Inflatable planetarium dome, 4K projection system, 4-channel surround sound audio system.

Spring 2019 Course: Curating Stories and Science in Northern Arizona (taught by Daniel Collins)

In the seminar Curating Stories and Science in Northern Arizona, students worked individually and collectively to create a “research compendium” inspired by James Turrell’s Roden Crater. Marked by the intersection of science and art, our discussions included experts from astrophysics, literature, sacred architecture, natural history, cultural geography, Native American studies, perceptual psychology, phenomenology, archaeology, and fine art.  Students generated a rich collection of works representing many disciplines and methodological approaches.  Roden Crater has become a launching pad for our own embodied experience of place—from the microscopic features of the Arizona landscape to interstellar space.

Mixed media.

Spring 2019 Course: Indigenous Stories and Sky Science (taught by Wanda Dalla Costa)

Roden Crater is situated in the territorial homelands of at least eight Arizona tribes. To honor local history and the continued practice of Indigenous sky science in the southwest, the field lab Indigenous Stories and Sky Science will view the Crater through the lens of Indigeneity. The students, who went on a five-day journey to Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe, meeting locals, interacting with place and touring sites of sky observation, shared their experience using the four knowledges of community resilience: empirical, traditional, revealed and contemporary (From Johnson, et al. (2015). Weaving Indigenous and sustainability sciences to diversify our methods).