'The Gift'

The Gift is an immersive installation that animates contemporary astrophysics research to open up metaphorical space for grief, care, and renewal.

In this rolling-entry experience, participants gather in a music-filled reading room, where they encounter an all-ages illustrated book - based on the astrophysics research of Dr. Natalie Gosnell - that invites responses both tactile and emotional. This book tells the story of two stars that are so close to one another yet so far from us that they appear as a single point of light in the sky. Their fates are intertwined; one star, at the end of its life, transfers its material to the companion, allowing the companion to burn brighter and to appear - for a moment - younger, brighter, bluer. This tender story and playful experience heeds the call of anthropologist Emily Martin, to “wake the sleeping metaphors of science.”