Night Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty
@
THe Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco
Exhibition dates: June 18 – Sept 20, 2015
During June–September 2015, the Institute For Figuring's Bleached Reef will be on display in the exhibition Night Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty, an examination of artistic responses to "the staggering immensity of nature," at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
About the exhibition: "In the eighteenth century, the concept of the sublime became influential among painters and poets due to an increasing interest in the aesthetics of science. Expanding global exploration made people astutely aware of the enormous scale and splendor of the planet’s wild places, and astronomy was revealing the staggering immensity of the universe. The result was a combination of awe and fear—awe at the majesty and beauty of creation, and fear of human frailty, mortality, and insignificance in the light of the vastness of the cosmos. This response itself became a point of interest: how do we existentially resolve our psychology and spirituality with this new information?
Taking its title from the biblical concept that, “the day goes after the night,” (Gen 1:5) at the time of creation, Night Begins the Day is an exhibition featuring the work of twenty-seven artists, scientists, and creative thinkers that, in this current moment of expansion through scientific development, look at three aspects of contemporary art that can be seen as emerging from the historic precedent of the sublime: technological innovation; new understandings of time; and new expressions of awe and fear that have emerged from contemporary irony and cultural critique."
CJM exhibition curator: Renny Pritikin, with associate curator Lily Siegel.
The IFF's Bleached Reef is an installation of handicrafted corals evoking, through the collective work of women, the beauty of living reefs and the threats they face from global warming. Reef design by Margaret and Christine Wertheim. Crochet coral pieces by Christine and Margaret Wertheim (CA/Australia), Marianne Midelburg (Australia), Nancy Lewis (VT), Helle Jorgensen (Australia), Sarah Simons (CA), Evelyn Hardin (TX), Arlene Mintzer (NY), Jill Schrier, (NY), Pamela Stiles (NY), Dagma Frinta (NY), Christina Simons (CA). With vintage doilies by unknown makers, and miniature beaded-coral towers by Nadia Severns (NY).
Artists featured in Night Begins the Day include Peter Alexander, Lisa K. Blatt, Peter Dreher, Moira Dryer, Werner Herzog, Institute For Figuring, Robert Kooima, Michael Light, The Long Now Foundation, and Fred Tomaselli.
Night Begins the Day is accompanied by an illustrated catalog with essays by the curators, along with Dodie Bellamy and Nathaniel Deutch.
