Asia Society Texas (AST) is excited to announce the launch of its newest exhibition, Space City: Art in the Age of Artemis. Assembling the works of 31 contemporary artists who explore the mysteries and wonders of outer space, the exhibition centers Houston’s identity as “Space City” as a point of departure and shares the awe of outer space through the eyes of artists. Space City: Art in the Age of Artemis open to the public Thursday, October 17, 2024, through Sunday, March 16, 2025.
Since John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech at Rice University galvanizing Americans behind his plan to land on the Moon, Houston’s identity has been tied to spaceflight. As NASA prepares humans to return to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, Space City highlights artists with a strong connection to Houston — almost half of the artists in the exhibition are from or have lived in the city — and creates an intergenerational, transcultural, and international show that orbits four themes: Origins, Celestial Bodies, Space Technology, and Other Worlds.
Across these themes, the Space City artists ponder the beginnings of the cosmos, how the stars and planets catalyze the creativity of artists, the role technology plays in space exploration, and how artists deploy science fiction to build new worlds. The exhibition features nine new commissions from artists who live in Houston or have called Space City home. "Space City: Art in the Age of Artemis is a love letter to Houston as the cradle of spaceflight. The exhibition creates a global dialogue about how the universe's mysteries continue to shape the thinking of artists. Although an earth-bound exhibition, it will be an imaginative journey through the stars," says Owen Duffy, AST’s Nancy C. Allen Curator and Director of Exhibitions.
In addition, landmark works include James Clar's Binary Star, which uses LED lights to visualize two stars gravitationally bound to each other; Ander Mikalson's Score for the Big Bang, in which the artist collaborated with astronomer Dr. Mark Whittle to translate the sounds that pulsed through the infant universe into a musing for voice and pipe organ; and a new sculptural commission by Houston-based astro-futurist world builder JooYoung Choi that brings to life her fantastic universe of the Cosmic Womb.
Space City traverses art, science, and human curiosity, inviting visitors to boldly go on an imaginative journey through the cosmos. As NASA embarks on the Artemis missions to return to the Moon, this exhibition surveys how artists today are investigating some of the most profound questions about the universe in the city where that journey began.