Join Cerys and our student hosts as they discuss how we navigate the arts. This month we’re covering the prevalence of eating disorders in musicians, how an art installation in Rye, Sussex is helping fight climate change, and the fascinating neuroscience behind how we combine emotions and logic to interact with spaces.

Act 1

Dr Marianna Kapsetaki is a medical doctor, neuroscientist, and classical pianist. Following her Medical Degree (1st Hons), she obtained a MSc (Distinction) in Performing Arts Medicine from University College London, a PhD in Neuroscience from Imperial College London, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position at UCL. She has been presented with over 100 awards and scholarships in science and music such as being included in the Forbes '30 Under 30' Europe list, 1st prize in 12 international/national competitions, UNESCO Medal, Rotary Club Honorary Award, Citizen of Honor Award, Onassis Foundation PhD scholarship, and ‘World in Harmony’ Association scholarship after performing in the presence of HRH Princess Irene. Marianna has performed over 160 concerts appearing at major venues throughout Europe such as Cadogan Hall (London), St John’s Smith Square (London), St George’s (Bristol), and has performed as a soloist with many orchestras under prominent conductors. She has been invited to give over 60 talks/presentations, including at Harvard University, University of Oxford, Fifteen Seconds Festival, and TEDx. Marianna (or her research) has been featured in international media outlets including BBC News, The Guardian, and Classic FM. She enjoys regular invitations from radio and television where her three CD recordings with her twin sister are played.

Act 2

Dr Dzmitry Suslau is a lecturer at UCL's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. One of the modules he teaches (SEEE0014) explores cultural practices that emerged across Central and Eastern Europe and Russia after 1989, taking into account transnational subjectivities and dynamics of spectatorship. A specialist in public art, he has contributed to exhibition research at the V&A and other cultural institutions. His current research focuses on human ecology, critical issues in public art and the interconnection between culture and environmental change.

In 2020, with his friend, Evgeniya Ravtsova, Dzmitry founded Climate Art, an interdisciplinary public art platform that brings together community groups, artists, and researchers in joint action against the climate crisis. Their first three-month residency and exhibition took place in Rye, East Sussex and featured the work of three multidisciplinary practitioners alongside projects by the Bartlett students (UG2, BSc Architecture Unit).

Act 3

Lara Gregorians is a PhD student in the Spiers Spatial Cognition Lab at UCL. She is part of the Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme in the Ecological Study of the Brain, which aims to explore brain and behaviour in the real world. Her research focuses on exploring human experiences in the built environment, bringing the worlds of Architecture and Neuroscience together to explore brain and body responses to different architectural environments with the development of a video database of affect-laden first-person journeys through built environments. Lara has an interdisciplinary background, holding a MSc in Health, Wellbeing and Sustainable Buildings from the Bartlett, and a BASc in Arts and Sciences.