In the fourth episode of the Why AxS podcast—where brilliant scientific and artistic minds ponder the important whys—we explore the rise of Futurism in Indigenous art as a means of enduring colonial trauma and envisioning a more inclusive and sustainable future.

We're joined by Virgil Ortiz, a Pueblo artist known for his traditional Cochiti figurative pottery and experimentations with science-fiction storytelling.

Ortiz's art is a testament to his boundless imagination and his ability to push boundaries. He creates art the way his ancestors did while interweaving futuristic, sci-fi themes that bring light to untold histories.

ReVOlt 1680/2180: Sirens & Sikas, for instance, unearths the artistry and significant history of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, the only successful Native uprising against a colonizing power in North America (which you’ve likely never heard of.)

The striking piece is part of an exhibition currently on view at the Autry Museum of the American West entitled Future Imaginaries: Art, Fashion, Technology. The Autry’s Amy Scott joins this episode of the Why AxS to weigh in on the complex ideas animating an exhibition featuring over 50 works exploring representing a diverse array of Native cultures.

Part of Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide (as is this podcast), the exhibition also opens audiences to the significance of non-Western knowledge, especially when it comes to climate change.

This is where our third guest, Dr. Daniel Wildcat, comes in. The professor and highly accomplished scholar works to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and culture into federal policy.

Join us for a lesson left out of the history books, as we imagine a more inclusive and sustainable future.

Ready to go dark and get deep? In the third episode of the Why AxS podcast—where brilliant scientific and artistic minds ponder the important whys—we explore the infinite possibilities of the origins and nature of our universe.

Our guests couldn't be more disparate in their paths, yet conjoined in their pursuits.

Lita Albuquerque, an internationally renowned visual artist and ArtCenter faculty member, is inspired by the natural world, on this planet and beyond. Her works are intimate and epic, earthly and ephemeral—a celebration of how we connect to our environment, below and above.

Her large-scale installations—like Rock and Pigment, a series of rocks in the Mojave Desert in alignment to the stars overhead—connect human to celestial bodies, allowing us to feel what our minds can’t comprehend—that we’re a tiny speck suspended among billions of galaxies.

Dida Markovic, an astrophysicist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also studies the incomprehensible, specifically the dark sector of the universe.

Dark energy and dark matter govern 95% of all the gravitational interactions in the universe–yet, present a mystery to science.

Did you know the intersection of art + science has been rooted in the DNA of Los Angeles from the very beginning?

In this episode of our Why AxS podcast, alum + former ArtCenter Exhibitions director Stephen Nowlin unravels the rich intertwining origins of the artists and experimenters who landed in L.A. and pioneered new industries, from aeronautics to film.

As humans, we aspire to find common ground between the two district sides of our brain. That’s why science needs art to tell its narratives in a language that makes data illuminating, immersive, complex and even transcendent.

We invite you to join us on this journey — and bring both sides of your brain.