Parallax: Framing the Cosmos

Parallax describes how an object appears to change position when viewed from different vantage points, as in the viewfinder of a camera or when a star is seen from two different places in Earth’s orbit. As an astronomical term and a metaphor for shifting perspectives, parallax reminds us that no two cultures, nations, or minds perceive the apparently “universal” universe in the same way. Parallax: Framing the Cosmos presents outer space as a backdrop for understanding ourselves, interrogating both individual quests for unique places in space and culturally specific myths, including the US nationalist fantasy of conquering the moon and stars on behalf of “all mankind.” The exhibition offers interdisciplinary insights into and meditations on the particular and the universal, the past and the future, the eternal and the mutable, the intimate and the infinite, encouraging us to consider our own personal, national, emotional, and creative selves in the context of a greater universe.
Parallax presents conceptual, experimental, and documentary photography; textiles; scientific and artistic prints and drawings; sculpture; and painting, including many recent acquisitions to the Tang collection that will be displayed publicly for the first time. With a focus on the United States’ relationship to space travel—explored through hundreds of NASA press photographs—the exhibition will further our understandings of identity formation in relation to the cosmos and suggest ways of seeing and behaving differently in the universe we share.

Parallax Iterations

There are two iterations of Parallax: Framing the Cosmos. The show was re-installed with new works on January 28, 2023. This page will serve as an archive of these iterations and the programming that activated the space over two semesters.
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Spring 2023
Installation view, *Parallax: Framing the Cosmos*, Tang Teaching Museum, 2023, photo by Mindy McDaniel
Installation view, Parallax: Framing the Cosmos, Tang Teaching Museum, 2023, photo by Mindy McDaniel
Fall 2022
Anchor name: Dunkerley Dialogue Video
Dunkerley Dialogue with Sumita Chakraborty and Maggie Greaves
Poet Sumita Chakraborty and Skidmore Associate Professor of English Maggie Greaves, a co-curator of the exhibition “Parallax: Framing the Cosmos,” discuss the poet’s creative and scholarly work on the intersections of outer space, ecology, race, and gender in a Dunkerley Dialogue on Thursday, October 6, 2022.
Exhibition Name
Parallax: Framing the Cosmos
Exhibition Type
Group Exhibitions
Faculty Curated
Place
Wachenheim Gallery
Dates
Oct 1, 2022 - Jun 18, 2023
Curators
Parallax: Framing the Cosmos is curated by Dayton Director Ian Berry, Skidmore Associate Professor of English Maggie Greaves, and Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara.
Artists
Edward Emerson Barnard, Lisa Beck, Christopher Bucklow, Vija Celmins, Russell Crotty, Dorothy Dehner, Sharon Harper, Prosper Mathieu Henry and Paul Pierre Henry, Jed Lind, Robert Longo, Giorgia Lupi, Josiah McElheny, Abelardo Morell, NASA, Michael Oatman, Demetrius Oliver, Alice O'Malley, Johann Palisa and Max Wolf, Katie Paterson, Pierre Salet, Sun Ra, Dario Robleto, Cara Romero, Carrie Schneider, Alisa Sikelianos-Carter, Michelle Stuart, Toshiko Takaezu, Mildred Thompson, Fred Tomaselli, Unrecorded artists, Anna Von Mertens, Cullen Washington Jr.
Student Staff
Lucy headshot
Lucy Schwartzreich
Registrarial Intern, Student Advisory Council
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Willa Flink
Registrarial Intern, Student Advisory Council
Eve headshot
Eve Kreshtool
2022-23 Charina Endowment Fund Endowed Intern, Student Advisory Council Chair, Curatorial Intern, Tang Guide
Past: Tang Guide
Helen headshot2022
Helen Branch
Registrarial Intern, 2022-23 Carole Marchand Endowed Intern, Student Advisory Council, Tang Guide
Mel standing in front of a grey-white brick wall and a concrete wall.
Mel Douer
2023-24 Charina Endowment Fund Endowed Intern, Student Advisory Council Chair, Curatorial Intern, Tang Guide
Past related events
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