Of Sea and Sky Information Page Mount Wilson Observatory July 20 – October 20, 2024 Iconic Observatory Places Artistic Lens on Science and Truth Immersive Video by Rebeca Méndez Large Scale Prints by Stephen Nowlin Installed inside the 100–inch telescope dome at Mount Wilson Observatory, Of Sea and Sky connects around themes of truth–seeking, Earth ecology and space cosmology, as well as sensitivities to the diverse histories of human knowledge–gathering. The exhibition proposes that the ultimate authority for a sustainable and empathetic human–nature relationship lies within human animals themselves, not with the so-called divine — and that visual art is a powerful means of communicating the tenets of that relationship. In their visually distinct but thematically related practices, both Rebeca Méndez and Stephen Nowlin approach this aspiration through artmaking that engages the poetic intertwined with the scientific. Their work contributes to a long arc of change in which art's traditional shaping of imaginary worlds has given way to its aesthetic–based reconnaissance of the scientifically real world. Through this lens, they provoke reactions and discourse around contemporary social and philosophical issues, as well as the challenging of past stereotypical tropes. The pairing of these two artists' complementary voices dovetails with the silent but powerful symbolism of Mount Wilson's 100–inch telescope as both sculpture and tool of seeking knowledge. Exhibition dates: July 20 – October 20, 2024 Exhibition hours: Open to the media throughout, by special appointment (see contact info below to arrange a visit during the week) Open to the public Saturday/Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (except concert dates: August 11, September 8, October 6) Admission is free – Donations to Mount Wilson Institute are appreciated online, or at the door. Click here to download the Mount Wilson Institute Of Sea and Sky Press Release For additional information and arranged visits, contact: Bonnie Winings, Mount Wilson Media Relations, Bwinings@mtwilson.edu 818-621-2434 Rebeca Méndez, rebeca@rebecamendez.com Stephen Nowlin, stephen@stephennowlin.com More on the artists and artworks: Rebeca Méndez's diverse works are driven by her interest in perception and embodied experience and they develop within the discourses of science, design, and art. They manifest as immersive installations of video and sound, photography, book arts, and public art bridging scientific and indigenous perspectives. On view on a custom–made circular screen with a 25–foot diameter, CircumSolar, Migration 1 by Rebeca Méndez is a 26–minute immersive video installation that highlights the epic journey of the Arctic tern, a pelagic bird renowned for making the longest migration of any creature. Each year, the Arctic tern flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back, experiencing the perpetual daylight of the polar night during both the boreal and austral summers. CircumSolar, Migration 1 invokes the Arctic tern's incredible voyage of traversing our planet across nearly the complete length of our Earth's meridians, propelled by the invisible forces of the sun, moon, oceanic currents, trade winds, Earth's magnetism, and food hotspots. When daylight wanes, the tern's instinct to migrate is reignited, and it takes to the skies again, harnessing its mastery over the natural forces that govern our planet. Blending scientific inquiry with poetic expression, CircumSolar, Migration 1 delves into pressing contemporary themes, such as human and animal migration, the ecological impacts of anthropogenic climate change, and the geopolitics of polar regions. Méndez underscores that humanity is an integral part of the planetary ecosystem, challenging us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world. Filmed in 16mm film and digital formats on location in Iceland, Svalbard, and Finland, Méndez immerses herself in the Arctic tern's perspective, striving to "become with" another species on a planetary scale. This approach is inspired by Donna Haraway's concept of "making kin," promoting interspecies relationships and reciprocal connections. Méndez is similarly guided by the author Barry Lopez who calls for a more intimate and less rational relationship with nature, back to a sense of mystery, a state of awe. He argues for "an enlightened response to indigenous cultures, whether Aztecan, Lakotan, lupine, avian or invertebrate. By broadening our sense of the intrinsic worth of life and by cultivating respect for other ways of moving towards perfection, we may find a resolution we have been looking for, I think, for centuries." Stephen Nowlin's artistic practice is inspired by science, the history of science, and theories of knowledge. His work employs the use of digital tools, photography, and scanning technology, resulting in small and large–scale limited edition achival pigment prints. Works in the exhibit are drawn primarily from three of his ongoing print series. An ongoing series of limited–edition prints, the This Land series explores newly discovered landscapes found in NASA and European Space Agency archives. The series' title references the Woody Guthrie song This Land is Your Land, written in 1940 as a critical response to Irving Berlin's God Bless America. Guthrie's song