Making the best out of the virtuous synergy between art and science and making the community part of the co-creation of the projects, once again, the the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics MAS launched four astronomy wall paintings, highlighting a scientific concept through urban art.
The four wall paintings are located in areas of the capital that are generally left out of outreach activities and whose primary goal is to make science part of their social framework. One of them was painted in one of the busiest parks in Santiago. “Ciclo de las Estrellas” (Star Cycle) is located in the middle of Parque O´Higgins, thanks to the collaboration of the neighbors’ group Barrio Rondizzoni. Likewise, the second wall painting La Luz del Sol” (The Sunlight), was painted on one of the external walls of Mundo Ideal Foundation, in La Legua, San Joaquín; the third one, “Evolución del Universo” (the Universe Evolution) with the collaboration Tierra de Esperanza Foundation, within its program PAI Agora La Florida, located in the commune mentioned before. Lastly, the fourth painting, Exploración Espacial” (Space Exploration) is placed at Tanganyica Preschool in Cerro Naviain collaboration with the Science Direction from this commune and the Servicio Local de Educación Pública Barrancas (Local Service for Public Education Barrancas).
According to Makarena Estrella PachecoMAS Outreach and Communication Manager, one of the main features of this initiative, founded by the Proyección al Medio Externo projects by the Millennium Science Initiative, is that not only it uses a form of artistic creation close to the population to disseminate science, such as street-wall painting, but also involves the beneficiary communities in the co-creation, allowing astronomy connecting with topics of interest for people, merging science with the routinary life. “The meetings with the communities were an excellent co-creation experience because they not only allowed us as MAS to communicate science but to listen to the neighbours about how what happens in the universe has some similarity to what they experience daily. No doubt this was one of the most rewarding experiences in the whole process.”
The final results that already are available to be visited represent the conversations between the communities surrounding the work, the MAS outreach team, the MAS scientific advisors Marcy Best and Ximena Ramos, and the muralists of the project Infomurales Científicos, Guillermo Mardones and Andro Montoya.
To learn more about the project and go deeper into each work, each wall painting has a QR code with extra information about each topic on www.astrofisicamas.cl/infomurales-astronomicos.
