Tavares Strachan is an artist whose interests, references, and approaches to making stretch so broadly, it’s not surprising that one of his more well-known works is an encyclopedia. Created in 2018, the 2,400-page volume contains 15,000 entries on individuals, events, places, and more that are critical to understanding our shared history, and yet were omitted from the Encyclopedia Britannica. This inverse book-cum-sculpture is one of many pieces within Strachan’s oeuvre that question the narratives we collectively disseminate.

Born in Nassau, the Bahamian artist is one of the leading conceptual artists working today, and his first monograph, out in July from Phaidon, peers into decades of his expansive practice.

While much of Strachan’s work considers colonialism and historical erasure, the artist is deeply rooted in the present and future. Our changing climate and the push for space exploration figure prominently and even sparked the scientific research platform, Bahamas Aerospace and Sea Exploration Center (BASEC), which Strachan founded in 2018. That project launched a 3U satellite into space for a three-year orbit around the sun that same year, which shared the story of Robert Henry Lawrence Jr., the first African-American astronaut within any national space program.

The book’s release coincides with Strachan’s exhibition The Day Tomorrow Began at The Pizzuti, part of the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio, which runs through January 3. In true Strachan fashion, creating the monograph goes beyond simply gathering the various projects and shows within his practice. “When you make a book, you are participating in this very long historic lineage of bookmaking and sharing information,” he says, adding that there’s a strong spiritual connection between presenting work in person and on the page.

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Like a miniature chapel with enough space for one person to stand comfortably, Judith Schaechter’s glowing installation, “Super/Natural,” invites viewers to reflect on nature. An exhibition of the same name just opened at Claire Oliver Gallery and pays homage to biophilia, a theory positing that humans seek connections with nature through an innate attraction. Schaechter celebrates this propensity with a cornucopia of florals, insects, birds, and other imaginative organic forms.

“The vernacular of stained glass is one of worship and mythology,” Schaechter says. “Super/Natural turns this a bit on its head, creating a secular sanctuary for contemplating beauty, nature, and our relationship to it.” The sculpture, which comprises 65 panes and took nearly two years to complete, is topped with a small geodesic dome and stands about eight feet tall.

“Super/Natural” came about partly as a result of Schaechter’s residency at the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, which focuses on a sub-discipline of cognitive neuroscience concerned with how the brain processes aesthetic experiences. The artist attended lab meetings with researchers and scientists and was influenced by explorations into the “relationships between art, beauty, morality, and the brain,” the gallery says.

“My goal is to invite viewers into a deeply personal, immersive experience that explores the connections between self, nature, and imagination,” Schaechter adds in a statement. “We are ultimately connected to—not just observing—nature.”

Super/Natural continues through May 23 in Harlem. Find more on the artist’s Instagram, along with insights into her research and process on her blog.

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Chengdu Qiongjie Yingchuang Culture and Entertainment is a Chinese immersive imaging company. It recently captured a rocket launch on the Gobi Desert using Blackmagic Design's extremely impressive Ursa Cine Immersive camera, capable of capturing greater than 8K resolution video across two lenses, one for each eye in an Apple Vision Pro headset.

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Earlier this month, dozens of metallic discs suspended from the ceiling of a large industrial space invited viewers to immerse themselves in what SpY describes as “a continuous choreography of movement and reflection.” The artist is known for his large-scale installations, often repurposing objects like traffic cones and metallic rescue blankets to create striking urban interventions.

SpY’s most recent room-scale work, titled “Halos,” reimagined the industrial interior of a former railway-related factory in Florence—a place we typically associate with Renaissance elegance as opposed to brutalist design—as part of the city’s Bright Festival.

Three stories high, “Halos” interacts with the natural breeze that flows throughout the space, which is exacerbated by people moving around. Glimmering light further lends a sense of ethereality and even magic.

See more on Instagram.

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