffield-based contemporary artist Paul Evans have created a series of giant eight foot Bowerbird 'bowers' in an event called Animal Magic: the Wisdom of Birds. They will be in Weston Park today and in Barker’s Pool tomorrow.

Local artists will be stationed in the human-sized bowers – which in nature look remarkably like human-built huts adorned with trinkets – in order to transform them into full-scale interactive art pieces.

Tim will use his knowledge of animal behaviour to instruct the artists on how exactly to mimic the behaviour of the Bowerbird to tempt you inside to view the constructions.

You’ll also be able to take a fresh look at the concourse which, for the duration of the festival, will be adorned with brightly coloured birds with the ‘flock wallpaper’ installation.

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Paul said: “My journey through the avian world with Professor Birkhead has been both a delight to the senses and a challenge to the mind. Birds are truly marvellous and to express even a small part of Tim’s expert knowledge and enthusiasm for these creatures has been difficult to say the least."

Well over 100 members of staff are involved in festival events. To see your colleagues bring alive their wonderful creative projects, meet inspiring people from the city and discover the magic of research take a look at the full programme of events. You’ll be sure to discover something you didn’t know about the University, such as the amazing world of the Alfred Denny Museum with its stunning zoological collection.

Professor Vanessa Toulmin, Head of Cultural Engagement and Director of the National Fairground Archive, has been the driving force and curator behind the Festival of the Mind, an innovative series of free events which are set to show everyone that attends how inspirational collaborative working can be.

Vanessa said: “Festival of the Mind is about inspiring people and bringing the magic of our research through the creativity of our partners to the people of Sheffield.”

Academics from such diverse disciplines as Nanotechnology, English, Architecture, Psychology and Biomedical Science have teamed up with artists, poets, magicians and musicians from Sheffield to create unique, thought-provoking performances, events and exhibitions designed to stimulate the mind.

The civic projects of the festival all arose from an Ideas Bazaar held at the University last year, where academics and members of the community were invited to a speed-dating style event to match proposals and ideas for projects to knowledge and expertise to make them a reality.

Following the launch party on Thursday 20 September in Weston Park, Festival of the Mind events will take place throughout the city, the centre of which will be in Barker’s Pool in a 1920s cabaret-style ‘Spiegeltent’ – a large travelling tent decorated with mirrors and stained glass, one of the few left in the world following their 19th century heyday.