romanced about the American landscape while also protesting its privatization and the treatment of Dust Bowl and Depression era refugees. Nowlin's This Land puzzles over the flawed concept of divine blessing and the provinciality of an Earth–bound conception of 'land,' as well as a reconsideration of what 'our land' could mean in a solar system full of new worlds. The series is a meditation on how science re–scales our perspectives by disrupting fixed assumptions concerning our place in the universe, what is ours to possess, and how we fit in. The series Marginalia results from scanning pages of rare 16th to 19th century science, philosophy and theology books whose content resonates with contemporary social issues, and then adding artist–created content, opinion, and commentary in the manner of marginalia (thoughts added in the margins of books). In addition, other imagery from space telescope archives are digitally manipulated to be interwoven with texts drawn from history and from the artist's own writings. The territory of exploration includes the histories of art and of sky science, and human knowledge informed around astronomy. The series Chronicles of Fallacy consists of painterly or pictorial disturbances imposed on scanned pages from historical astronomy and theology books — X'd out falsehoods that were expounded upon in detail and declared as the truths of their time. Some have been debunked and put to rest while others, emptied only of their past incarnations, are living still in culturally normalized forms of untrue beliefs. The series is meant to honor past knowledge attempts despite their being riddled with error, as well as to challenge current ones — and to examine the broad presence of fallacy intertwined with history's ongoing search for truth. Artist Bios: Rebeca Méndezis an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator examining reciprocal relationships and environmental justice in a multi–species world amid climate change, mass extinction, and a ravaging extractivist society. Solo exhibitions include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Anchorage Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Nevada Art Museum, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Oaxaca. Group exhibitions: 1st Gangwon International Triennale 2021, 55th Venice Biennial, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, El Paso Museum of Art, and the Cooper–Hewitt National Design Museum. Recognition includes a California Community Foundation Fellowship; The Sally and Don Lucas Artists Residency; CODAaward in Public Spaces; inclusion into the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the National Design Award in Communication Design. Tucson's January 8th Memorial, a permanent public artwork in collaboration with Chee/Salette, was showcased on the PBS NewsHour, Art and Culture Series CANVAS. She earned a BFA, an MFA, and received the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from Art Center College of Design. Méndez is a tenured professor in the Department of Design Media Arts and founder and director of the Counterforce Lab at UCLA. https://rebecamendez.com Stephen Nowlin is an artist/curator and former Vice President, Exhibitions and Williamson Gallery Director at ArtCenter College of Design, where he initiated numerous art and design exhibitions and a series of collaborations with national scientific institutions exploring the intersection of science and art. In 2007 Nowlin began a 10–exhibit art–science series exploring physics, biology, and astronomy themes: In the Dermisphere (2007); TOOLS (2009 co–curated with John David O'Brien); ENERGY (2010); WORLDS (2011); PAGES (2012 co–curated with John David O'Brien); REALSPACE (2014); UNCERTAINTY (2016); ECLIPSE (2017 co–curated with astronomer Jay Pasachoff); MOONS (2018); SKY (2019–21). He is a co–founder and co–organizer of several Pasadena Art/Science (AxS) Festivals, and a co–founder of the bi–annual ArtNight Pasadena event. Nowlin's art–science writings have appeared in numerous exhibition catalogs and publications including the national SciArt Magazine, the MIT Press Journal Leonardo, the Claremont Graduate University's STEAM Journal, London's Interalia Magazine, Skeptical Inquirer magazine, New York's Brooklyn Rail, KCET's Artbound, PLASMA Magazine, and others. Nowlin received his BFA degree from CalArts and an MFA from ArtCenter. He is currently co–curator (with Julie Joyce and Christina Valentine) for ArtCenter's PST ART: Art and Science Collide exhibition, 2024. https://stephennowlin.com		Download High–Res Images Stephen Nowlin Installation View #1 HI–RES Rebeca Méndez installation view #1 Photo: Rebeca Méndez HI–RES Stephen Nowlin Installation View #2 HI–RES Rebeca Méndez installation view #2 Photo: Chuyu Liu HI–RES Stephen Nowlin Marginalia (Our Only Heaven), 2023 Limited edition archival pigment print, 62 x 74in. HI–RES Rebeca Méndez Screenshot 1, Circumsolar Migration, 2016 Projected video, 25-foot diameter. HI–RES
	Left to Right: Stephen Nowlin,This Land, Series 3, #4, 2022 HI–RES | Rebeca Méndez,Screenshot 2, Circumsolar Migration, 20162 HI–RES | Stephen Nowlin,Chronicles of Fallacy #1, 2022 HI–RES Left to Right: Rebeca Méndez, Screenshot 3, Circumsolar Migration, 2016 HI–RES | Rebeca Méndez, portrait HI–RES | Stephen Nowlin, portrait HI–RES