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Artworks on View
Art is everywhere at the Exploratorium. Here are some of the artworks currently on display—and where to find them.
Jacques Cousteau in Seashells
Kenneth Knowlton, 1987
There’s more to seeing than meets the eye.
Where: Ray and Dagmar Dolby Atrium
Lab Illustrations
Lucy Conklin, 2013
Conklin spent several weeks observing the Exploratorium's life sciences laboratory and produced a number of original works that capture the inner workings of the facility. Beyond hand-rendered “portraits” of the many organisms cultured in the lab, Conklin successfully and beautifully captured the process and practices of staff biologists.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Lariat Chain
Norman Tuck, 1987
This artwork by Norman Tuck demonstrates that a very simple system—a metal chain hanging from a motor-driven bicycle wheel—can generate complex behaviors.
Where: Gallery 2: Tinkering
Library of Earth Anatomy
Ilana Halperin, 2017
Library of Earth Anatomy, a collection of remarkable geological artifacts that invite and inspire us to see rocks in new ways. The Library employs unconventional classification methods to dissolve the usual boundaries between nature and culture, as well as between animal, vegetable, and mineral.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Listening Vessels
Douglas Hollis, 1987
Enormous parabolic sculptures transmit a conversation—or even a whisper—from one person to another across a great distance.
Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening
Lumen-Illusion
Christian Schiess, 1983
Flashing lights create the illusion of motion.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Machine with Concrete
Arthur Ganson, 1992
A motor is connected to a block of concrete via a simple system of gears. The final gear will make one revolution into the concrete once every 13.7 billion years, yet the machine whirs uninterrupted.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Moving Objects
Pe Lang, 2012
These rings on a string pass through each other—don’t they?
Where: Ray and Dagmar Dolby Atrium
Observatory Library
Prelinger Library and Archives, 2013
The Observatory Library is the Bay Observatory’s research center, providing context and historical insight to the local landscape just beyond the windows.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Oculus Table
Rebecca Cummins, Woody Sullivan, 2013
Oculus Table introduces a contemporary twist on a common ancient Greek sundial, the scaphe (σκάφη or "bowl"). With sunlight streaming through the oculus—the hole in the ceiling of the Fisher Bay Observatory—the movable table can be visually aligned with landmarks on the skyline (Coit Tower, Transamerica Pyramid, etc.) to discover the Sun's position in the sky and the current time and date.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Oscylinderscope
Norman Tuck, 1998
A piece consisting of a cylinder and guitar strings, that when plucked, demonstrate how strings behave when they vibrate to produce sound. Both the tension and the length of a string effect the frequency of vibration (pitch of the sound). Shorter or tighter strings vibrate faster to make higher tones and vice a versa, while the horizontal distance between the peaks and valleys of each wave reflects the loudness of the sound.
Where: Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
Perspective Drawing Window
Peter Richards, 1974
Tracing on the glass produces precise perspective.
Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening
Probably Chelsea
Heather Dewey-Hagborg: AIR, Chelsea E. Manning, 2017
Twenty different sculptural portraits, all based on the same person's DNA information.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Recollections
Ed Tannenbaum, 1981
This work addresses the poetics of motion, time and color. Participants are able to explore animated effects such as how sequences of images create movement. By displaying sequences simultaneously, movement forms are created. The history of the movement is expressed through multiple rainbow-colored images that evoke memories of legendary photographer Harold Edgerton's work.
Where: Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
Rolling Through the Bay
Scott Weaver, 2003
Artist Scott Weaver has spent over 40 years painstakingly constructing this replica of the city of San Francisco out of toothpicks. Ping-pong balls added here or there wind their way through the model, visiting various famous sites along the way.
Where: Gallery 2: Tinkering
Saltscapes
Cris Benton, 2013
The South San Francisco Bay salt evaporation ponds take on a variety of colors due to halophilic organisms that adapt to various salinities. Photographer Cris Benton captures this vibrant landscape in a series of aerial photos taken from homemade kite-cameras flown over the ponds.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Scrapple
Golan Levin, 2013
Scrapple is an audiovisual installation in which everyday objects placed on a table are interpreted as sound-producing marks in an "active score."
Where: Ray and Dagmar Dolby Atrium
Self-Centered Mirror
Daniel Rozin, 2009
It’s all you, and only you, in this mirror.
Where: Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
Self-Excluding Mirror
Daniel Rozin, 2009
In this mirror, you’re nowhere to be seen.
Where: Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
Shadow Box
Carl Bucher, 1973
A bright flash of light illuminates a phosphorescent wall—imprinting temporary shadows that capture a moment in time.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Silage Beach
Mowry Baden, 1987
Are the stripes spinning . . . or are you?
Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening
Sky Theater
Terence McArdle, 2013
Sky Theater is a rear-projected enclosure designed to reveal and celebrate unseen patterns of the daytime sky.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Solar Hour Benches
Rebecca Cummins, Woody Sullivan, 2013
The Solar Hour Benches are a set of six oval benches, each with a slit aperture aligned with the sun for one particular hour: 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., noon, 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m. solar time. Throughout the year, for only twenty minutes before and after the corresponding hour, sunlight travels through the aperture and projects onto inscriptions on the ground. Scientific and cultural aspects of time and sundials are also depicted on each bench.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
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