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    collaboration station

    Rice's public art program looks to science as it prepares for major JamesTurrell unveiling

    Tyler Rudick
    Apr 23, 2012 | 9:50 am
    • Artist John Sparagana with Geronimo, currently on view in the lobby of Rice'sBioScience Research Collaborative (BRC).
      Photo by Tyler Rudick
    • Sparagana's massive photo-collage uses various pieces of software to deconstructa black-and-white image of a crowd in Times Square on the night of Osama binLaden's death.
      Photo by Tyler Rudick
    • Dana Frankfort's open studio on the ground floor of Rice's Brockman Hall forPhysics allows passers-by to watch the artist's public art project evolve.
      Photo by Tyler Rudick
    • Leo Villareal's Radiant Pathway located in the building's second floor cafe.
      Photo by Tyler Rudick

    As it awaits James Turrell's much-anticipated "skyspace" — set to open in early summer next to the Shepherd School of Music — Rice University's Public Art Program has been looking to the BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) building as the backdrop for a string of site-specific pieces that speak to the innovative science center's interdisciplinary focus.

    Designed by renowned architectural firm SOM and nestled into a corner of Rice's campus adjacent to the Texas Medical Center, the BRC was envisioned as a meeting place for people working in a variety of scientific fields to interact and share ideas. Situated at the center of building, a multi-story cylindrical core dubbed the Collaborative Hub encourages intellectual and social cross-pollination with student workstations, a large lounge and an open stairwell that promotes communication between floors.

     

    John Sparagana's Geronimo uses computer technology to deconstruct a black-and-white  image of a crowd in Times Square on the night of Osama bin Laden's death.

    After opening in 2009, the BRC and its Collaborative Hub quickly gained two iconic pieces from Rice's Public Art Program, both of which attempt to define and exploit a shared common ground between visual art and science.

    Leo Villareal's ultra-techie Radiant Pathway, situated on the second floor of the Hub, employs 92 LED light tubes to display changing sequences of 16 million different colors. James Surls' Walking Molecular Flower, on the patio just outside the building's main entrance, offers an atom-like interpretation of the artist's well-recognized plant forms.

    In 2012, two more pieces will make their mark on the collaborative environment of the BRC.

     John Sparagana's Geronimo

    Late March saw the Hub's newest addition, a work by Rice art department chair John Sparagana located in the building's main lobby off University Boulevard. Titled Geronimo, this massive photo-collage uses computer technology to deconstruct a black-and-white image of a crowd in New York's Times Square on the night of Osama bin Laden's death.

    Exploring that awkward terrain between art, mass communication and technology, Sparagana has digitally reprinted the picture to match the exact 10-by-16-foot dimension of two works by color field painter Morris Louis, Beta Kappa and Mu, which the artist subsequently has recreated in acrylic on either side of the print.

    "John take media-driven images, slices and dices them, and repurposes them," Rice public art director Molly Hipp Hubbard said at Geronimo's unveiling. "The addition of iconic compositions, in this case by Morris Louis, places the artist in between mediums, which is what makes this work so engaging."

     Dana Frankfort's new contexts

    Across campus in a vacant ground-floor room of Brockman Hall for Physics, the Public Art Program has given abstract artist Dana Frankfort a large temporary studio to complete a piece that will fill a blank wall inside BRC's open staircase.

    Frankfort typically centers her work around a single word painted on the canvas — a piece of text spelling out L-I-F-E or P-E-O-P-L-E. For the Collaborative Hub stairs, she is working on two pieces simultaneously and will decide which suits the space when she finishes the artworks this fall. For the BRC, she's painting around the words "think" and "test."

    "These works involve a lot of free association for me," the artist told CultureMap during a studio visit. "It's about merging text with total abstraction, about creating a picture of the word rather than a sign."

    As a professor of art at Boston University, Frankfort said this continuous process of painting in and around the text might often happen in plain view of her students, not unlike the very public studio set-up she maintains at Rice when she is not teaching. The technique balances the artist's deep personal considerations with a desire to remain open to any interested parties, a method very much in line with the interdisciplinary ideals of the BRC.

    "In the end," she said, "a new context for the original word has emerged."

    unspecified
    news/entertainment

    Movie Review

    New Superman movie forges into the future while honoring the past

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 11, 2025 | 3:30 pm
    David Corenswet in Superman
    Photo by Jessica Miglio
    David Corenswet in Superman.

    When the character of Superman was invented in 1938, it was perhaps easier to see the world in good and bad terms. Fascism was already on the rise in Germany under Adolf Hitler, and the idea of an all-powerful superhero who stood up for people in need was a welcome one. In the nearly 90 years since, though, the world and the character have undergone multiple evolutions, and the thought of someone who is purely good is often met with cynicism or worse.

    The new Superman, written and directed by James Gunn, puts the superhero (or metahuman, as the film calls him and similar creatures) squarely in the midst of the modern world, with geopolitical conflicts, mega-corporations, and social media all combining to make the altruism of Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) questionable. That skepticism even extends to his coworker/girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), whose knowledge of his exploits puts her in a tricky position personally and professionally.

    Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is out to dominate the world and take down Superman, with his eponymous corporation and vast group of underlings dedicated to doing both. Superman is generally a one-man fighting crew, but he’s occasionally aided by a group calling themselves the Justice Gang, comprised of heroes many have never heard of like Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), a version of Green Lantern; Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), a flying metahuman; and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who knows all kinds of technology.

    One of the best things about this new version of Superman is that it mostly dispenses with introductions, putting the audience in a world where Superman is already a well-known quantity who’s adored by many and hated by some. Gunn has used his new position as co-CEO of DC Studios to honor the past of the hero and take him into the future. With the 1978 John Williams theme song echoing throughout and Corenswet giving off Christopher Reeve vibes, it’s clear Gunn wants audiences to feel nostalgia while still getting something new.

    He also appears to want viewers to fight against the negativity that the modern world can bring. The plot involves manipulation of the public, usually at the hands of Luthor, through bombastic talk shows, political theater, and social media, the latter of which — in a great joke — comes to involve hundreds of typing monkeys. The film could be read as a rebuttal of many real-world ills as, despite Luthor’s machinations, many choose to continue to believe in the goodness of Superman.

    There is a lot going on in the film, but somehow it never comes off as overly complicated. Superman’s relationship with Lois Lane and Luthor’s attempts at taking him down are given the most prominence, with everything else supporting those two main things. The Justice Gang is a fun addition, with Mr. Terrific becoming the breakout hero of the group. The addition of the (CGI) dog Krypto provides levity, poignant moments, and unexpectedly great action scenes. The only part that gets somewhat short shrift is the crew of The Daily Planet, with everyone besides Lois and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) getting little more than face time.

    Being the new Superman is a lot to live up to, but Corenswet is completely up to the job. He, like Reeve, plays the character as someone who is earnest but not naive, a quality that comes through even when he’s in the middle of fight scenes. Brosnahan is also fantastic, providing a nice balance to the relationship while also proving the character’s own worth. Hoult makes for a great new version of Luthor, and Gathegi nearly makes the case that Mr. Terrific should get a starring film of his own.

    Just as he did with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Gunn has shown that success can be found through making characters people want to see. Not everyone in this Superman will be familiar to viewers, but in the end a group of people working together toward a goal that serves the common good is one worth watching and cheering for.

    ---

    Superman is now playing in theaters.

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