Solo exhibition, Institute of Contemporary Art San José
November 13, 2016 - February 26, 2017
INVITATION PHOTO BY MAIA LANDAU
The culmination of Russell’s IAS residency (as described to the right) was an ambitious and intricate exhibition that explores space, time and history. In the field of astronomical observation, “lookback time” refers to the idea that the light reaching our telescopes has traveled from the depths of space – the greater the distance the light has traveled, the older the image – therefore showing us images from the past.
This concept is carried through the exhibition in three parts:
Gallery 1 • "Look Back in Time"
A site-specific installation of new work – conceptualized and built in collaboration with Laura Gruenther – based on scientific information gathered from and inspired by the IAS residency. This work is based on current theories on the evolution of the universe. The piece takes the form of an engaging, walk-through environment that depicts an interpretation of a theoretical walk back in time, from the modern universe to the Big Bang. Multiple elements include backlit fabric scrims coated with bio-resin, embedded drawings, and sculptural objects. The scrims and sculptures represent scientific theories of astronomical events and phenomenon, such as galaxies, stars, exoplanets, black holes, filamentary web, super novae, cosmic dark ages and spectrum.
Gallery 2 • Russell Crotty astronomy Work 2000-2008
A retrospective view of Russell’s career, offering a small selection of previous astronomy related work.
Gallery 3 • Lick Observatory Historical Objects
An extensive selection of historical artifacts, instruments, original astronomers' log books, photographs, and other historic objects from the Lick Observatory's collections and archive. Curated by Tony Misch and John Weber, with displays built by Tony, and presented publicly for the first time, this display looks back in historical time to the emergence of astrophysics in the first decades of the Lick’s operation.
Art Ltd. cover story
Jan/Feb 2017
Good Seeing
Squarecylinder
JANUARY 27, 2017
Russell Crotty and Lick Observatory
@ SJICA
EXHIBITION PHOTOS BY:
DAVID PACE, MARCO ZECCHIN, AND LAURA GRUENTHER
The exhibition's curatorial team includes:
John Weber | Founding Director of IAS
Cathy Kimball | Director of the San Jose ICA
Anthony Misch | retired Lick Observatory Astronomer & curator of Lick Observatory Archives
The exhibition and associated residency were funded by grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the McEvoy Family Fund of the IAS, UC Santa Cruz’s Arts Division, and annual donors to the IAS and the ICA.
UC Santa Cruz and Lick Observatory
December 2014 - November 2016
Over the course of two years, Russell was engaged in a collaborative residency co-organized by the Institute of the Arts and Sciences (IAS) at UC Santa Cruz, the UC Lick Observatory, Theoretical Astrophysics Santa Cruz (TASC), and the Institute of Contemporary Art San José.
The residency consisted of numerous trips to the Lick Observatory, the UCSC campus, and the San Jose ICA. Russell was given the extraordinary opportunity to use the telescopes at the Lick Observatory, with access to it's extensive archives, and to meet with UCSC scientists and students to gain insight into their cutting-edge research in Astrophysics. The residency inspired and informed Russell's resulting 2016-2017 solo exhibition at the ICA San José (as described to the left).
By the Great Refractor at the Lick Observatory, Russell talks with Elinor Gates and Tony Misch.
Above, Paul Lynam giving Russell instruction on the use of the Great 36-inch Refractor. Below, with Paul at the controls of the Lick's 40-inch Nickel Telescope
Making visual observations at the eyepiece of the Nickel telescope.
Tony Misch provides Russell with early astronomers' observing logs from the Lick's historical archive.
IAS/UCSC RESIDENCY PHOTOS BY JOHN WEBER