Digital Library

Artist In Residence pieces

The works of artists who communicate the possibilities of human experience are an integral part of the Exploratorium's exhibitry. In the words of Dr. Oppenheimer:

"Art is included, not just to make things pretty, although it often does so, but primarily because artists make different kinds of discoveries about nature than do physicists or biologists. They also rely on a different basis for decision-making while creating their exhibits. But both artists and scientists help us notice and appreciate things in nature that we had learned to ignore or had never been taught to see. Both art and science are needed to fully understand nature and its effects on people. The art in the Exploratorium is therefore blended with the science as a part of the overall pedagogy."

Below is a small selection of images taken of pieces that have been built for us by many talented artists in the Artists In Residence program.

• Joy and wonder at Kinetic Light by artist Christian Scheiss.
• Soap Film Painting. This exhibits shows beautiful interference colors in a large flat soap film by Ned Kahn.
• The Wave Organ is a wave-activated acoustic sculpture located on a jetty in the San Francisco Bay, by artist Peter Richards
• AM Lightning is a beautiful plasma sculpture by artist Bill Parker.
• The Sun Painting. One of the Exploratorium's first art pieces by artist Bob Miller.
• Are you moving, or is the room? It's hard to tell at Silage Beach.