A Very Liquid Heaven

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.

Privacy & Legal Statements | Site Index | Contact Us

Copyright ©2001-2010 Astronomical Society of the Pacific