Wednesday, Jan 21, 2026

The SETI AIR program kicks off the year by supporting Invisible Skies, a public art event in San José that brings together art, community, and the cosmos. Looking ahead, our plans for 2026 include the launch of Speculative Life, a new residency that will bring BioArt into dialogue with astrobiology, the second edition of the Cosmic Chronicles Literary Award, and we're looking forward to welcoming new affiliate artists into the program. It's going to be a busy year! With new partnerships and collaborations on the horizon, we wish our artists, collaborators, and community a wonderful start to the year ahead.

As always, make sure to catch up on our SETI AIR news and events.

Clear skies,
Bettina

Invisible Skies

The SETI Institute’s Artist-in-Residence program is collaborating in the project Invisible Skies San José, a large-scale, participatory public artwork conceived by artist Elizabeth Turk. This one-night flash art experience will transform San José City Hall Plaza into a temporary observatory, inviting approximately 2,000 community members to become living constellations. Carrying artist-designed, LED-lit umbrellas, participants will create luminous formations that turn the civic space into a shared, imaginative sky, echoing the project’s guiding statement: Joy is an act of defiance.

In keeping with the project’s celestial spirit, the SETI Institute will be on site with telescopes, offering the public an opportunity to observe the night sky (weather permitting) from a designated viewing area in front of the City Hall rotunda. Umbrellas will be distributed to registered participants beginning at 5:30 pm, and while no formal choreography is planned, volunteers are encouraged to wear black and assemble into constellation-like formations as the event is documented from above.

Date: January 31, 2026
Time: 5:30–7:30 pm

Learn more

SETI AIR Artist News & Events

Brittany Nelson

List Projects 34: Brittany Nelson

Solo exhibition at MIT List Visual Arts Center
Cambridge, MA, USA

January 15 - March 29, 2026

Daniela Brill Estrada, Ines Montalvo

Transdiscourse 3: Women in Art, Science, and Body Politics

Edited by Jillian Scott

Publisher: De Gruyter Brill, 2026

Xin Liu

Cosmic Metabolisms: Xin Liu’s Ecological Imaginaries at Frieze London

Review by Isher Dhiman in Contemporary Visual Arts Network

LEARN MORE

Xin Liu

Ten Rising Stars of Contemporary Art

Article by Daniel Ramzi in Artmag

LEARN MORE

Daniela de Paulis

Joins the Space Women Empowerment Council
as a board member

LEARN MORE

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