ART! A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – Jamestown Art Center

The latest curated exhibit at the Jamestown Art Center will be held from April 21 to June 15, 2023. Opening reception will be April 21st from 5:30 to 7:30pm and curated by Lara Pan.

Lara Pan is an independent curator, writer and researcher based in New York. Her research focuses on the intersection between art, science, technology and paranormal phenomena.

An Intersection of Art and Science: A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

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 re-examining 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.

Jamestown Art Center is pleased to host 11 artists with diverse cultural, artistic, and scientific backgrounds.

Lara Pan is an independent curator, writer and researcher based in New York. Her research focuses on the intersection between art, science, technology and paranormal phenomena.

Featuring: Rafael Attias (Rhode Island), Mathew Emmett (United Kingdom), Carla Gannis (New York), Anita Glesta (Australia, New York), David Nez (Oregon), Olivier Perriquet (France), Anne Katrine Senstad (Norway, New York), Otavio Schipper (Brazil) Saša Spačal (Slovenia), Hana Usui (Japan, Austria), and Vargas-Suarez Universal (Kyrgyzstan, New York)