ELIZABETHTOWN: Artist Randi Renate will be speaking about her current sculpture, “blue is the atmospheric refraction I see you through,” which is now on view outside the Adirondack History Museum. The sculpture is a large participatory installation open to the public since August 2021.

“Blue is the atmospheric refraction I see you through” is a sculptural encounter in which two viewers have similar yet distinct experiences of climbing twin spiraling staircases recessed into a larger dome. Its twin staircases require mirrored movement, activating mirror neurons. Shared movements trigger these neurons, which enhance human empathy. The passage culminates in an exposed meeting point that maintains a distanced perspective—from one another as well as from the surrounding landscape.

The event will begin with an outdoor artist talk moderated by the museum’s director Aurora McCaffrey starting at 5 pm on Sunday, July 3.

Randi Renate will be speaking on her Adirondack inspiration for the sculpture, the build process, and her creative process as it relates to neuroscience and research. After the artist talk, local DJ Sam Cecil (Ol’ Cecil) will be mixing vinyl for the “Open Air Disco” part of Sunday’s event.

“I initially conceived of the shape of the work when hiking in the high peaks. Thinking about stellar observatories, and dome-shaped listening towers, the mountains were also like a structure you climb to bring yourself up and out into a different perspective. It was also the height of COVID lockdown, and I was reflecting and reading on distance, subjectivity, and longing for connection.

Staring at the blue of the atmospheric haze of the distant mountains was what inspired the color, “atmospheric blue,” remarks the artist.

Art installation, “blue is the atmospheric refraction I see you through.” Photo provided by the Adirondack History Museum.

Randi Renate received a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014 and moved to Berlin, where she maintained a studio and artist-run project space, TRACE. She is a 2020 MFA graduate of the Sculpture Department at the Yale School of Art. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships, including Lighthouse Works on Fishers Island, NY, Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT, and Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY. Operating across installation, sculpture, sound and video, Randi’s artwork choreographs bodies within a sculptural framework to investigate how the ‘micro’ of the individual weaves into the ‘macro’ of the collective whole.

More about the artist: www.randirenate.com

Photo at top: Randi Renate and Sam Cecil with art installation, sculpture, “blue is the atmospheric refraction I see you through,” which is outside the Adirondack History Museum in Elizabethtown, NY. Photo provided by the Adirondack History Museum.