iWende MuseumCulver City
Competing Cosmologies: Interpreting the Sky
Co-curated with a NASA historian, this show pairs Cold War-era and contemporary artworks with artifacts like a full-scale Sputnik-1 model on the Space Race and cosmos in art.
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Preview: written before the show opened
The show includes a full-scale model of Sputnik-1, the Soviet satellite that kicked off the Space Race, and sets it among cosmos-themed sculptures, ceramics, posters and board games.
The Wende has split the sky into four sections: Astronomy, the Space Race, Futurisms and Aliens. Artists from the East, the West and the Global South hang side by side, from Cold War-era work to pieces made now. Paintings by Chesley Bonestell are lent by Chicago's Adler Planetarium. Bonestell painted space for NASA and magazines after a career as a Hollywood matte painter, and his Saturn beats the smog-orange sky you watch from the 405 at 6pm.
Admission is free and needs no reservation. The museum is open Friday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Opening day is 7 November at noon, with a curator-led tour, speeches and a garden reception. This guide was written before the show opened, so it describes what the museum has announced.
Editor's pick
Cold War-era and contemporary art beside Space Race artifacts, including a full-scale model of Sputnik-1, co-curated with a NASA historian. At full scale, Sputnik is about the size of a beach ball. Free, in Culver City.
Look for
The Sputnik-1 model
A full-scale model of the first satellite, the object the Space Race section is built around.
Chesley Bonestell's space paintings
Paintings of other worlds by the former Hollywood matte painter, lent by the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.
Ceramics, posters and board games
Everyday cosmos-themed objects shown next to the sculptures and the artworks.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Nerding Out
- Rainy Days
Also at Wende Museum
On now nearby
Image credits
5
- Competing Cosmologies: Interpreting the SkyCourtesy of Wende Museum
- Sculpted Portraits from Ancient Egypt© The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved
- Charles Ross: Spectrum 14Courtesy of Getty Center
- Stories from the Library: The Mirror of the MoonCourtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
- Wende MuseumAlexis Doine / Wikimedia Commons, CC0