Publications Topics:

Books

ASP Conference Series

Monograph Publications

IAU Publications

Books of Note

Purchase through the AstroShop

Journals

Publications of the ASP (PASP)

Magazines

Mercury Magazine

Archive

Guidelines for Authors

Order Mercury Issues

Mercury Advertising Rates

Newletters

The Universe in the Classroom

ASP E-mail Newsletters

Special Features

Astronomy Beat

Contact Us

Mercury, September/October 2005 Table of Contents

Courtesy of M. C. Odekon.

by Mary Crone Odekon

Three round objects rested, museum-style, on square white pillars: an ornate clock face, a gold-colored mask, and a head of fresh cabbage. Our assignment was to write a single exhibition label for this collection, as part of a faculty seminar with artist Fred Wilson at Skidmore College. The purpose was to think about the creation of meaning through juxtaposition and context — something of a Rorschach test, as each of us came up with a different narrative exposing our own interests. Not surprisingly, my interpretation, which I called Brazen Heads, was connected to science.

I took this seminar while preparing an astronomy exhibit for the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. I initially joined the project at the invitation of my colleague Margo Mensing, an artist at Skidmore who was collaborating on a multidisciplinary performance of George Crumb's Makrokosmos III: Music for a Summer Evening. I was to be the astrophysics consultant.

As we thought about Crumb's music, we were drawn to changing perceptions of the cosmos — fixed stars on crystal spheres versus pulsing plasmas, a cosmos separate from our changing human world versus a cosmos that changes along with us. The project grew quickly into a full-fledged exhibit, co-curated by Margo, me, and Tang curator Ian Berry. No longer a simple consultant, I visited artists' studios in Chelsea and helped design the layout and look of the exhibit. We named it A Very Liquid Heaven, a 17th-century quote from Descartes describing his somewhat prescient model of a universe full of swirling liquids.

If you enjoyed this excerpt from a feature article and would like to receive our bi-monthly Mercury magazine, we invite you to join the ASP and receive 6 issues a year.