An Intersection of Art and Science: A Hard Rain's A - Gonna Fall
Jamestown Arts Center
April 21 - June 15, 2023
Press
Artscope Magazine “Surviving Extinction”
Artists
Rafael Attias (Rhode Island), Mathew Emmett (United Kingdom), Carla Gannis (New York), Anita Glesta (Australia, New York), David Nez (Oregon), Olivier Perriquet (France), Anne Senstad (Norway, New York), Otavio Schipper (Brazil) Saša Spačal (Slovenia), Hana Usui (Japan, Austria), and Vargas-Suarez Universal (Kyrgyzstan, New York)
About the exhibition
My conception of this project was a uniquely spontaneous and intuitive process that
connected an imaginative vision of historical facts with the rich cultural heritage of
Rhode Island, especially the city of Newport. The title of the exhibition— A Hard Rain’s
A-Gonna Fall, taken from the Bob Dylan song written sixty years ago during the summer
of 1962—was no accident. The legendary songwriter himself said that some of the lyrics
occurred to him through mysterious channels, akin to Kerouac’s notion of automatic
writing.
Inspired by the old European folk heritage that Dylan was investigating at the time, the
song appears on Dylan’s second album Freewheelin’, which came out in 1963. And “A
Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” was performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963. Thus
we cannot deny the political and almost prophetic message of the song that is more
than ever applicable today.
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
The selection of artists for this exhibition is based on scientific research that explores
the possibility of the mass extinction of the living organisms on our planet, and seeks to
investigate the idea of the complete disappearance of every known life form. This notion
becomes more and more relevant as we continue to witness the unstoppable change
due to global warming, pollution, fracking, mass production, wars, and the destruction of
Earth’s vital life sources such as oceans, forests, and animal life. Artists in this project
are exploring various realms and topics related to ecological disaster, the loss of known
life forms, the progress of AI, issues of global pandemic; and reexamining the possibilities of
survival after ecological catastrophe, all in a singular way that uses science to create art and
art to explain science. And these interdisciplinary approaches provide an important lens onto
the innovations made possible by the intersections between art, technology, biology,
philosophy, and history. JAC for this occasion is pleased to host 11 artists with various cultural,
artistic, and scientific backgrounds.
