The Blue Hour

CiTR & Discorder Magazine
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  • Updated Biweekly

The Blue Hour is a conversation – a dialogue about life, literature, science, philosophy and everything in between.

  1. 2d ago

    Dr. Leigh VanHandel on How Music Works — and How We Understand It

    In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Leigh VanHandel, Associate Professor of Music Theory at UBC’s School of Music, whose research brings together music theory, music cognition, rhythm and meter, the relationship between music and language, and the ways we teach and learn music. Leigh began university as a science major, intending to pursue genetic engineering, before returning to the music that had been such an important part of her life growing up. Her path eventually led her to music theory and the emerging field of music cognition, where her interests in music, psychology, language and science could come together. Her research asks how music works, how we perceive and process it, and how our experience shapes what we hear. Her current work explores how we perceive and process tempo, what makes rhythmic patterns seem complex, and whether our native language can influence the way we perceive that complexity. She is also the editor of *The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy*, which received the Society for Music Theory’s Outstanding Multi-Author Publication Award in 2022. At the centre of her work is a deceptively simple question: how does music work, and how do we understand it?

  2. Sep 8

    Hrishabh Srivastava: Probing Dark Matter with Nature’s Magnifying Glass

    In this conversation, I speak with Hrishabh Srivastava, a PhD student in Astronomy at the University of British Columbia and a member of the Euclid Strong Lensing Science Working Group. Originally trained in materials engineering and data science at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Hrishabh transitioned into astrophysics, where his research focuses on strong gravitational lensing, dark matter and the enormous quantities of astronomical data being produced by the Euclid Space Telescope. Earlier this year, he was a finalist in UBC’s Three Minute Thesis competition with *Probing Dark Matter with Nature’s Magnifying Glass*. His research explores how the gravity of a foreground galaxy bends and distorts light from a more distant galaxy—a consequence of Einstein’s theory of general relativity—and how these rare gravitational lenses can be used to investigate the distribution of otherwise invisible dark matter. He is developing a method using Zernike polynomials to identify the geometric features of strong lenses in Euclid images, providing a simpler and more interpretable alternative to computationally intensive deep-learning methods. We discuss what dark matter is—and what we still do not know about it—how gravitational lensing allows astronomers to investigate something they cannot see directly, and how the Euclid mission could dramatically expand the number of known strong gravitational lenses.

  3. Aug 27

    The Psychology of Climbing — Patrick Boudreau on Flow, Performance and Nature

    In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Patrick Boudreau, a postdoctoral fellow at the Montreal Behavioural Medicine Centre and Concordia University, about the psychology of climbing and our experiences of physical activity in nature. We discuss flow and other psychological states associated with excellent performance, why outdoor climbing can feel psychologically different from climbing indoors, and the role that nature, uncertainty and exploration may play in the climbing experience. We also talk about the mental preparation required for demanding outdoor adventures and Patrick’s ongoing research comparing the psychological effects of physical activity in natural and indoor environments.

  4. Aug 25

    Perpetual Evolution — A Conversation with Federica Mingolla, One of Italy’s Most Renowned Climbers

    In this conversation, I speak with Federica Mingolla, one of Italy’s most renowned climbers, about climbing, freedom, ambition, motherhood, and the ways our lives and identities continue to evolve. Federica is an Italian professional climber, alpinist and mountain guide. Born in Turin in 1994, she began climbing as a teenager and went on to build a career spanning sport climbing, multi-pitch routes and alpinism. She is now based in the Aosta Valley, where she works as a mountain guide. She also holds a degree in Sports Science and is an athlete for La Sportiva and Petzl. Our conversation moves between climbing and life beyond it: instinct and uncertainty, ambition and compromise, becoming a mother, and remaining open to change. Federica describes herself as being in a state of “perpetual evolution,” an idea that became one of the threads running through our conversation.

  5. Aug 11

    Why We Climb: Sophie Alexander on Identity and Belonging

    In this conversation, I speak with Sophie Alexander, a Master’s student in Kinesiology at the University of Victoria, whose research explores the relationship between climbing, physical activity, identity development and belonging. Sophie Alexander is a Master’s student in Kinesiology at the University of Victoria, where her research examines how climbing, social experience and a sense of belonging can influence physical activity and identity development. Our conversation centres on climbing as something more than physical exercise: how it can shape identity, confidence and connection, and how the social environment surrounding a sport can influence whether people feel that they belong and want to remain physically active.

