University of Southern California

The Story of Everything

By Design

Invisible forces like gravity or magnetism pose challenges for artists who try to represent their effects on the material world. In this image, the wire-mesh hand—created from a scan of artist Clayton Spada’s arm—represents a higher order that brings organization to the universe. Resembling the rings of Saturn, an astrological calendar orbits around the central sphere. Although such timekeeping devices are rooted in ancient observations of the night skies, many people forget that astrology and astronomy spring from the same traditions.