Crossing Over explores the rich imagery in the Institute’s historic collections and complements it with contemporary artworks. The exhibition unfolds across Caltech’s campus in six outdoor and indoor venues, some rarely seen by the general public. Three interconnected thematic sections—The Infinite Lawn, Time Stream, and Powers of Ten—take viewers from the “universe without” (stars, moons, planets, and galaxies) to the “universe within” (genes, molecules, atoms, and particles). These are accompanied by unique installations by critically-acclaimed artists.

Helen Pashgian at Chen Acclaimed Light and Space artist Helen Pashgian was the lone woman to join Caltech’s newly created artist-in-residence program in 1969. Her radiant lens of 2023, displayed in a temporary pavilion at Caltech’s Chen Neuroscience Research Building, reflects her longstanding interest in the effects and perception of light.

Lita Albuquerque, This Moment in Time This monumental site-specific installation turns a bridge at the center of Caltech’s campus into a icon of connection between art and science, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Albuquerque’s first exhibition at Caltech’s Baxter Art Gallery. The artist’s use of gold refers to the creation of the precious metal and other chemical elements through nuclear fusion reactions within stars.

Lia Halloran, You, Me, and Infinity In this enveloping work, created for Crossing Over, Halloran employs cyanotype and painting to traverse eight levels of scale, from vacuum fluctuations at the moment of the Big Bang to her own growing children to galaxies and gravitational waves. It introduces the theme of scale which organizes the gallery in which it appears, Powers of Ten.

Shana Mabari, Spectrum Petals This installation, also created for this exhibition, consists of seven mirrored cylinders that echo astronomical instruments and the narrow band of visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum. Hard-edged and luminous, Mabari’s sculptures sprout on Bechtel Mall like alien blossoms.

Rare Astronomy Books and Jane Brucker, Magnetic Attraction Crossing Over’s third site, Time Stream, displays rare books from Caltech’s collection, including first edition works by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. It also features contemporary art engaged with similar themes, including Jane Brucker’s site-specific installation Magnetic Attraction, which offers an intimate engagement with art and science objects from her own collection and Caltech’s.