Emory has partnered with Science Gallery International and recently co-launched the exhibition “Hooked,” located at the Pullman Yards site in Atlanta. ECDS’s Senior Video Producer Steve Bransford co-produced “Plant Teachers,” a video featured in this exhibition. “Hooked” is free and open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. Reserve an appointment time here.
Science Gallery launched in Dublin in 2008. It has since developed into a “network of galleries based in leading universities across four continents (that) brings together science, art, technology, and design to deliver world-class educational and cultural experiences for young people.”
The “Hooked” exhibition “explores the processes of addiction and recovery…and places the ideas of participating artists, researchers, and visitors in dialogue with global ideas about the factors that affect our choices and their respective outcomes.
The “Plant Teachers” video focuses on the scientific methods involved in detecting psychoactive compounds, with a specific focus on detecting these compounds in ancient vessels of the Americas. These vessels are part of the collections of the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Bransford worked with Adam Forrester, a video producer in the Teaching and Learning Technologies division at Emory, for the video. The pair interviewed curators and conservators at the Carlos Museum and art historians, chemists, and experts in the Indigenous cultures of the Americas. “Plant Teachers” departs from the focus on addiction in “Hooked” by examining the importance of psychedelic compounds in the religious practices of Indigenous cultures. An installation created by Dana Haugaard complements the video, providing a hands-on demonstration of a mass spectrometer, one of the most advanced devices used to detect traces of compounds.
