Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

I had the chance today to observe artist Kiki Smith as she and her assistant install her work of art called Constellation in the Bloch Building. The room-sized installation consists of a cloth covering on the floor that is adorned with cast glass animals and stars. Constellation will be on view beginning June 9.

As I watched her work, I noticed some materials on a table. At one point she came to get "her maps" as she called them. When I took a closer look, I found there were two books and a chart that shows the alignment of the constellations at different times of year.

The "map" that intrigued me the most was called The Stars, A New Way to See Them. The author's name was H.A. Rey and the book was published in 1952. I thought for a moment, is that the same man who wrote the Curious George books? Sure enough, it is. An exerpt from the book was utterly charming:

"The space age is upon us. Rockets are leaving our globe at speeds unheard of only a few years ago, to orbit earth, moon and sun. People have visited the moon, we have sent space probes to all but one of the planets, and words like “orbit” and “satellite” are picked up by children in the nursery.

And how has all this affected the age-old pleasure of watching the starry sky? Has it made stargazing obsolete?

It has not, and it never will. For we live on this earth and always shall. After the day is gone we shall go out, breathe deeply, and look up – and there the stars will be, unchanged, unchangeable. Even from the moon or Mars, or from Pluto, the outermost planet…the stars look the same as they do from the earth.

Night after night they are here. And night after night they arouse our curiosity, our urge for knowledge.

Stone age or space age, man will be asking the question his grandparents have asked before him and his grandchildren will ask after him: 'What star is that?'"

Even though these words were written more than 50 years ago (back when Pluto was considered a planet), they still ring true. I had thought that Constellation was an interesting piece when I first saw it. After having learned about some of the inspiration, I left feeling a little more connected to the universe. I hope that on June 9, you might too.