Chosen from among 78 artists, Chris Combs serves as this year’s Artist-in-Residence at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF).
Based out of Washington D.C., Combs says his artwork both embraces and questions technology.
He sat down with SDPB's Krystal Miga to talk about the residency.
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The following transcript was auto generated and edited for clarity.
Chris Combs:
Before I became a visual artist, I studied and practiced photojournalism.
So, I worked in media for a while and I almost immediately landed what I consider a dream job. I was working at National Geographic News, which is a science news daily website, and as part of being on that desk, I got to learn a little bit about a lot of different areas of science. And one of the things that I found most fascinating—both visually and then just sort of because of its importance—were neutrinos.
The idea that there are these subatomic particles just like 'pewing' through all of us constantly without even hitting us or us having any idea this is happening—I found that fascinating. And the actual instruments that detect them that we humans have designed on this earth are remarkable things that can pick up a single photon being emitted in an extremely dark deep underground.
And so, when I learned about the idea of a residency program inside a research facility that has been studying neutrinos in an abandoned gold mine, my ears perked up.
Krystal Miga:
To me, you seem somewhat unique positioned to serve as the artist-in-residence there because of the work that you do. I mean even one piece you did looked at data mining through the lens of coal mining, which, of course has similarities to SURF's history in gold mining. And maybe that's too a little too on the nose on my part, but just looking at your website, do you see any parallels between the work you do and SURF? And if so, what parallels do do you see?
Chris Combs:
Yeah, I mean, one sort of aesthetic parallel, which is, of course—it's a little bit hard to describe with words—but I'm very interested in, sort of, machine aesthetics, just on a very sort of shallow level. I think these things look really cool and being able to just, sort of, visually draw on so much amazing equipment that is extremely precise and engineered extremely well to do very singular things. I'm very excited to just be able to look at them sort of shallowly.
I'm also interested in peering deeply into normal things. It's so much fun to just get like a little microscope and just look at some dirt. And honestly, like so much of the sort of natural world is expressed through the research being done at Sanford Research Facility.
You know, like even just looking at the light form that exists in this water that has not seen the surface of the planet for something like a million years. The idea of the sort of ancient life that's just continued chipping away in this sort of dark place. I respect that. I think it's interesting. And the neutrinos, my goodness, the neutrinos. I am so interested and excited by the idea of just learning a lot and kind of hoping to bring others with me on that sort of learning journey. Because I have a very sort of cursory understanding of neutrinos, I think there's a lot more for me to learn.
And ideally, my artwork kind of, in addition to being thought provoking and sort of like, you know, maybe just like a reprieve from the world. I also kind of want to help people know a little more about the world. And so, I see a really deep parallel here with being able to do a little bit of almost like science communication or science education through an artwork, which is also just sort of an unexpected way of of learning about science.
Like, we've had that classic divide between like STEM and art for so long. Now, the new thing is STEAM, right? Like it's science, technology, engineering, art, and math. These are all related. They're creative fields. You know, people who work in these fields are extremely creative. But we had this sort of false divide in education for so long that I hope to break that down a little bit by making artwork that talks about STEAM things.
Krystal Miga:
Speaking of your plans, I know it's still a little early days here, but we're still a few months out from your residency. As an artist who doesn't live in the local area, when do you start your creative process?
Chris Combs:
I mean, I'm just reading as much as I can and looking at images is and just sort of imagining what could happen, but it's so important to work closely with people who are actually there and know the place well.
And I think those sort of partnerships and collaborations are going to be like the the most fruitful thing for me there. It's just kind of listening. I think that there's a lot that I will learn on site and just to go in it with this open mind and the sketchbook and some cameras and that's where I'm at right now.
Krystal Miga:
What are you most excited for?
Chris Combs:
Neutrinos under underground life and then there's just so much that I don't know. I mean, that sort of mystery is what I like to explore, you know, and having the patience of so many others to draw on and ask a lot of very silly questions and hopefully come up with some interesting sort of nuggets to glean from that and share with others.
I think there's some parallels with the research there. I mean, we do so much research that can be described in silly ways, like someone studying lizard spit became Ozempic, which is like a miracle drug, you know? I don't know. I think that there is a lot of things that I don't know about yet, and I'll be very excited to learn more.
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Combs’ residency runs from mid-June to mid-July. Plans are in the works for an exhibition in October, following his residency.