The Truth of the Night Sky

collaborative exhibition by Anne Patterson and Patrick Harlin
Sarasota Art Museum
1001 South Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL 34236
Opened April 21, 2024 – September 29th, 2024

Multimedia artist Anne Patterson and composer Patrick Harlin collaborated to create an immersive installation for Sarasota Art Museum. For this project, they expanded upon Harlin’s original composition Earthrise (2022), an orchestral piece inspired by the eponymous photograph of the earth taken from Apollo 8 by William Anders, in 1968. This iconic photograph not only shifted humanity’s perspective, but also encapsulated the environmental movement’s call to care for the earth, provoking a kind of “collective epiphany.” Harlin’s composition is the processional that plays as visitors pass through the galleries, so that the ambiance evokes a lunar voyage. 

This immersive installation engages the senses: visitors will plunge into color-filled light or enveloping darkness and move in rhythm with exalting music or in ambient sound. With each step, visitors travel imaginatively through space and time. In addition to a suspended tree (Weeping Tree, 2023-2024)  – a centerpiece symbolic of hope and resilience found in nature – Patterson’s installation includes several different series, such as Stars Spinning Through Spring (2018-2024), The Truth of the Night Sky (2018-2019), We Are All Stardust (2019-2024), and a new body of celestial orb sculptures (2023-2024) inspired by planetary bodies. The exhibition also features Patterson’s signature installation work, with satin ribbons suspended from the ceiling, accompanied by Harlin’s ambient sound and abstract video images designed by Adam Larson. A cohesive environment unifies Patterson’s abstract sculptural pieces and paintings exploring recurring themes of multiplicity and variation.

Harlin and Patterson aim to transform the collective space, whether by unraveling its limits into falling ribbons or evoking transcendence through their art and music. The Truth of the Night Sky conveys the sense of collective awe and wonderment we may feel under the dome of the stars or in the vibrating air of a concert hall, and it shows how art may inspire hope.

Curator: Rangsook Yoon, senior curator at Sarasota Art Museum

Lighting Design: Seth Reiser

Projections: Adam Larsen

Associate Designer: Kina Park

Studio Assistants: Tessa Bookwalter, Ray Hwang, Veronica Silva, Julia Khoroshilov, Cole Mercier, Joelle Gonzalez, Paige McNay, Kate Gutwald