Galactic Revolutions, installation at the Centre d'exposition de l'Université de Montréal

CosmoLab Mont-Megantic — CosmoLab exhibit

Galactic Revolutions

During my art residency at the Mont-Mégantic Observatory I visited the CosmoLab, a cosmology-themed exhibition that is part of the Mont-Mégantic visitor's centre. I noticed that the entire CosmoLab only mentions the accomplishments of men. Many women contributed to the field of astronomy and cosmology, and by not mentioning them in a museum exhibit, their achievements are erased from the popular narrative. Furthermore, the panels as shown are factually incorrect, if the contributions of women are edited out.
To address this issue, I decided to develop two exhibit panels that highlight the achievements of female cosmologists. I developed a thematic narrative based on research into galaxies, a subject where the research activities of four cosmologists intersect: Beatrice Tinsley (discovery of galactic evolution), Vera Rubin (discovery of dark matter based on galactic rotation), Sandra Faber (discovery of the Great Attractor, a cosmic perturbance that pulls in galaxies) Margaret Geller (discovery of the Great Wall, a massive galactic filament). The panels, titled “Galactic Revolutions,” were designed using the identical dimensions, colours, and fonts of the existing displays to seamlessly integrate into the existing CosmoLab exhibit.