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NASA Photographs Are a Stellar Exhibit at SFMOMA
Spectacular scientific images charting American exploration of the Moon are presented in the exhibition Full Moon: Apollo Mission Photographs of the Lunar Landscape, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) running now, through January 11, 2000.
San Francisco-based photographic artist Michael Light gained unprecedented access to film masters from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) archive of 32,000 Apollo photographs. Full Moon features 51 unique photographic vistas, the distillation of Light's long obsession with the disorientation, brilliant clarity and dramatic immensity of the lunar surface. After selecting images and scanning NASA masters at high resolution, the artist spent more than a year working with the digital files, to create exhibition-quality pictures. The images were printed on photographic paper using the latest in direct digital printing techniques, resulting in the sharpest, most pristine presentation of this imagery ever made.
The exhibition also includes pictures that offer another, more complex view of what a landscape image is and might be, images that document the Apollo astronauts interacting with their foreign environment and the equipment they used on the missions. For example, a photograph of Apollo 15 astronaut Dave Scott records scientific sampling of the moon's primordial crust.
SFMOMA is also presenting a group of programs that complement the exhibition.
Tuesday, October 5 at noon, Phyllis Wattis Theater (Free Tuesday Program)
The Apollo Astronaut Experience
Eugene A. Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 17, talks with Andrew Chaikin, whose book A Man on the Moon is considered the definitive account of the Apollo missions. Following the program, Cernan will sign copies of his book The Last Man on the Moon from 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 4 at 7 p.m., Phyllis Wattis Theater
Full Moon: Tracking the Farthest Place
Thirty years after the first Moon landing, the NASA Apollo photographic archive paradoxically remains both the most--and least--known image collection in the world. Photographer Michael Light discusses his four-year involvement with the archive and its relation to the mythology of American expansionism, contemporary and historical landscape photography and his own organization of the exhibition and his book Full Moon. Ticket prices for this event are $10 general; $6 SFMOMA and SF Camerawork members, students with ID, and seniors.
Saturday, September 25 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Phyllis Wattis Theater (Getting to Know Modern Art)
Photography and Culture
Rod Slemmons, School of Art, University of Washington, Seattle, discusses the links between photography and culture, prompted by the exhibitions Julia Margaret Cameron's Women and Full Moon: Apollo Mission Photographs of the Lunar Landscape. While Cameron's novel imagery reflects a period with strict notions about a woman's role in society, the Apollo photographs were produced by astronauts, amateur photographers whose scientific motives led to an unrivaled merging of documentation and invention. Getting to Know Modern Art is a five-part series of classes that provides a lively introduction to the art of our time through in-depth exploration of SFMOMA's permanent collection and selected temporary exhibitions. Per class: $17 general; $14 SFMOMA individual, dual family, supporting, and out-of-town members; $11 SFMOMA artist/teacher members, students with ID, seniors, and docents.
Tickets for events at SFMOMA may be purchased (without a surcharge) with cash at the lobby-level admissions desk in advance and on the event date (subject to availability). Tickets may also be purchased at http://www.sfmoma.org, or by phone through BASS tickets at 415/776-1999 or 510/762-BASS (a surcharge will be applied). Event ticket purchase includes Museum admission. For more information, call the Office of Public Programs at 415/357-4102.
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