The UQ lab where research becomes a creative experience

Symphony for the History of Time interprets modern cosmology in orchestral and choral form, and headlines The University of Queensland’s 2026 Music by the Lakes festival. 

It’s the result of an unlikely collaboration – between composer Associate Professor Eve Klein and astrophysicist Professor Tamara Davis – and planned in the new UQ Creative Research in Emerging Arts and Technology (CREATE) Lab.

“The symphony draws on Professor Davis’s research in cosmology to explore not only what science has revealed, but also what remains unresolved,” Dr Klein said.

“Images of the universe captured by Dark Energy Survey are projected onto the stone-vaulted ceilings of St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane’s CBD.

“The acoustics are incredible, and the music is performed by the very talented UQ Symphony Orchestra, UQ Chorale and UQ Chamber Singers.

“The production involves almost 200 staff and students from across the University.” 

Dr Klein is Creative Director of the CREATE Lab, a new space supporting large-scale interdisciplinary projects.

A new space for art making and research reimagining

The CREATE Lab sits within a small building on the edge of UQ Lakes. 

High‑resolution motion graphics are projected across its white walls, creating a fully immersive space to test and experience large-scale projects.

A 360‑degree spatial audio system distributes sound throughout the room, giving performances and installations physical depth and presence. 

The lab’s technical core is a series of high‑powered workstations for rendering, editing and processing large volumes of creative data.

Dr Klein described the CREATE Lab as a research centre for making and studying the creation of new Australian work.

“Researchers and artists can work together from the earliest stages of an idea, allowing discussion, testing and revision to happen side by side,” she said.

“The lab also acts as a facility to test new works in front of small audiences – whether that be video games and immersive media work, or gallery exhibitions.” 

Also central to the lab’s inception is encouraging academics from other disciplines to be involved in how art can be created and understood.

“Creative thinking doesn’t need to be separate from other ways we make knowledge, and this research facility is about encouraging that embeddedness,” Dr Klein said.

“I'm really interested in encouraging collaborative conversations. 

“If we work with a behavioural psychologist for example, we want them involved in the making process, setting the frameworks and the parameters from the beginning.

“We might work with them or a specific community on some creative development, but it’s really a collaborative and embedded process.”

Inspired by a career in art making 

Dr Klein has spent her professional career using performance art to address challenging topics within society.

“My background is in music technology and music composition,” she said. 

“I use technologies to craft new experiences with music for mass audiences, including large-scale festival works, new operas and music performances involving technology.

“Most of my practical work deals with the issues that society finds difficult to talk about, such as climate change and gendered and racial violence.

“I incorporate large scale public artworks that use music and sound to bring people together and connect over these complicated issues.”

The concept for the UQ CREATE Lab was born back in 2019. 

“Academics and post-graduate students from different aspects of the University – engineers, drama makers, writers, musicians, psychologists – were all interested in doing work around extended reality, immersive media and using technologies to create and research artmaking,” Dr Klein said. 

“But we needed a research laboratory where we could come together and do the work. 

“The CREATE Lab is a space that explores different ways of engaging audiences. 

“Here, research doesn’t stay confined to journal articles or lecture theatres.

“It’s translated, amplified and quite literally, brought to life.”
 

Dr Klein is from UQ’s School of Music, Professor Davis is from UQ’s School of Mathematics and Physics.