Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure is an unprecedented all-media exhibition conceptualized and curated by globally renowned Harvard physicist Dr. Lisa Randall. Celebrated artist Lia Halloran co-curated this innovative project. Los Angeles-based artists Zig Gron, Katrina McElroy, Felicity Nove, Barbara Parmet, Susan Sironi, Elizabeth Tobias and Meeson Pae Yang created new and experimental works through a collaborative process with the curators, and the exhibition debuted in 2010 at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles.

Measure for Measure is an exploration of the concept of scale through contemporary art expression. Randall and Halloran’s curatorial vision explains how the concept of scale plays an important role both in understanding the makeup of the universe and in how we perceive it. Objects can repeat themselves at different sizes, or entirely new worlds can open at different lengths. In science, we find very different elements and laws of nature when we study objects on small and large scales. In art we explore the experience and perceptions of size that we can see and make tangible both physically and visually. Conceptual investigations of size begin with objects we see around us that relate to the human body in visual distances and then explode outward to the vast extent of the universe and inward to the microscopic, at sometimes abstracted, and challenging-to-conceive levels. Although the range between these two boundaries is conceptually dramatic, artists have many ways to show relationship, consistency and parallels in structure and form that are worlds away in size. Our relationship to scale can make us question and perceive the world in new and various ways.

Measure for Measure investigates how we reinvigorate our thoughts and expand our perceptions when recognizable objects and spaces in architecture and nature are viewed in from different vantage points or are shifted in scale.

Measure for Measure is made possible with support from the Provostial Fund for Arts and Humanities at Harvard University. The gallery talk by Susan Sironi is co-sponsored by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the History of the Book Seminar at the Mahindra Humanities Center.

Lisa Randall

Among the most cited and influential theoretical physicists, Randall studies theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University. Her research connects theoretical insights to puzzles in our current understanding of the properties and interactions of matter. She has developed and studied a wide variety of models to address these questions, the most prominent involving extra dimensions of space. Her work has involved improving our understanding of the Standard Model of particle physics, supersymmetry, baryogenesis, cosmological inflation, and dark matter. Randall’s research also explores ways to experimentally test and verify ideas and her current research focuses in large part on the Large Hadron Collider and dark matter searches and models. She has also had a public presence through her writing, lectures, and radio and TV appearances. Her book Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions was included in the New York Times' 100 notable books of 2005. Randall has also recently pursued art-science connections, writing a libretto for Hypermusic: A Projective Opera in Seven Planes that premiered in the Pompidou Center in Paris and co-curating an art exhibit Measure for Measure for the Los Angeles Arts Association.

Lia Halloran

Halloran is a painter and photographer who lives and works in Los Angeles and is a Professor of Fine Art at Chapman University. Halloran’s work explores ideas and concepts of physics and is often in dialogue with the perception of time and scale in both painting and photography. Her work from the series ‘Dark Skate’ was included in the exhibition Haunted at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain this year. Halloran also works in an art collaborative with the NY architecture BigPrototype firm under the name “Collider” creating sculptures and installations. She received her MFA from Yale in 2001 and her BFA from UCLA in 1999. She is represented by DCKT Contemporary in New York where she had solo exhibitions in 2010, 2008 and 2006 and in Los Angeles by Martha Otero Gallery. She has also had solo exhibitions at Pulse (London), Artisphere (Arlington, VA) Frederic Snitzer Gallery (Miami, FL), La Montagne Gallery (Boston, MA), 101 California Street Gallery, (San Francisco, CA), and Sandroni Rey Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). Her work is included in permanent collections including the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Speyer Collection, NY, and the Progressive Art Collection.