Brian and Patricia play Mulder and Scully this week as they sit down with the masterminds behind the SETI Institute artists-in-residence program. For those B@S faithful listeners unfamiliar with the Institute (An oxymoron, if there ever was one ) SETI stands for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Yes, friends, we're talking space aliens.
 
As part of the Institute's goal "to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to apply the knowledge gained to inspire and guide present and future generations," they now host a residency program for artists based out of their Mountain View, CA headquarters. Artists work with scientists across a range of disciplines at any of the associated facilities to facilitate an exchange of ideas an create new modes of comprehension or expression. No, they didn't tell us how you can apply. 
 
We hear from SETI AIR director Charles Lindsey, who was the inaugural AIR, and Advisory Committee chair Denise Markonish, who is curator at MASSMoCA, as well as current AIRs Dario Robleto and Martin Wilner. Listen as they receive takeout delivery from ET. 
 
http://www.seti.org/
http://www.seti.org/artist-in-residence
 

Charles Lindsay
Charles is a multi-disciplinary artist interested in technology, eco-systems, semiotics and esoteric forms of humor. He was the SETI Institute’s first Artist in Residence 2010 - 2015 and is now leading the SETI AIR program. Lindsay is a Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of a 2015 Rauschenberg Residency. More about Charles Lindsay’s work here.
Denise Markonish
Denise Markonish, Chair of the SETI AIR Advisory Committee, has been the curator at MASS MoCA since 2007 where her exhibitions include: Oh, Canada the largest survey of contemporary Canadian art; Sanford Biggers: The Cartographer’s Conundrum, Michael Oatman: all utopias fell; Stephen Vitiello: All Those Vanished Engines, Nari Ward: Sub Mirage Lignum ; Petah Coyne: Everything That RisesMust Converge; Inigo Manglano-Ovalle:Gravity is a force to be reckoned with; These Days:Elegies for Modern Times and Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape. More about Denise Markonish's work here.


Dario Robleto (2016)
Dario is a transdisciplinary artist and storyteller whose research-driven practice results in intricate narratives and handcrafted objects that reflect his exploration of music, popular culture, science, war, and American history. He was recently appointed as the 2016 Texas State Artist Laureate. More about Dario Robleto's work here.
Martin Wilner (2015)
Martin is a visual artist and a psychiatrist interested in the processing of time-based dyadic relational correspondence, informed by principles of applied psychoanalytic theory, as a basis of his daily drawing practice. He is represented by Sperone Westwater in New York City and Hales Gallery in London and his work is in numerous public and private collections. He is also Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. More about Martin Wilner's work here.