Past Exhibitions | The Box | Exhibitions

Deborah Stratman

…These Blazeing Starrs! (2011)

A partially out of focus, close-up image in black and white of a human eye.
gallery icon View Gallery
Nov 01, 2023–Dec 31, 2023
The Box

Free for all audiences

ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as CART captioning or ASL interpretation to participate, please email accessibility@wexarts.org or call (614) 688-3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

Become a Member

Observed and recorded for thousands of years, comets have often been seen as bad omens, foreboding catastrophe and end times.

The film …These Blazeing Starrs! explores the history and nature of these ice-cored fireballs through a combination of imagery from the 15th to the 18th centuries and footage from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Stratman explains that “…These Blazeing Starrs! juxtaposes a modern empirical desire to probe and measure against older methods, when star gazers were translators, explicating the sky more intuitively for predictions of human folly. Comets are now understood as time capsules harboring elemental information about the formation of our solar system. Today we smash rockets into them to read spectral signatures. In a sense, they remain oracles—it’s just the manner of divining which has changed.” (14:16 mins., 16mm film transferred to video)

In addition to this screening in The Box, visitors can watch Stratman's latest film, Last Things, on November 12 at 2 PM. Join a conversation with the filmmaker afterward. Last Things is presented in collaboration with Ohio State’s Cinéseries group and was produced with support from the Wexner Center's Film/Video Studio residency program. 

A partially out of focus, close-up image in black and white of a human eye.

Still from ...These Blazeing Starrs!, image courtesy of the artist.

A black image with white text representing a detail from a 17th century broadside with the headline An Allarm to Europe By a Late Prodigious Comet

Still from ...These Blazeing Starrs!, image courtesy of the artist.

A abstract white image against a solid black background.

Still from ...These Blazeing Starrs!, image courtesy of the artist.

A black and white woodcut image from a 15–18th century broadside representing a comet and stars.

Still from ...These Blazeing Starrs!, image courtesy of the artist.

A black and white wood cut image of a devli-like figure with horns and a beak from a 15–18th century broadside.

Still from ...These Blazeing Starrs!, image courtesy of the artist.

A black and white and white closeup image of two figures torsos, their hands holding celestial diagrams.

Still from ...These Blazeing Starrs!, image courtesy of the artist.

About the Artist

Deborah Stratman chevron-down chevron-up

Artist and filmmaker Deborah Stratman makes work around issues of power, control, and belief. She explores how places, ideas, and society are intertwined. She regards sound as the ultimate multi-tool and time to be supernatural. Her 40+ films and multiple artworks have addressed freedom, surveillance, public speech, sinkholes, levitation, orthoptera, raptors, comets, evolution, extinction, exodus, sisterhood, and faith and have been exhibited and received recognition internationally. She is a Fulbright, Guggenheim, and United States Artists fellow and the recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts and Sundance Art of Nonfiction Award. She has received grants from Creative Capital, Graham Foundation, Harpo Foundation, Shifting Foundation, and Wexner Center for the Arts. She lives in Chicago where she teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Learn more about the artist. 
 

Tag(s)

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY 
National Endowment for the Arts  
Ohio Humanities  

ADDITIONAL SUPPORTED PROVIDED BY 
Rohauer Collection Foundation 

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Ohio Department of Development
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Wexner Family
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Ohio Arts Council
CampusParc
Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme
The Columbus Foundation
Nationwide Foundation
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Mike and Paige Crane
Axium Packaging
Nancy Kramer
Ohio State Energy Partners
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection
Larry and Donna James
Bruce and Joy Soll
Jones Day
Alex and Renée Shumate

Discover More

Three people stand apart in a salt flat while holding mirrors in front of their faces that are reflecting brightly.
Past Film/Video

Last Things

(Deborah Stratman, 2023)

Deborah Stratman in person
Presented in collaboration with Cinéseries
Discussion follows
Sun, Nov 12, 2023
Deborah Stratman
READ, WATCH & LISTEN

Deborah Stratman

Mon, Apr 30, 2018
wex image fill
Past Film/Video

Deborah Stratman: Hacked Circuit

(2014)
Thu, Oct 1, 2015 - Sun, Nov 1, 2015
Multiple Dates/Times Available
wex grid image fill
Past Film/Video

Deborah Stratman D. B. Griffith

Mon, Apr 14, 2003 - Fri, Apr 25, 2003
Multiple Dates/Times Available
Close

Past Film/Video

Deborah Stratman

Nov 01, 2023–Dec 31, 2023
Thursday's Hours 10AM–8PM
The Box

Free for all audiences

ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as CART captioning or ASL interpretation to participate, please email accessibility@wexarts.org or call (614) 688-3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

Become a Member