exploratorium

Artworks on View

Art is everywhere at the Exploratorium. Here are some of the artworks currently on display—and where to find them.

 

Spectral Meadow

Pete Stephens, 2013

Watch the patterns change as the Earth turns and the Sun moves across the sky.

Where: Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Still Life

Sam Taylor-Wood, 2001

In the celebrated film Still Life, an impossibly beautiful bowl of fruit decays at an accelerated pace via time-lapse editing, transforming a timeless scene into a visceral memento mori. On loan from the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection.

Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems

Sun Painting exhibit
Sun Painting

Robert Larue (Bob) Miller, 1971

Created by artist Bob Miller, this classic Exploratorium exhibit is a “live” painting that uses light from the Sun as its palette.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Sun Swarm

Chris Bell, 2013

An elevated topography of silvered squares inserted between the water and the sky, Sun Swarm is an architectural intervention that collects and disperses bits of sunlight across the deck of Pier 17.

Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits

Sweeper's Clock

Maarten Baas, 2010

Sweeper's Clock is a 12-hour-long movie in which two performers replicate an analog clock by sweeping two piles of garbage.

Where: Crossroads: Getting Started

The Atmosphere: A Guide
The Atmosphere: A Guide

Amy Balkin, 2013

This poster-essay depicts human influences on the sky and their accumulated traces, whether chemical, narrative, spatial, or political. Visually referencing the Cloud Code Chart, the guide explores ways that humans literally and figuratively occupy the present, past, and future atmosphere, from sea level to the exosphere.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes

Time Shift

Ken Murphy, 2013

A visual work that allows viewers to browse and select from an archive of time-lapse sequences that reveal human and natural processes at work in the local landscape.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes

Timepieces (Solar System)

Katie Paterson, 2014

Timepieces provokes us to reconsider everyday timekeeping by presenting the time on other celestial bodies. These nine clocks show the current time on other planets and our moon.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes

Tinkerer's Clock

Tim Hunkin, 2013

Check out a clock full of tinkerers that chimes the time.

Where: Gallery 2: Tinkering

Tornado exhibit
Tornado

Ned Kahn, 1986

Fans simulate the swirling airflow in a thunderstorm and fog machines make the pattern visible, creating a miniature tornado that you can disturb with the wave of a hand.

Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems

Triple-Aye Lightstick

Bill Bell, 1983

A sweeping glance creates images that appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. 

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Turbulent Orb

Ned Kahn, 1994

Swirling turbulent patterns evoke the atmosphere of our own spinning planet.

Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems

Vortex exhibit
Vortex

Douglas Hollis, 1979

A twist of a knob sets water jets in motion, causing water in this giant cylindrical tank to spin. Soon, a tiny vortex appears at the surface, gradually swelling in size as it snakes downward.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Water Waves—Time Horizon

Andrej Zdravič, 1993

Water Waves is a multi-monitor video installation and time-horizon study of the power and beauty of ocean waves.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Within 15 Minutes
Within 15 Minutes

Alma Haser, 2017

Alma Haser photographed sets of identical twins and made them into identical jigsaw puzzles. She then swapped every other piece of their puzzles, completely mixing them half and half. Not always knowing where their eyes mouth, and lips would end up, the result is a pair of eerie, unrecognizable portraits. 

Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems

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