Arts
Life, the Universe and Everything
- Clayton Spada, left, and Victor Raphael
- Photo/Jon Vidar
By Bill Dotson on September 17, 2009 8:07 AM
From Zero to Infinity: The Story of Everything recently debuted in Doheny Memorial Library, drawing one of the largest-ever audiences to a USC Libraries opening exhibition.
The multipart exhibition is a unique expression of how library collections inspire artists to transform past knowledge in unexpected ways. The Story of Everything features digital artworks by artists Victor Raphael and Clayton Spada, as well as rare books from the USC Libraries’ special collections that helped fuel their creative explorations.
Twenty digital compositions from the artists’ From Zero to Infinity series are displayed on the ground floor of Doheny Library. The pieces overlay abstract images of galaxies, solar systems and other astronomical phenomena with visual elements ranging from religious texts to scientific treatises and cave paintings.
Artworks such as “Above Reason,” “Ecliptic Plane” and “Problema X” contrast modern and ancient ways of knowing, revealing both tensions and common elements. By bringing together disparate ways of understanding our place in the universe, Raphael and Spada reflect on the limits of human knowledge. “We don’t know the answer to everything,” Raphael said. “But we do know everything is connected.”
Dean Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries said that Raphael and Spada’s artworks reveal core values shared by the libraries. “In the intricate, technical process of their creation,” she said, “one can find a reverence for the knowledge of the past and its profound relationship to our intellectual and spiritual lives.”
The artists maintain a sense of humor despite - or perhaps because of - the vast scope of their philosophical inquiries. “To distill every aspect of existence into some supposed ‘story of everything’ - that takes hubris,” Spada said.
It also required quite a few trips to the library. As part of their creative process, Raphael and Spada worked closely with librarians at the USC Libraries’ special collections who guided them toward visual materials in their From Zero to Infinity series. Investigating the libraries’ rare holdings “evolved our process in ways we couldn’t have imagined,” Spada said.
Many of these intriguing objects from the libraries’ collections are displayed in Notes From the Story of Everything in the Treasure Room of Doheny Library. Visitors to the exhibition can see everything from a pop-up edition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” to a 17th-century atlas of the moon.
In the LiteraTea Café and the ground floor corridor of Doheny, Footnotes From the Story of Everything continues Raphael and Spada’s explorations in a changing display of illustrations from books on display in the Treasure Room.
From Zero to Infinity: The Story of Everything will be on display through Dec. 13 in Doheny Memorial Library. The USC Fisher Museum of Art has a 30-year survey of Victor Raphael’s work titled Travels and Wanderings, 1979-2009 on display through Dec. 19.
Latest Arts stories
- Trojan Vision Strikes Platinum and Gold Awards February 6, 2012 12:10 PM
- USC Thornton’s Debut Orchestra Tours China February 6, 2012 11:05 AM
- Behind Those Violet Eyes February 3, 2012 3:11 PM
-
For Journalists »
-
USC in the News
for 2/8/2012 »-
The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
-
-
Campus News
- Capital Connections
- USC faculty, staff and alumni in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento
- In Print
- New and recent books written or edited by USC faculty and staff
- Family Matters
- Achievements and awards
- Obituaries