What to Know
- "Within Sound: The Acoustic Sculptures of Michael Brewster" at Mt. Wilson Observatory
- Saturday, Aug. 13 and Sunday, Aug. 14
- $50 "Within Sound" with lecture; $100 "Cosmic Sounds" with telescope viewing (Aug. 13. only)
Drawing a line between art and astronomy is about the easiest thing to do in the world, or beyond this world, if you prefer.
For just about every photograph that's sent back from the outer cosmos — yes, we're for sure thinking about the recent James Webb Space Telescope pictures, images so marvelous you just want them to hang on a museum wall — has a highly artistic, often colorful, and always transportive air to it.
It makes splendid sense, then, for art-oriented happenings to occur where the important work of astronomy also takes place.
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Mt. Wilson Observatory, that famously telescope'd, peak-pretty, history-laden landmark has long embraced its artistic side.
Concerts frequently pop up in the dome housing the 100-inch telescope dome, giving classical music fans the chance to savor their favorite sonatas in a stunning, space-loving location.
Now a different sort of aural journey is set to unfurl at the iconic dome, on Aug. 13 and 14, when the observatory presents "Within Sound: The Acoustic Sculptures of Michael Brewster."
The inventive sound artist "... designed and manipulated sound waves in architectural spaces to engage listeners within auditory fields that one explores via one’s body and ears moving in space."
There will be four afternoon and early evening sessions to choose from over the course of the weekend, with tickets priced at $50 each.
But if you'd like to pair your "Within Sound" experience with a telescope viewing? That's happening later on Saturday night, Aug. 13.
Admission to that special nighttime event, which begins at 7:30 p.m., is $100.
Mr. Brewster passed away in 2016, leaving an inspiring legacy, one that prompts people to consider how an imaginative auditory adventure can help us explore our own inner worlds and personal cosmos.
Before venturing into space, both of the listening and looking varieties, you'll need to save your own space at one of the "Within Sound" sessions, or the nighttime "Cosmic Sounds" telescope viewing; tickets may not be moving faster than the speed of sound, but spots will fill up.
"Within Sound: The Acoustic Sculptures of Michael Brewster" is part of Mt. Wilson Observatory's Arts @ the Observatory program.
