Art & cultural centers
A total solar eclipse can inspire a sense of connectedness, joy, humility, perspective, awe and much more. There’s also something ineffable about the experience. And when words fail, art provides a vehicle for expression.
As part of the Triangle Program, a new initiative of Science, Society and Culture at the Simons Foundation, we’re supporting artworks and creative collaborations between artists and scientists all along the path of totality. These collaborations are given crucial support — and a venue — by arts and cultural centers. From performance to sculpture, immersive theater to multimedia, we’re supporting the continuation of an ancient tradition — creating art inspired by the majesty of an eclipse. Because we believe that science is part of culture in the same way that art is, and that these two seemingly disparate disciplines intersect in more ways than one might think.
Artspace 304
Since its founding in 1987 as Carbondale Community Arts, Artspace 304 has nurtured generations of artists and creators. Located in the center of downtown Carbondale, Illinois, their aim is to platform creative talent throughout the region. Artspace 304 exists as a cultural space for all of Southern Illinois and reflects the vibrancy of their many communities. Artspace 304 endeavors to promote access to educational resources for the people of Southern Illinois and to provide funding for the purpose of enveloping artistic culture in Carbondale and the surrounding communities. Facilitating young people’s involvement in cultural spaces is central to their mission, and they support community youth in various ways. This includes yearly summer camps, youth group exhibitions and other activities focused on advancing the next generation of creative talent. Read more
As part of the Simons Foundation’s Triangle Program, Artspace 304 will host a photo sculptural installation by artist Antonio Martinez featuring a visualization of the sun’s chromosphere along with the past, present and future pathways of total eclipses. High-resolution source imagery of the sun will be converted into a positive color film, which in turn can be used in the artist’s wet-plate collodion enlargement studio to generate chemical effects that emulate the movement of the corona. The neighboring walls of the installation site will be covered with black, 3D wave-patterned wall panels. Mounted along the wave wall panels will hang a row of small structures that reference the structural form of the first published illustration of a camera obscura in Gemma Frisius’ “De Radio Astronomico et Geometrico.” This installation will be created in collaboration with astrophysicist Robert Baer.
Fusebox
Fusebox is a nonprofit arts organization based in Austin, Texas. They were founded by a group of artists in 2005 who wanted to create a robust exchange of ideas across different art forms and geography, with particular interest in the live experience. They were also especially interested in how festivals could live in a more meaningful relationship with the place. Today, Fusebox partners with organizations all over the world ranging from small grassroots organizations to major art centers and festivals, along with producing two festivals and year-round programming. Fusebox collaborates with artists and community groups to share unforgettable live experiences and creatively address civic issues identified by their constituents. Read more
In celebration of the 2024 eclipse, Fusebox is creating a large-scale public art installation and performance featuring renowned sculptor and interdisciplinary artist Guadalupe Maravilla. The work will be situated at Waterloo Greenway Conservancy in Central Austin and will be accessible to the public free of charge every day for its duration from April 1–30. Underpinning the project is a collaboration between Maravilla and award-winning neuroscientist Megan Kirchgessner. The two are exploring how different combinations of frequencies, rhythms and tones affect the human body and nervous system. They are applying this knowledge in conjuring the awe and wonder that accompanies the eclipse.
Erie Arts & Culture & FEED
Founded in 1960 as the Arts Council of Erie, Erie Arts & Culture is the regional arts agency for Northwestern Pennsylvania. Their role is to promote, support and develop culture and creativity at the regional level; ensuring broad opportunities for residents and tourists throughout communities in Erie, Crawford, Venango, Warren, Mercer and Lawrence counties to engage with the sector educationally, socially and economically. Their presence ensures that all communities, regardless of their geographic location or economic status, are systematically and equitably served. Read more
FEED Media Art Center is a digital arts incubator based in Erie, Pennsylvania. FEED is home to an unparalleled collection of technologies supporting the production, preservation and exhibition of media art. FEED provides artists with support including studio residencies, tools, exhibitions and mentions. They promote the exhibition, teaching, innovation and preservation of media art, serving to connect communities in downtown Erie to the rest of the world.
