Artworks on View

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

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, 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

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