An Earth Twin at the Digital Dawn

18th Street Arts Center, Otis College of Art and Design, and Cypress College are pleased to present:

An Earth Twin at the Digital Dawn: Tom Van Sant’s GeoSphere Project – an exhibition for the regional Pacific Standard Time: Art & Science Collide event exploring the intersections of art and science.

In 1988, when computer simulations were rudimentary experiments and before the World Wide Web existed, Tom Van Sant (1931-2023) began the GeoSphere Project. Prefiguring today’s “digital twin” technology by two decades, the artist aimed to build an accurate, interactive, awe-inspiring replica of the Earth that would make its complex systems visible and bring humankind together to know, love, and care for our planet.

Working at technology’s outermost reaches, Van Sant and his scientist-collaborator Dr. L. Van Warren began by compositing thousands of satellite photographs to make the GeoSphere Image: the first map of Earth as it looks from space, but without the clouds. Other components quickly followed, including the GeoSphere Globe and the Earth Situation Room: a tool for managing Earth’s resources and the impacts of climate change.

A groundbreaking work of art, science, and technology, the GeoSphere Project represents the acme of Van Sant’s dedication to the natural world, materials innovation, and public service. It provided the first border-free global map for scientists, activists, and decision-makers to visualize the unity of Earth’s ecosystems; and it laid the foundation for Google Earth, an application that has transformed users’ spatial experience of the planet.

A sculptor, draftsman, civic art planner, and conceptual artist, Tom Van Sant was born and raised in Los Angeles and had a studio in Santa Monica for 30 years. He completed over 77 international and national commissions for public and corporate spaces and is recognized as the father of Space Art and modern kite-making. The companion website to this exhibition provides a survey of the artist’s complete works.

Curated by Janet Owen Driggs and designed by Lara Hoad with Andrew Byrom, An Earth Twin at the Digital Dawn is produced by 18th Street Arts Center, Otis College of Art and Design, and Cypress College. Part of Santa Monica’s DNA Festival, it is presented in conjunction with PST ART: Art & Science Collide.