The Adler Planetarium

Astrographics kicked off ART on THE MART’s alignment with the Year of Chicago Music, a city-wide celebration of Chicago’s music community spearheaded by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), to present never-before-seen, multi-sensory projections honoring the future of music-making in Chicago on a grand scale. The launch of the Astrographics projection also aligned with the City of Chicago’s Chicago Riverwalk opening celebrations.

The work explored the ways in which humans conceptualize and visualize the universe, and how that has changed over time. The piece consisted of four movements (Earth, Other Worlds, Stars, and Beyond) that step out to progressively deeper and more speculative realms. Each of these movements feature scientific visualizations produced by The Adler Planetarium’s Space Visualization Group, woven together with imagery from the world’s telescopes and works on paper from The Adler’s collections. The projection was accompanied by music from Sun Ra archives, curated by the Experimental Sound Studio. The piece honored the progress that has occurred in the 90 years since The Adler Planetarium was founded on May 1930, becoming the first planetarium in the Americas.

The Adler Planetarium connects people to the Universe and each other. Whether it is introducing a guest to the Ring Nebula, a neighborhood school to a community partner, a research team to a network of citizen scientists, or one staff member to another, the Adler’s focus on meaningful connections dates back nearly a century. Today, the museum hosts more than half a million visitors each year and reaches millions more through youth STEM programs, neighborhood skywatching events, online citizen science, and other outreach projects. With the Adler’s support, people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities gain the confidence to explore their Universe together and return to their communities ready to think critically and creatively about any challenge that comes their way.