Long before Ovid observed our need to find a place in the Universe, scientists and philosophers created images of the observed sky from their stationary platform on earth. From geocentric drawings in the 1493 Liber Chronicarum, three dimensional armillary spheres in the sixteenth century, and the heliocentric orrery to the modern understanding of our universe as expanding at unimaginable speed and being possibly only one of an infinite number of universes—artists, technicians, and now autonomous imaging robots have created a historical record capturing the artistry of Nature at the grandest scale.
Sponsored by Illinois Arts Council, a State Agency; Krannert Art Museum Director's Circle; and Krannert Art Museum Council.
And though all animals fix their gaze upon the earth, he gave to man an uplifted face and bade him stand erect and turn his eyes to heaven. –Ovid’s Metamorphoses
A collaboration between Krannert Art Museum and the Illinois Simulator Laboratory of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Astronomic! highlights the history of imaging the Universe. Using 2D paintings, an electronic LED wall, 3D objects, and an immersive virtual reality viewing room (CANVAS), this exhibition enables museum visitors to consider the artistry of medieval representations of the Universe, explore 20th century artistic and satellite-imaged renderings of distant space, and fly through galaxies in 3D.
Guest Curator: Hank Kaczmarski
