Glendale Library, Arts & Culture And Jet Propulsion Laboratory Present BLENDED WORLDS: EXPERIMENTS IN INTERPLANETARY IMAGINATION

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.

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