The Universe contains billions of galaxies, scattered over vast reaches of space and time. In one of these galaxies is a planet which we call home. This Earth performs an annual cycle around our local star, the Sun, which itself changes on longer timescales. This mixture of cycles and changes permeates the entire Universe, often on scales which completely transcend the human experience. If we gaze into the sky at night we can see the same patterns of stars named in antiquity. But these stars are actually in motion; if we could see the sky a million years from now, many of these constellations will have vanished.
The structure and evolution of the Universe is as fundamental to who and what we are as the structure and evolution of a society or a culture. It is not only the physical form with which the myriad pieces are assembled, but the rules, relationships, and interdependence that determine their evolution. The interrelated life cycles and changes of all of these pieces and parts determine where we came from, and where we are going. We would like to honour the evolution of atoms in time space since the big bang, because all events from the big bang, to the brith of our galaxy and planet, to the evoulution of life, the invention of fire, the settlements of humans, the invention of the wheel, the agricultural revolution, the rise of the roman empire, the plague and the french revolution, the discovery of electricity and the combustion engine, the invention of loudspeakers and the digital age where needed to form our event. We would like to celebrate the evolution and the moment and come together once more on this cosmical journey.