A MESSAGE TO SPACE

SUPERCOLLIDER GALLERY

(LOS ANGELES, JANUARY 18 2020) — SUPERCOLLIDER, formerly the Nook Gallery, launches its 2020 science inspired initiative with A Message to Space, a multimedia exhibition bringing diverse space themed artworks to Los Angeles. Demonstrating an interdisciplinary history, experience, and phenomenology of aerospace studies, this exhibition presents the Space Art DNA Time Capsule, an art project that will store crowdsourced drawings and messages on synthetic DNA and then rocket the DNA to outer space in 2023. The gallery will provide drawing materials for guests to submit works during the opening.

The exhibition also presents perspective-shifting artworks by Nina Waisman, Director of the Laboratory for Embodied Intelligences and recent exhibitor at the Hammer Museum. Musical performance by harpist and singer Zeraphina Quenby, featuring celestial songs and a live cover performance of Space Oddity by David Bowie. Affiliated institutions include Carnegie Mellon Institute, NASA, BioBat Art Space, Planet Labs, SciArt Exchange, and Beyond Earth.

Opening Reception: January 18, 2020
2:30 pm - 5 pm
January 18 - March 8, 2020

SUPERCOLLIDER
808 N. La Brea Ave.
Inglewood, CA
90302

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The MoonArk
Drawings, 3D model, images, diagrams
Installation size varies
Artwork by Carnegie Mellon University

Featured artists include Richelle Gribble, Nicole Stott (astronaut), Forest Stearns, Nina Waisman, Rachelle Reichert, Cara Levine, Yoko Shimizu, Elena Soterakis, Isabel Beavers, Janna Avner, Christina Ondrus, Ben Vance, Robert Simmon, Charles Sommer, James P. Scott, Stan Kazanjian, Memo Akten, Sheila Pinkel, Jeff Gipe, Tiare Ribeaux, Alan Chin, Sara Schnadt, MoonArk (team), and Beyond Earth (team).

The exhibition will display unique space artifacts, such as an original artwork created by astronaut Nicole Stott, made while orbiting above Earth within the International Space Station, as well as The Golden Record (replica) a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk, portraying sounds and images, overseen by Carl Sagen and carried to space on NASA’s Voyager. The record’s audio recordings will be playing throughout the exhibition.

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Nicole Stott with her original photo and watercolor painting as she created aboard the space station in 2009.
Six years later, Stott left NASA to become a full-time artist. (NASA/TheArtisticAstronaut.com)

A Message to Space brings to public awareness notable art and science projects interacting with and exploring outer space. Artworks etched onto satellites, artworks created by astronauts, artifacts that have flown to space and back, and pumpkin seeds flown in low Earth orbit— these works convey that the pursuit to understand life on earth and beyond is not so distinct from the artist’s quest to understand life’s meaning.

Danielle Siembieda, Managing Director of LEONARDO, The International Society for the Arts, Science, and Technology describes SUPERCOLLIDER, an all-female, artist-run gallery project space, founded by artist Richelle Gribble with curatorial advising and executional support of artist Janna Avner, as “a critical cultural space for the arty-scientist, technocurious, ‘is-that-really-art?’ artists, and those that bowl out of their lane.”

SUPERCOLLIDER’s largest project to date launches its presence in Los Angeles as one of the few, fully focused galleries supporting science inspired works, along with emerging and older technologies. The gallery claims a stake in Los Angeles’s relatively nascent and understated science-art scene.

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Golden Record
Anodised aluminum
12 x 12 inches
Artwork by Carl Sagon
Replica by Duane King

The exhibition includes a colorfully designed astronaut suit worn from space, and a virtual reality work, Irrational Exuberance, by Ben Vance, which transports viewers to outer space. The exhibition is provided through the culmination of scientist and research collaborators Robert Simmon, Lead Data Visualizer, Planet Labs; Sasha Simochina, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Space + AR/VR Specialist; Yaniv Elrich, My Heritage, DNA Data Storage Pioneer; Beth Tuck, Genspace, DNA Specialist & Educator and others.

A Message to Space highlights the artist and astronaut relationship from low earth orbit, bringing scientists, space philosophers, technologists and artists together in one dialogue. Select space-art objects in the exhibition include: MoonArk, a highly collaborative and massively integrated project to be sent to the Moon initiated by Carnegie Mellon University; Our Humanity, a linocut print by artist Richelle Gribble made for spaceflight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard’s Space System; The Great Migration, ink drawing by Forest Stearns laser etched on satellite side panels of Planet Labs satellites; Space Art DNA Time Capsule, a crowdsourced drawing project facilitated by Beyond Earth to send to space; Pioneer Plaque (replica), a gold-anodized aluminum plaque co-created by Carl Sagen, Frank Drake, and Linda Salzman Sagen featuring a pictorial message on spacecrafts; Pioneer 10 and 11 intended for intelligent extraterrestrial life.

In addition to the collection of artworks, SUPERCOLLIDER presents Space Art DNA Time Capsule, serving as the outer space Pioneer Plaque of the 21st Century. The capsule contains hundreds of crowd-sourced drawings created by individuals from around the world. These drawings will then be encoded onto synthetic DNA and sent to outer space.

Past works in this exhibition were presented November 2019 at MATSUDO, JAPAN’s International Science and Art Festival, a festival co-curated by Ars Electronica.

The event is free and open to the public. Free on-site, gated parking will be available on a first come, first serve basis. For more information or press inquiries, contact Richelle Gribble at richellegribble@gmail.com.

SELECT IMAGES

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Our Humanity
linocut on masa and vellum
5.75 x 3.5 inches
Artwork by Richelle Gribble

Irrational Exuberance: Prologue
HTC Vive, interactive, 5 min
Artwork by Ben Vance.

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The Great Migration
Planet Labs Dove Satellites
ink drawing laser etched on satellite side panels
21 x 18 inches
Artwork by Forest Stearns

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The Wave
watercolor on paper, made in spaceflight
7 x 10 inches
Artwork by Astronaut Nicole Stott

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Smoke Wave
graphite on paper
17 x 13 inches each
Artwork by Rachelle Reichert

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Cyan 500-520
mixed media
13.5 x 12 x 3.5 inches
Artwork by Jame P. Scott

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The Space Suit Art Project
Painted astronaut suit
Worn by astronauts and cosmonauts in the International Space Station
Project Provided by Space for Art Foundation

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Pioneer Plaque
Anodised aluminum
6 x 9 inches
Co-created by Carl Sagen, Frank Drake, and Linda Salzman Sagen, originally launched to space in 1972.
Replica by Adam Kibel

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