Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, October 15, 2016

4

SOUTH PASADENA - SAN MARINO

Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 15, 2016 

 

 Orbit Pavilion pictured 
from above at the May 2015 
World Science Festival at 
New York University. Photo 
courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

 NASA’s Orbit Pavilion sound 
experience is scheduled 
to land at The Huntington 
Library, Art Collections, and 
Botanical Gardens for a four-
month stay, inaugurating 
a new initiative at The 
Huntington focused on 
creative collaborations with 
other organizations. The 
exhibition of Orbit Pavilion 
runs from Oct. 29, to Feb. 
27, on the Celebration Lawn, 
adjacent to the Café and 
Celebration Garden.

 The new project, called “Five,” 
pairs The Huntington with 
five different organizations 
over five years, bringing in 
a range of contemporary 
artists who will respond 
to collections and themes 
drawn from some aspect of 
The Huntington’s rich library, 
art, or botanical collections. 
The first collaboration is with 
NASA and visual strategists 
from its Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory who conceived 
of the sound installation, 
representing the movement 
of the International Space 
Station and 19 earth satellites 
through artistically created 
sounds. The idea for an 
installation to convey the 
“sounds of satellites” is the 
brainchild of Dan Goods 
and David Delgado, visual 
strategists at JPL who 
commission and create 
experiences that illustrate, 
explain, or otherwise 
demonstrate scientific and 
technological phenomena.

 “We wanted a way to 
showcase these NASA 
satellites—to bring them 
down to Earth, if you will,” 
said Goods. “Orbit is the 
conduit for that experience, 
bringing people into contact 
with the satellites as they 
move above us in space.” 
The nautilus-shell-shaped 
sculpture is about 28 feet in 
diameter and clad in shiny 
aluminum. It was conceived 
of and designed by Jason 
Klimoski and Lesley Chang 
of the New York design firm 
StudioKCA and premiered 
last summer at the World 
Science Festival in New York 
City. The installation at The 
Huntington marks its debut 
on the West Coast.

 Inside the structure is 
where things get really 
interesting: as each satellite 
flies overhead through space, 
a corresponding sound is 
emitted from each of the 
28 speakers mounted on 
the structure’s interior wall. 
Visitors walking into the 
structure hear a new kind 
of symphony, with a sound 
interpreting each of the 
satellites’ various missions: 
among them a human voice, 
the crashing of a wave, a 
tree branch moving, a frog 
croaking. The “soundscape” 
was composed by Oakland-
based sound artist Shane 
Myrbeck.

 “We are delighted to have 
Orbit essentially launch 
this new project focused on 
artistic collaboration,” said 
Huntington president Laura 
Trombley. “The Huntington 
holds important collections 
on the history of astronomy 
and aerospace, and certainly 
JPL figures prominently in 
both of those narratives. 
The exhibition marks quite 
brilliantly the intersection 
between both institutions 
and our areas of common 
interest and endeavor.”

 The “Five” project is 
supported by Pasadena 
philanthropist Jennifer 
Cheng and is led by Jennifer 
Watts, curator of photography 
at The Huntington, and 
Catherine Hess, chief curator 
of European Art. “We see 
this as an opportunity to 
create some interesting 
synergies between The 
Huntington, its collections, 
and those organizations that 
are nurturing the growing 
community of artists across 
Los Angeles,” said Watts. 
“We bring to this partnership 
a rich array of rare books, 
manuscripts, photographs, 
art, and botanical materials—
The Huntington’s holdings. 
And contemporary artists 
can offer insight and new 
connections to our holdings 
in ways that reach beyond—
and certainly enhance—
more traditional academic 
conversations. We are excited 
by the prospect of allowing 
artists to create work that 
interprets our collections 
in unforeseen ways, 
whether visual or through 
performance.”

 Watts said she and a 
small team of Huntington 
staff assembled to oversee 
this initiative have been 
particularly impressed by 
the recent collaboration 
between The Huntington 
and Clockshop, an LA-
based arts organization, 
working together to make 
the oeuvre of science fiction 
writer Octavia Butler more 
visible. Through that effort, 
The Huntington is making 
available its Octavia Butler 
literary archives to a group of 
10 artists and writers chosen 
by Clockshop. Over the last 
year, these individuals have 
been immersed in Butler’s 
archive and are in the process 
of creating new visual, 
textual and performance 
works that take Octavia 
Butler and her work as points 
of departure. “The beauty 
of The Huntington is that 
there are endless stories to be 
told from the holdings here, 
endless art to be made in 
response,” says Hess.

 The curators have not yet 
selected the organizations 
with whom to partner for 
the remainder of the “Five” 
project. Those selections will 
be made on an annual basis 
and announced sequentially.


NASA’s Orbit 
Pavilion 
Sound 
Experience 
at The 
Huntington

South Paws-adena Dog Park

 


 South Pasadena’s new 
dog park is on course 
for completion by early 
November. The dog park 
will be located at 650 
Stoney Drive in the Arroyo 
Recreational Area next to 
the All Star batting Cages.

 During a dog park naming 
contest, “South Paws-adena 
Dog Park” had the highest 
number of votes.

 At an Oct. 5 meeting the 
council also approved the 
rules including hours of 
operations from 6:00 a.m. to 
10:00 p.m. and that “owners 
must be in the park, within 
view, and be able to maintain 
voice and or physical control 
of their dog," among other 
rules to be posted at the 
park.

 During the July 6, City 
Council meeting the Kasa 
Construction Company 
was awarded a $236,415 
contract to build the South 
Pasadena Dog Park Project. 
Construction began on 
August 8 (pictured above). 

 The city council members 
said they were trying for 
a Nov. 5 “leash cutting" 
ceremony.” 

South 
Pasadena 
Halloween 
Spooktacular

 


 Mummies and Daddies, 
bring your brood for night 
of Halloween fun at Orange 
Grove Park! The event is 
free for kids of all ages. 
Bring a monstrous appetite; 
there will be plenty of food 
available for purchase. Join 
us for a fun filled evening 
of music, games, inflatables, 
arts & crafts, and more! 
October 28, 2016 - 5:30pm 
to 8:00pm, Orange Grove 
Park, South Pasadena, 815 
Mission Street.


Library 
Strategic 
Planning 
Survey Now 
Online

 
The South Pasadena Public 
Library will be updating its 
Strategic Plan to guide its 
services for the next three 
years. Coming on the heels of 
its Library Operations Study, 
the Library will be looking 
at its collections, programs, 
services, technology, and the 
facility, to name but a few 
areas. The Library Board of 
Trustees has been working 
with a Library Planning 
Consultant to formulate survey 
questions to obtain input 
from individual members of 
the community regarding the 
needs of the Library. For our 
Strategic Planning process it is 
critical that we receive broad 
community participation in 
the process .Soon we will be 
announcing a “public invited” 
Strategic Planning Session to 
be held in the Library later this 
year. For now, we invite all 
community members --even 
non-Library users-- to take our 
very brief online survey. We 
thank all respondents for their 
time. More information about 
the survey can be found on the 
city’s website or take the survey 
directly at surveymonkey.com/
r/6J9MWLX.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com