In collaboration with astrophysicist Moiya McTier and FEED, artist Alex “lonesav” Staley will create an immersive multimedia exhibit featuring an occasional simulated solar eclipse. During these simulations, the entirety of FEED will suddenly darken while ceiling projections reenact the phenomenon in an abstract, stylized manner, with the aim of providing a synthesized experience which will increase excitement for the forthcoming astronomical event. The work consists of floor-to-ceiling, 3D-animated projections and multichannel audio. One section includes a real-time interactive component, allowing users to engage directly with the material and see themselves in the simulated environment. This project helps reinforce their community’s sense of identity around the eclipse — recognizing Erie as a community of artists, scientists, educators, enthusiasts, students and families who partner together to explore what this celestial event means to them.
MAX & Highland Center for the Arts
Media Art Xploration (MAX) expands live performance through science and technology. They bring together storytellers, performers, scientists and creative technologists to make music, dance and immersive performance that raise awareness and spark constructive dialogue about the constant innovation around the world. They illuminate scientific innovation through artistic expression and broaden artistic expression through scientific insight to create shared experiences and build a more informed democracy. Read more
The Highland Center for the Arts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to operate a welcoming venue for assembly, artistic expression, entertainment, education and refreshment. They offer a year-round schedule of locally and nationally sourced performances, exhibitions and events serving the residents and artists of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom and beyond. They are committed to collaborating with other arts organizations and with local schools.
As part of the Simons Foundation’s Triangle Program, MAX’s creative producer Kay Matschullat will work with director Elena Araoz and astrophysicist Jared Goldberg to create “When Light Bends,” a live performance about the power of an eclipse to call into question our place in the universe. Through the contributions of a poet/playwright, an illusionist, musicians and a diverse cast, this lyrical work riffs on the science and legacy of relativity, featuring vignettes that traverse the history of scientific discovery counterposed with the effect that a total solar eclipse has on humans and the motions of our minds.
Squeaky Wheel
The Long Center
The Long Center for the Performing Arts is a venue located along Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin, Texas that acts as a home for many of Austin’s local performing arts groups. For every Austinite of every background, the Long Center is a community gathering place that offers diverse programming and stunning views of the city so that everyone can experience remarkable live arts and entertainment together. Their programs create ways for every Austinite to access world class arts and cultural experiences. Read more
As part of the Simons Foundation’s Triangle Program, the Long Center presents a new interactive soundwalk created by Point A (artists Andrew Schneider and Annie Saunders). Point A will work in collaboration with astrophysicist and cosmologist Katelyn Brievik to explore concepts of quantum entanglement. They will create a site-specific sound walk that can be accessed in public space through audiences’ personal devices. Guided by the voices in their headphones, audience members are taken on a walk along many popular walking paths in Austin that situate them in specific moments, signaling the exactitude of a given place and time. Using spatialized binaural field recordings made from the environment and serendipitous storytelling, this work gives audiences the sense that magic is happening all around them.
Dallas Contemporary
Founded in 1978, Dallas Contemporary focuses on exhibiting both new and recognized multidisciplinary works by emerging and established local and international artists as well as commissioning site-specific works. Their mission is to present the art of our time to the public: to document new directions in art through rotating exhibitions, publications and learning programs for visitors of all ages. As a contemporary arts institution that grapples with timely and complex issues in one of the fastest growing metroplexes in the nation, Dallas Contemporary firmly believes in the power of artists’ ideas and voices to chronicle and transform society. Read more
Together with artist Brian Fridge and planetary scientist Mary Urquhart of the University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas Contemporary will generate meaningful public awareness and anticipation of the total solar eclipse of April 2024. Artworks by Brian Fridge will unfold in advance of the eclipse through a visual and literary campaign in three parts: as a series of billboards over Dallas highways, as films that will be screened throughout public locations in Dallas and as a collaborative publication. Each arm of the project considers the lens — the lens of the artist’s camera, the lens of the car window, the lens of the storefront window, the lens of the words printed on a page — as a filter by which the public perceives the eclipse. The project will reach various audiences in both passive and active ways, enriching the public’s literal and poetic view of the eclipse and refining the awe such a phenomenon offers earth’s creatures.