AURORAE Printed Fabric, Aluminum 132 x 120 x 120 in (335.28 x 304.8 x 304.8 cm) 2019 Location: Nassau County Museum of Art | Commissioned by Nassau County Museum of Art for ‘Energy’ Exhibition Photo Credit: The Nassau County Museum Of Art & Max Yawney
Miya Ando's Aurorae was a monumental installation featured in the Nassau County Museum of Art’s 2019 exhibition Energy: The Power of Art. Suspended in the museum’s Mrs. Vincent de Roulet Gallery, the work consisted of translucent fabric hanging from a spiral aluminum structure, measuring approximately 238 x 120 x 120 inches. The installation transformed the gallery into an immersive environment evoking the aurora borealis, as light passed through the fabric and created shifting atmospheric patterns across the space. The result was a meditative, luminous experience that engaged viewers in the intangible beauty of natural phenomena.
Aurorae exemplified Ando’s focus on light, transience, and the interplay between the material and immaterial. The work aligned seamlessly with the exhibition’s central theme—energy—by giving visual form to invisible atmospheric forces and evoking the quiet power of auroral motion.
The exhibition Energy: The Power of Art featured a wide-ranging group of artists whose work engaged with scientific and metaphysical ideas. In addition to Ando, the show included works by Jackson Pollock, Alexander Calder, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist, Julie Mehretu, Frank Stella, Joseph Cornell, Man Ray, Richard Pousette-Dart, Barbara Prey, Doug Argue, Rachelle Krieger, Scott McIntire, Keith Sonnier, and Mark Tobey.
The museum collaborated with institutions such as Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Tesla Museum, incorporating scientific imagery and even a working cloud chamber to explore themes of radiation, electromagnetism, and the invisible energies that shape life and the cosmos. In this context, Ando’s Aurorae served as a poetic counterpoint—bridging aesthetic contemplation with elemental physics and natural wonder.