The science of art and the art of memory

The Exploratorium’s Film Program continues in May with films dealing with the science of art and the art of memory. All films are included in the price of admission and are shown in the Exploratorium’s McBean Theater at 2pm. The program is as follows.

Saturday, May 14
Light, Darkness, and Colours
McBean Theater, 2 pm

Light, Darkness, and Colours (1998, 52 min.) uses Goethe’s Theory of Colors as a point of departure while taking us on a fascinating journey through the universe of colors. In his theory, Goethe found hidden colors in the boundaries between light and darkness. Calling it “the light - darkness polarity”, Goethe made this new scientific discovery using artistic methods in conjunction with science. Using strikingly beautiful time-lapse cinematography, and duplicating Goethe’s and Newton’s experiments on camera, directors Henrik Boetius, Marie Louise Lauridsen and Marie Louise Lefevre have crafted a visually stunning and intellectually rewarding film.

Saturday, May 21
Calcutta Calling by Sasha Khokha
McBean Theater, 2pm

Calcutta Calling (2004, 26 min.) by Sasha Khokha is a short documentary that traces the voyage of three adopted Indian-born girls from their Minnesota homes to the harsh streets of Calcutta. These three young women have been raised by American families in the hog-farming landscape of middle America and this film captures a time in their lives when their American perspectives are suddenly magnified as they find themselves traversing through the teeming landscape of their births. This is an affectionate and candid portrait of three young teenagers on the verge of adulthood. Shown in conjunction with Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

Sunday, May 29
The Art of Remembering
McBean Theater, 2pm

The Art of Remembering (2001, 22 min.) by Christine Oestreicher presents work by fifty-four contemporary British letter-cutters based on themes of memory and loss. These works include arches, standing stones, sundials, boulders, benches, rough-hewn stones as well as headstones and tablets. All are finely lettered and carved by hand from a wide variety of British stones and slates with one or two examples in wood and cast iron. Professor Ewan Clayton from the University of Sunderland provides a commentary that considers the relationship between memorials, people, and landscapes and reveals how the works shown stem from an ancient tradition, revived in the 1920s by the pioneering designer/craftsman, Eric Gill.

Sunday, May 29
McBean Theater, 2pm
Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision by Freida Lee Mock (1994, 98 mins.) gives us insight into the creative process of an artist in pursuit of a vision that conveys powerful memories to a Nation so that it remembers collectively. This documentary presents a portrait of Chinese American artist/architect/sculptor Maya Lin and highlights the sometime difficult but eventually rewarding path of designing and creating two eloquent and startling memorials. One is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. and the other is the Civil Rights Memorial in the South. Later projects by Lin are also explored. Shown in conjunction with Asian Pacific Heritage Month.