The Williamson Gallery exhibition SKY (2020-2021) featured works of contemporary art and science artifacts challenging provincial stereotypes of what lies above. Conceived and curated by ArtCenter Exhibitions VP Stephen Nowlin, the exhibition closed to the public after three weeks due to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. As part of a campaign to create online access to SKY, Nowlin approached Caltech Theater Arts Director Brian Brophy and a team of ArtCenter filmmakers to create SKY Stories: Cosmologists Occupy an Art Space. The outcome is an exhibition/storytelling duet in three parts, as an account of each astrophysicist’s journey to science unfolds in harmony with the surrounding exhibition.

NASA/JPL astrophysicist Agnès Ferté investigates how her intergalactic
teenage flights of fancy led her all across the world researching dark
energy and the mysteries of the universe.









NASA/JPL astrophysicist Alina Kiessling investigates how a childhood
dream of looking down into Earth’s archaeological history blossomed
into an adult career spent looking up to the stars.









NASA/JPL astrophysicist Dida Markovic reveals how her desire to build
rockets for space exploration has led her to design space-bound telescopes
that will gaze into the deep reaches of the cosmos.






SKY Stories (2021):
Concept/Executive Producer: Stephen Nowlin
Talent Director: Brian Brophy
Filming Direction/Editing: Lauren Mahoney & Luis Silva
Camera Assistant: Lyndsay Bloom
Graphics and Animation: Jacqui Ha