Making Contact @ NUMU / SETI AIR Inaugural Group Show

Written By Charles Lindsay

SETI AIR Program / NUMU / New Museum Los Gatos

In support of the New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU) mission to feature exhibits that are connected to globally relevant ideas, art and history, NUMU is pleased to present Making Contact, a group exhibit featuring artists from the SETI Artist in Residence Program: Martin Wilner; Danny Bazo, Karl Yerkes, and Marko Peljhan; Charles Lindsay; George Bolster; Rachel Sussman. 

This exhibit of work from the Artists in Residence (AIR) program expands upon the SETI Institute’s mission to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe. The artists bring fresh eyes to help navigate difficult concepts and act as a bridge to broaden awareness of the science carried out at the SETI Institute. October 28, 2016 - March 5, 2017.

 Making Contact is made possible by the generous support of our partners, lenders and sponsors: The Robert Lehman Foundation, Applied Materials Foundation, The Town of Los Gatos, SETI AIR, and Donors to NUMU’s Annual Campaign.

Charles Lindsay

Charles Lindsay is an intermedia artist whose work explores the frontiers of technology, storytelling, and the cosmos. A Guggenheim Fellow, New York Times bestselling author, and founder of the SETI Institute’s Artist in Residence program (SETI AIR), Lindsay creates immersive installations that fuse salvaged aerospace components, AI-generated visuals, and biomorphic soundscapes into powerful vehicles for reimagining narrative. His projects ask provocative questions—what if an AI could dream? What if a Mars rover became a Zen monk?

Lindsay has collaborated with NASA Ames, Bell Labs, and exhibited globally, including at the MIT Media Lab. At SETI, he explored conceptual links between whale communication, Morse code, and AI pattern recognition. A dream in Kyoto—of a parking meter selling time and space in a Zen garden—became a realized installation, blending ancient philosophy with digital inquiry.

As an early alpha tester for OpenAI’s Sora text-to-video platform and a lifelong lucid dreamer, Lindsay pushes the limits of how AI can amplify human consciousness. His installations function as sensory laboratories, inviting audiences to navigate the terrain between digital revelation, aesthetic curiosity, and the collective unconscious. With humor, paradox, and deep curiosity, Lindsay’s work imagines new frontiers for art, science, and the soul.

https://www.charleslindsay.com
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