SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College announces the opening of a new exhibition, Parallax: Framing the Cosmos.
An opening reception takes place Saturday, Oct. 15, and the exhibition will be on view through June 19, 2023.
The work on view spans centuries, from an 1885 photograph of the constellation Cygnus to a 2022 Afrofuturist mixed-media collage by Alisa Sikelianos-Carter, and features textiles, prints, drawings, sculptures, paintings, and photography, including a wealth of NASA press photographs and other work new to the Tang collection being exhibited for the first time.
Parallax explores outer space as a backdrop for understanding ourselves, interrogating both individual quests for unique places in space and culturally specific myths, including the US nationalist fantasy of conquering the moon and stars on behalf of “all mankind.”
“Parallax presents scientific images from over the centuries alongside recent standout work by contemporary artists such as Lisa Beck, Vija Celmins, Giorgia Lupi, Josiah McElheny, Demetrius Oliver, Katie Paterson, Dario Robleto, Carrie Schneider, and Alisa Sikelianos-Carter, to name a few,” said Dayton Director Ian Berry, in a statement. Berry is co-curator of the exhibition along with Tang Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara and Skidmore College Associate Professor of English Maggie Greaves. “This interdisciplinary approach is a hallmark of the Tang’s exhibition programming, which is powered by collaborations with Skidmore faculty like the wonderful poet and professor Maggie Greaves.”
“The term ‘parallax’ describes how an object appears to change position when viewed from different vantage points,” McNamara said. “It is also a metaphor for how we relate to space and to one another here on Earth. The gallery is staged to encourage these ever-shifting perspectives, with artwork moving in and out of sightlines in unexpected ways as you walk around.”
At 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, the Tang’s popular Family Saturdays features a drop-in art-making activity open to all during Skidmore College’s Celebration Weekend. Inspired by work on view in Parallax: Framing the Cosmos, participants are invited to create spirograph collages.
At 4 p.m., Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara leads a tour of Parallax: Framing the Cosmos, and at 5 p.m. a celebration of all fall exhibitions will take place, including Parallax: Framing the Cosmos, Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy, Lauren Kelley: Location Scouting, Cabinet of Queeriosities, and Lotus Shoes: Stories between Stitches.
All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Tang Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or visit tang.skidmore.edu.
