National Endowment for the Arts Grant

Artists and astrophysicists will come together to collaborate on the newest project by associate professor Ruth West, thanks to a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for INSTRUMENT: One Antarctic Night.

West will lead the team in producing software that will allow the public to manipulate 300,000 images of the universe captured by the robotic Antarctic telescope CSTAR. Touch screens at a gallery exhibition and a mobile web app will allow participants to "remix" the astrophysics visual and sound data extracted by the team, thereby creating new and unique visuals and sounds.

West's project blends art and science to help humanity understand the universe in new ways and enables artists to express data and make it available for everyone to experience and enjoy. Her work was featured in Artweek, Wired's NextFest, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and galleries and museums worldwide.