Night Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty

In the eighteenth century, the concept of the sublime became very influential among painters and poets due to an increasing interest in the aesthetics of science. Expanding global exploration made people astutely aware of the enormous scale and splendor of the planet’s wild places, and astronomy was revealing the staggering immensity of the universe. The result was a combination of awe and fear—awe at the majesty and beauty of creation, and fear of human frailty, mortality, and insignificance in the light of the vastness of the cosmos. This response itself became a point of interest: how do we existentially resolve our psychology and spirituality with this new information?

Taking the title from the biblical concept that, “the day goes after the night,” (Genesis 1:5) at the time of creation, Night Begins the Day is an exhibition featuring the work of twenty-seven artists, scientists, and creative thinkers that, in this current moment of expansion through scientific development, look at three aspects of contemporary art that can be seen as emerging from the historic precedent of the sublime: technological innovation; new understandings of time; and new expressions of awe and fear that have emerged from contemporary irony and cultural critique.

• Peter Alexander
• Lisa K. Blatt
• Daniel Crooks
• Peter Dreher
• Moira Dryer
• Laurent Grasso
• David Horvitz
• Institute for Figuring
• Masood Kamandy
• Robert Kooima
• Alicja Kwade
• Michael Light
• The Long Now Foundation
• Jorge Macchi and Edgardo Rudnitzky
• Vanessa Marsh
• Josiah McElheny
• Klea McKenna
• Katie Paterson
• Fred Tomaselli
• Christopher Woodcock

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with essays from the curators and local writers Dodie Bellamy and Nathaniel Deutsch, available for purchase in The Museum Store. 

Night Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty is organized by The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco. Presenting sponsorship for this exhibition has been provided by the Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund. Major sponsorship has been provided by an Anonymous donor, Gaia Fund, RayKo Photo Center, and Wendy and Richard Yanowitch.

Additional generous support is provided by The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s Bernard and Barbro Osher Exhibition Fund.

Major support for The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s exhibitions and Jewish Peoplehood Programs comes from the Koret Foundation.