  6. Aug 4

    Why Consumers Reject Cheaper, Cleaner Cars — Dr. Werner Antweiler on the Economics of Electric-Vehicle Adoption

    In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Werner Antweiler, an economist and Associate Professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, where he holds the Chair in International Trade Policy and chairs the Strategy and Business Economics Division. He is also an associate editor of the journal *Resource and Energy Economics* and a faculty member of UBC’s Clean Energy Research Centre. Educated at the University of Cologne and the University of Toronto, his research spans international trade, environmental and energy economics, electricity markets and applied econometrics. His published work has examined the relationship between trade and the environment, renewable energy and electricity storage, international hydrogen trade, biofuels, vehicle emissions and transportation policy. He is also the author of *Elements of Environmental Management*, an interdisciplinary book bringing together environmental economics, law, engineering and business strategy. His latest paper, *Carbon Pricing, Capital Bias, and Electric Vehicle Adoption*, is forthcoming in the *Canadian Journal of Economics*. It examines why consumers may reject a cleaner technology even when it would cost them less over its lifetime—and what that means for carbon pricing, electric-vehicle subsidies and the design of environmental policy.

  7. Jul 28

    Dr. Jennifer Kramer on Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun

    In this conversation, I speak with Jennifer Kramer. She is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and Curator of the Pacific Northwest at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology. She holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University and has worked with the Nuxalk Nation since 1994. For more than two decades, she has worked alongside Indigenous artists, knowledge keepers and communities, exploring how museums can become places of collaboration, cultural renewal and shared authority. Her scholarship focuses on the visual and material cultures of Northwest Coast First Nations, particularly the Nuxalk and Kwakwaka’wakw, and includes questions of representation, repatriation, cultural property, art-market economies and collaborative museology. She is the author of *Switchbacks: Art, Ownership, and Nuxalk National Identity* and *Kesu’: The Art and Life of Doug Cranmer*, and co-editor of *Native Art of the Northwest Coast: A History of Changing Ideas*. Through her research, teaching and curatorial practice, she has helped reshape conversations about Northwest Coast Indigenous art, museum anthropology and the evolving relationship between museums and Indigenous communities. Our conversation centres on one remarkable exhibition: *Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun*. Co-curated by Snxakila–Clyde Tallio, Director of Culture and Language for the Nuxalk Nation, and Jennifer Kramer, it was the first exhibition devoted entirely to the Nuxalk Nation. Bringing together more than sixty historic Nuxalk treasures from museum, private and family collections, the exhibition at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology demonstrated how language, governance, law, ceremony, artistic practice and community leadership remain deeply interconnected. It also showed how museums can become places of return, reconnection and renewed relationships, while affirming Nuxalk sovereignty and self-determination. Jennifer is now co-authoring a forthcoming publication exploring the exhibition’s continuing impacts and legacies, tentatively titled *Relations and Returns: Reconnecting Nuxalk Treasures and Kin*.

  8. Jul 21

    Inside the Audain Art Museum: In Conversation with Dr. Curtis Collins

    In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Curtis Collins, Executive Director of the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, British Columbia. Few museum directors have experienced Canada’s artistic and cultural life as broadly as Curtis Collins. Over more than three decades, he has led galleries, museums and arts institutions across six provinces and one territory—from Fredericton to Dawson City, from Regina to Whistler—while also teaching at universities across the country and helping shape major exhibitions, publications and public programs devoted to Canadian art. Curtis has led the Audain Art Museum since 2018 and now serves as its Executive Director. During a remarkable period of growth, he has overseen exhibitions including Wolves: The Art of Dempsey Bob, Curve! Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast, The Coast Mountains: Recent Works by Edward Burtynsky and Karin Bubaš: Garden of Shadows. He is also the co-author, with 7IDANsuu James Hart, of the recent publication 7IDANsuu James Hart: A Monumental Practice, the first publication devoted to Hart’s extraordinary career. In our conversation, we speak about these artists, exhibitions and his recent publication, as well as the Museum’s Tuesday Night Talks and his research for The Tlingit: Four Centuries of Art, a major exhibition planned for 2028. We also reflect on Curtis’s journey through museums across Canada and the many ways museums bring artists, ideas and audiences together.

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About

The Blue Hour is a conversation – a dialogue about life, literature, science, philosophy and everything in between.

Information

  • Creator
    CiTR & Discorder Magazine
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    159
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright CiTR & Discorder Magazine
  • Show Website
    The Blue Hour