Art / Exhibitions
RWA presents major new exhibition on ‘Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space’
Opening on January 24 and running until spring, a landmark exhibition at the RWA will explore our human fascination with space.
Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space will feature works from celebrated artists including Yinka Shonibare, Cornelia Parker and Wolfgang Tillmans, as well as pieces from emerging artists working in a range of different media, from painting to photography; sculpture and installation to digital illlustration.
Ione Parkin has curated the exhibition, which also features a diverse array of scientific artefacts from the collections of the Royal Astronomical Society and the National Maritime Museum – historical drawings of the moon, celestial globes and detailed star maps among them.
Ione Parkin: Fusion
Otto Dettmer: Galactic Narrowboat
A selection of essays will illuminate and contextualise the works on display, including a contribution from Sian Prosser, librarian and archivist at the Royal Astronomical Society, and a foreword by astrophysicist and author Professor Chris Lintott (The Sky at Night).
In it, Lintott points to astronomy as a necessarily visual science – in allowing us “to make visible much of our Universe”.
Susan Derges: Full Moon Spawn
Work by Janette Kerr
For fans of art and space alike, Cosmos will offer “a unique journey through time, imagination and inquiry”, the RWA states, “inviting visitors to experience the awe, wonder, and curiosity that the cosmos continues to inspire”.
Dr Kathryn Johnson is head of exhibitions at the gallery. “Ione Parkin RWA has brought together a dazzling range of over 100 works from the last 400 years”, she notes.
Tom Hammick: The Unending Sky
Melanie King: Ancient Light Pakistan.
“The exhibition is a brilliant and spectacular fusion of art and science.
“And although we can’t claim any inside NASA knowledge, we’re excited to be launching it in the same year as the planned Artemis II mission to Moon!”
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Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space is at RWA on January 24-April 19. Find out more at www.rwa.org.uk or follow @rwabristol.
All photos: RWA (main photo: Susan Eyre, ‘Sun Factor’, screenprint on aluminium)
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