Chaosmosis: Assigning Rhythm to the Turbulent

Gallery of Fluid Motion

October 2, 2023 - February 23, 2024

NAS Building, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Upstairs Gallery

Free. Photo ID required.

Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays; closed weekends and holidays. No reservations required.

Selected from past submissions to the American Physical Society’s Gallery of Fluid Motion, this exhibition is a visual record of the science and aesthetics of contemporary fluid dynamics, a discipline that describes the flow of liquids and gases. The creators of the works on view, which range from photographs and video to sculpture and sound, are scientists and artists. Their work enables us to see the invisible and to understand ever-moving elements that surround and affect us.

In some cases, the fluid motions portrayed in Chaosmosis are produced by our own bodies. A video illuminates the air flow of an opera singer while singing. A 3D printed sculpture reveals the flow of human breath using sound from the first dated recording of human speech.

Gases and liquids are in constant motion and advance in seemingly chaotic ways, yet the works in this exhibition provide a closer look, revealing elegant poetic patterns amidst the atmospheric turbulence.

This exhibition is curated by Natalia Almonte and Nicole Economides in coordination with Azar Panah and the American Physical Society, Division of Fluid Dynamics.

Image: Virgile Thievenaz, Christophe Josserand, Thomas Seon, Crack Patterns in Freezing Drops, 2016, digital print on brushed aluminum, 24 x 24 inches.