ATHICA will be reopening their new doors Saturday, August 18 at The Leathers Building, located at 675 Pulaski Street. Their first exhibition in their space was curated and incudes work by a number of Dodd students, faculty, alumni, and staff. 

Forty-one years after the launch of NASA’s Voyager vessels, ATHICA celebrates the legacy of the Golden Record in an exhibition featuring work by regional and national artists. The Golden Record: Far Beyond Our Galaxy is the inaugural exhibition at ATHICA’s new location in the Leathers Building.

In 1977, NASA launched two Voyager space probes designed to gather information about the planets in our solar system. Both were outfitted with a Golden Record, a gold-plated copper disk with a compilation of 103 sounds and 115 images from Earth selected by a committee led by scientist and educator Carl Sagan. The hope was that they might be discovered and decoded by alien life in the future. Both disks bear the sounds of the Brandenburg Concerto, greetings in 55 languages, thunder, crickets, a heartbeat, and “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry, along with images of the minutiae of Earth such as a woman in a supermarket, rush hour traffic, and children standing around a globe.

The Golden Record exhibition is inspired by the images and sounds seared into the records affixed to the Voyager spacecraft. The exhibition features works in all media, including sound, video, interactive media, found materials, and handmade materials. It reflects on the beautiful and daft hopefulness of the Golden Records going forth for 40,000 years to be almost near the next closest star.

Curatorial team member Brooke Leeton and current Dodd PhD candidate states, “The 13 artists included in The Golden Record at ATHICA consider the meaning and implications of the records. Their work addresses issues of humanity’s place in the cosmos, the record’s relevance, and the limits of representation inherent to the Golden Record.”

Featuring works by Mickey Boyd, Catherine Clements (MFA candidate), Matthew Flores (MFA candidate), Keaton Fox, Mary Gordon (MFA candidate), Gerald Habarth, Katlin Shae (MFA candidate), Braden Skelton (BFA student), Stephanie Sutton (MFA 2017 and Dodd staff), T2R, Robby Toles (MFA candidate), Momma Tried, and Harrison D. Walker.

The curators, Brooke Leeton (PhD candidate), Rebecca Brantley (BA, BFA, and MA alum), Jon Vogt (Dodd Part-Time Faculty and Art Studio Technician), and Paula Runyon (MFA candidate) are all members of the ATHICA Exhibitions Committee and have participated in ATHICA in various roles, including as exhibiting artists, curators, board members, and volunteers.

The Golden Record: Far Beyond Our Galaxy is on view from August 18 through October 7, 2018.

Opening Reception: Saturday, August 18, 2018, 6-9 PM
Sounds of Athens Record Release Party and Closing Event: Friday, October 5, 2018, 7-10 PM

Retrofitting Our Spatiality by Robby Toles.