CHSI
Special Exhibitions Gallery, Science Center 251
March 6 - December 6, 2013
Time &
Time Again How Science and Culture Shape the Past, Present, and Future
Curated by
Dr. Sara Schechner,
David P. Wheatland Curator*
Throughout human history, few ideas have eluded clear definition more than the concept of time. Time-related verbs abound: we find it, keep it, measure it, obey it, take advantage of it, waste it, save it, even kill it. We use common notions of it to construct and organize our lives, and yet, do we really know what time is?
This exhibition will draw upon materials from several of Harvard's important museum and library collections to explore answers given to that question in various ages by different world cultures and disciplines.
Themes will include time finding from nature and time keeping by human artifice. We will examine:
cultural beliefs about the creation and end of time, the flow of time (cyclical or linear), and personal time as marked by rites of passage.
the power of keeping communal time through music, dance, work, and religious practice.
time’s representation in history and objects of collective memory, its personification in art, and its expression in biological evolution and the geological transformations of our planet.
Featured objects will include portable sundials and precision clocks, calendars from different cultures and epochs, time charts shaped like animals, Mesopotamian, Native American, and African ritual objects, fossils, and metamorphosing creatures.
Introducing Time Trails!
While the core exhibition will be in Special Exhibition Gallery of the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, each member of the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture will place six to ten Timepiece labels (see example at right) among their permanent exhibits, calling attention to the Time theme.
The Time Trails smartphone app (downloadable via the Time Trails web page), will use geolocation to guide visitors to each museum and other intriguing sites on the Harvard campus.
Download an Exhibit Guide.
Calendar of Special Events
| Date | "TIME & TIME AGAIN" Event |
|---|---|
| WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 | EXHIBIT OPENING: 5:50PM |
| SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013 | Stories Through Time - A Family Festival 9:00 AM–4:00 PM at HMNH http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/family_programs/index.php |
| FEBRUARY 27 through APRIL 23, 2013 | 8 Artists Measure the Past, Present, and Future Artist Talk and Reception on Wednesday March 13th, 4-6pm in Harvard Medical School’s Warren Alpert 563 and in the Transit Gallery (located in Gordon Hall’s Lower Level, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston. Contact: Tania Rodriguez (Tania_Rodriguez@hms.harvard.edu) |
| TUESDAY MARCH 12, 2013 |
FROM THE BIG BANG TO BROADWAY: How Things Evolve Lecture by Robert Hazen, Research Scientist, Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory and Professor of Earth Sciences, George Mason University |
| FRIDAY APRIL 5, 2013 |
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE GALLERY REOPENING LECTURE by Francis A. Macdonald, Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University at HMNH, 6:00PM http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php |
| SATURDAY APRIL 20, 2013 |
CONCERT FROM THE BACH SOCIETY ORCHESTRA sponsored by the CHSI 8:00PM @ Sanders Theater |
| AUGUST 22 through 25, 2013 | North American Sundial Society Annual Conference at the Marriott Courtyard Boston Cambridge 777 Memorial Drive · Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 |
| SEPTEMBER 22 through OCTOBER 1, 2013 |
HMNH Trip: Time Travel: Looking at Science and Culture in and Around London,England |
"Time & Time Again" in the Media:
Download a Press Release
Review from The Harvard Crimson, 3/7/2013
BachSoc Embraces Baroque, The Harvard Crimson, 4/17/2013
*Acknowledgements:
Dr. Schechner has been ably assisted by
Samantha van Gerbig, Designer & Photographer
Noam Andrews, Wheatland Curatorial Fellow.
Produced in collaboration with the other
Harvard Museums of Science and Culture:
Harvard Museum of Natural History
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
The Semitic Museum at Harvard University
This exhibition is sponsored by
The David P. Wheatland Charitable Trust, with the financial assistance of the Provostial Fund Committee for the Arts and Humanities, and an anonymous donor.
Resources
Former Exhibitions
GO ASK A.L.I.C.E.: Turing Tests, Parlor Games, & Chatterbots
X-Rays of the Soul: Rorschach & The Projective Test
Cold War in the Classroom
Tangible Things
Paper Worlds:
Printing Knowledge in Early Modern Europe
Patent Republic: Materialities in Intellectual Property in 19th-Century America
Benjamin Franklin:
A How-to Guide
Gallery Hours
Putnam Gallery
Science Center 136
Monday - Friday
11:00am - 4:00pm
Special Exhibitions Gallery
Science Center 251
CLOSED FOR INSTALLATION
Foyer Exhibition Space
Science Center 371
Monday - Friday
9:00am - 5:00pm
Free and open to the public.
Children must be escorted by an adult.
Both the Putnam Gallery and Special Exhibitions are closed on University Holidays.
Inquiries: 617-495-2779
Directions
The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments is located inside the Science Center, 1 Oxford Street, on Harvard's Cambridge campus.
