PST ART, Where Art & Science Collide
Credit left to right: David Bowen, Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech, Mark Somay.
by Julia Ehlert
While objectivity may rule the day in science, it takes a sense of imagination, wonder, and creativity to see beyond the limits of our current knowledge. In September 2024, Caltech will take part in the landmark arts event, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, presented by Getty. PST ART will span dozens of institutions across Southern California with exhibitions featuring more than 800 artists. Caltech entities on campus and at JPL received grants from the Getty Foundation for three separate projects that will explore the event’s theme in unique ways.
Opening Doors
CaltechLive will present Opening Doors, a series of dance, music, and theater performances, including HUANG YI & KUKA, a dance show featuring Taiwanese choreographer Huang Yi, and Kuka, an industrial robot programmed by Huang; Turing Tests, Apples, and Queens: Collective Storytelling Through Fairy Tales and Artificial Intelligence, a performance by Invertigo Dance Theatre exploring the life and work of mathematician Alan Turing; HomeCare, a concert by Los Angeles-based choral ensemble Tonality about climate change; and Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage about Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and the monetization of scientific research.
“For centuries, the performing arts have played a pivotal role in the public’s understanding of scientific, political, and social issues,” says Michael Alexander, Caltech’s campus arts and culture liaison. “We have engaged four incredible performing ensembles to demonstrate the truth in that statement.”
Following each performance, a moderated discussion will engage the artists, Caltech scientists, and audience members in conversation around the topics explored.
Crossing Over: Art and Science at Caltech, 1920-2020
Presented by Caltech Library, Crossing Over will feature rare books, scientific instruments, molecular models, historical paintings, drawings, photographs, and films on display across four campus exhibits, as well as installations featuring contemporary art by artists Lita Albuquerque, Lia Halloran, Shana Mabari, Hillary Mushkin, and Helen Pashgian. The project will be accompanied by a visual catalog with 13 original essays about science history and visual culture at Caltech available online and in print.
“Crossing Over began in the Caltech Archives, with Caltech’s collections of our own history and the history of the science and engineering done here,” says Peter Collopy, university archivist and head of archives and special collections. “How, we asked, can Caltech’s history help us understand how art and science contribute to each other, both now and over the last 100 years?”
Blended Worlds: Experiments in Interplanetary Imagination
JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, in collaboration with the City of Glendale, will present Blended Worlds at the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale. This exhibit explores the landscape of human relationships with nature and questions how empathy and connectedness can reveal new worlds and inspire innovative ways to nurture them. Twelve artists—including sculptor Larry Bell and performance artist Moon Ribas—will invite us to rethink our growing disconnection from nature and foster a renewed sense of wonder with our planet and the cosmos. Blended Worlds will also include a new stage production called Earth Data: The Musical directed by Caltech Theater Arts director Brian Brophy, which will be performed in Ramo Auditorium between October 31–November 3, 2024.
“By emphasizing belonging and connectedness, this exhibition hopes to prompt more responsible stewardship of Earth—and the universe—by rethinking traditional scientific methodologies and emphasizing creative ways of knowing,” says Lois Rosson, an exhibit consultant and the Octavia E. Butler Fellow at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in Pasadena.