PSI’s Jamie Molaro hosts workshop exploring relationships with time

Category: Cover Story

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From Nov.1-3, Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Jamie Molaro hosted 30 people for the “Making Space: A Workshop on Space, SciArt, & Society” in Pasadena, CA. The theme was Chronology, timescale as a dynamic framework for understanding planetary bodies and our relationship to them.

The workshop is designed to explore the way that planets evolve, how processes at both long and short timescales interact, how cultural perceptions of space have shifted over time and how art and artists change through exploration.

Speakers included:

  • Suzanne Smrekar, geophysicist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead of the NASA’s planned VERITAS mission to Venus.
  • Jane Szabo, a Los Angeles-based conceptual artist combing imagery and fabrication to explore place and identity.
  • Jamie Molaro, a Research Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and workshop lead.
  • Nikki Seymour, a geoscientist at Occidental College.
  • Libby Ives, a planetary scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  • Lauren Denson, a quality assurance engineer from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Presentations included how Venus has evolved throughout its history and a demonstration of how to portray time throughout a lifetime. Another speaker brought her Apache perspective on stewardship of the Moon, while others shared how Earth’s mineral clock ticks and how history can be captured in layers of sedimentary rocks here and on Mars.

“The workshop weaves discussions and collaborative art prompts throughout the talks so that participants can explore the topics from a flexible and creative framework. This not only helps with understanding the information but artists are really good at asking new questions which can bring to light new perspectives and ways to think about it.” Molaro said. “I always feel privileged to learn from the insightfulness of the participants. This group just really dove into exploring the material together.”

Other activities model different techniques for how to incorporate scientific ideas into art, giving the opportunity for participants to practice methods they may incorporate in their own work.

Participants have a mix of backgrounds in art, science and engineering and education.

“It’s critical to have people from different backgrounds and career levels in the room to accomplish that, and I know they all really enjoyed getting to meet each other,” she said.

This workshop was held in collaboration with NASA’s Solar System Treks, a public portal providing access to images and data from spacecraft missions to other worlds, and included a demo of how participants might use it in their own work. Support for the event was provided by NASA SCoPE, a part of NASA’s broader Science Activation program.