JCB collaborates with UNAM and others on Astronomical Images Workshop

In late January 2019, the JCB joined several eminent Mexican institutions for a special event dedicated to exploring astronomical images across the Americas. The events began at the world-renowned Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City’s Parque de Chapultepec, showcasing a project by Mexican artist Ale de la Puente that recreated the observation of a lunar eclipse from 1582 using digitized documents from the JCB. De la Puente’s presentation was followed by a keynote lecture in Spanish by Director and Librarian Neil Safier on the JCB’s history, its international outreach efforts, and the “sacred fire” of astronomical observation in the Andes, and a teaser for an upcoming exhibition in 2020 co-curated by former fellows Nydia Pineda and Thomas Haddad entitled “Constellations: Observing the Heavens from American Soil.”

The following day, a workshop at the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas (UNAM) brought together former JCB fellows – including a wonderful presentation on the JCB’s Rueda Bobán by Ana Díaz and others using JCB materials – and specialists from Latin America to examine the nature of astronomical images. For more information on this event, see the special website and stay tuned for more projects that will emerge from this collaboration. We are grateful to the Amor y Vázquez fund and JCB Board member Robert Gordon for supporting this international collaboration around astronomy in the Americas.