Part of Getty's Regional Art Event PST ART:
Art & Science Collide
September 21,
2024 – January 4,
2025
GLENDALE, Calif., June 26,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Glendale's Library, Arts & Culture
Department, in collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), an operating division of Caltech and a Federally Funded
Research and Development Center for NASA, have announced a new
exhibition titled "Blended Worlds: Experiments in Interplanetary
Imagination," on view at the Brand Library & Art Center in
Glendale from September 21, 2024 to January 4, 2025. "Blended Worlds" is presented as
part of Getty's regional art event PST ART: Art & Science
Collide which explores the intersections of art and science
— past, present and in the imaginable future.
"Glendale is a vibrant and
evolving arts destination, committed to finding opportunities to
present thought-provoking and innovative programs that serve our
broad audiences," said the City's Principal Arts & Culture
Administrator Jennifer
Fukutomi-Jones. "We're thrilled to collaborate with JPL to
present an exhibition of this scale that contributes to the greater
PST ART initiative in a meaningful way, examining urgent topics and
asking big questions about the confluence of art and science."
"Blended Worlds" explores the landscape of human relationships
with our ever-expanding environment. Through a series of art and
science collaborations, the exhibition questions how empathy and
connectedness can both reveal new worlds and inspire innovative
ways to nurture them. "Blended Worlds" includes artists
collaborating with a team of JPL scientists and engineers to
present a vision of the future that invites the viewer to consider
the impact of greater connectedness with nature and its ability to
foster a renewed sense of wonder and curiosity with our planet and
the cosmos. Spanning a range of multimedia and cross-disciplinary
works from 11 artists, "Blended Worlds" features contributions from
renowned contemporary artist Larry
Bell and cyborg artist Moon
Ribas in addition to David
Bowen, Darel Carey,
Annette Lee, Ada Limón, Bruce Mau, Viktoria
Modesta, Shane Myrbeck,
Raffi Joe Wartanian and Saskia Wilson-Brown.
"As a hub of innovation in Southern
California, we are thrilled with this collaboration, which
merges the worlds of art and science," said Laurie Leshin, director of JPL. "This is a
unique opportunity to share the awe-inspiring beauty of space
exploration, contemplate profound questions about our vast cosmos,
and highlight the creativity at the heart of JPL. Together, we hope
to inspire curiosity within our local community and foster a deeper
appreciation for both scientific discovery and artistic
expression."
Exhibition highlights include Larry
Bell's sculpture titled Time Machine and a
drum solo performance piece by Moon
Ribas titled Seismic Percussion. Bell, a
central figure in the California Light and Space movement of the
1960s, is known foremost for his refined surface treatment of glass
exploring the interplay between light, reflection and shadow. His
experimentation with the deposition of thin films on glass surfaces
requires technologies similar to those used by JPL in the
development of robotic space missions. Bell's sculpture Time
Machine invites two visitors to sit on either side of a barium
glass mirror that is both reflective and transparent. When seated,
the visitors experience a visual merging with one another, inviting
visual play as well as reflections on individuality, mutuality,
identity and presence.
In Seismic Percussion, Ribas translates the Earth's
seismic activity into a drum score, creating a data-driven
performance from the seismic activity of our planet. For "Blended
Worlds," Ribas extends her focus to include quake activity on Mars,
using data collected by NASA's Mars InSight lander, which studied
the interior of Mars through seismic investigations from 2018 to
2022. Seismic Percussion transposes this multi-planetary
seismic activity into a musical performance that condenses time,
enabling audiences to connect with the natural rhythms of both
Earth and Mars.
Additional highlights of the exhibition include David Bowen's Tele-present Wind. This
installation features 126 x/y tilting mechanical devices connected
to thin grass stalks that move in response to Martian wind data
collected by NASA rover and lander missions managed for NASA by
JPL. In the gallery space, the stalks move in synchrony with the
Martian wind, temporarily uniting Earth and Mars through the
dynamic interaction of wind and motion.
As part of PST ART, a number of public programs and community
events will also accompany the "Blended Worlds" gallery exhibition
including Blended Worlds: An Evening of Art, Theater and
Science hosted by Reggie
Watts at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on October 5,
2024; Earth Data: The Musical, an original
musical developed by Caltech Theater Arts exploring the challenges
of climate research and science as a human pursuit at Caltech's
Ramo Auditorium on November 1-3, 2024
and PST ART: Art + Science Family Festival, created with
Edinburgh Science Festival, on November
9-11, 2024 among others. More information on events to be
announced soon.
Southern California's landmark
arts event, PST ART, returns in September
2024, presenting more than 60 exhibitions from organizations
across the Southern California
region exploring the intersections of art and science, both
past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more
information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, visit:
pst.art
JPL acknowledges the generous support of the Glendale Arts &
Culture Commission and the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture
Trust.
Brand Library & Art Center
1601 West Mountain
Street
Glendale, CA 91201
Hours
Tuesday-Thursday: 11:00AM-8:00PM
Friday-Saturday: 10:00AM-5:00PM
Closed Sunday-Monday and holidays
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About Glendale
Known as the "Jewel City," Glendale is the fourth largest city of
Los Angeles County. With a
population of more than 200,000, Glendale is a thriving cosmopolitan city that
is rich in history, culturally diverse, and offers nearly 50 public
parks, and easy access to a municipal airport. It is the home to a
vibrant business community, with major companies in healthcare,
entertainment, manufacturing, retail, and banking.
About Glendale Library, Arts & Culture
Founded in 1907, the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture
Department includes eight neighborhood libraries including the
Brand Library & Art Center, a regional visual arts and music
library and performance venue housed in the historic 1904 mansion
of Glendale pioneer Leslie C. Brand, and the Central Library, a
93,000 square foot center for individuals and groups to convene,
collaborate and create. The department also serves as the chief
liaison to the Glendale Arts and Culture Commission which works to
continually transform Glendale
into an ever-evolving arts destination. Glendale Library Arts &
Culture is supported in part through the efforts of the Glendale
Library Arts & Culture Trust (GLACT). For more information
visit GlendaleLAC.org, or contact Library, Arts & Culture at
818-548-2021 or via email at LibraryInfo@GlendaleCA.gov. Follow on
Instagram, Facebook and X at @MyGlendaleLAC.
About Brand Library & Art Center
Brand Library & Art Center has been a cornerstone for the arts
in Southern California since 1956.
This unique public library focuses on visual arts and music and
provides free services and programs for a diverse community,
including print and online collections, subject specialist
librarians, exhibitions, concerts, lectures, dance performances,
films, and hands-on craft programs for children and adults. Brand
Library seeks to develop innovative programs, services and
collections to serve an ever-widening public interested in the
arts. Brand Library & Art Center is a branch of the City of
Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Department. For more
information visit BrandLibrary.org or contact 818-548-2051. Follow
on Instagram, Facebook and X @BrandLibary.
About The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
A division
of Caltech in Pasadena,
California, JPL began in 1936 and ultimately built and
helped launch America's first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. By
the end of that year, Congress established NASA and JPL became a
part of the agency. Since then, JPL has managed such historic
missions as Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, the Mars Exploration Rover
program, the Perseverance Mars rover, and many more.
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SOURCE The City of Glendale's
Library, Arts & Culture Department