From the time that stardust and cosmic material compressed to form this planet we call Earth, one single constant has remained true, unwavering for billions of years: Each day the sun rises and sets across the Earth’s surface. But things have changed over time. With the invention of artificial lights, has also come light pollution, and the erasure of darkness across our many landscapes continues to wreak havoc on the lives of many, human and other-than-human alike. And so, the question emerges: How can we embrace our relationship with the dark?
The new exhibition Jan Tichy: Darkness at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum looks to explore exactly this question. A photographer by trade, Jan Tichy works with light as a medium to approach these conversations around darkness through the museum’s invitation to create a newly commissioned, site-responsive artwork as part of its Signature Commission Series. The series invites artists to not only create work that is specifically designed to dialogue with the building’s iconic Zaha Hadid architecture, but also with the communities the museum serves.
“Photography itself means drawing with light,” said Steven L. Bridges, senior curator and director of curatorial affairs. “Jan is thinking through the language of photography but is really exploding the medium. His inquisitiveness and interest in learning from and with campus partners, combined with his unparalleled artistic vision, all come together in a truly unique project that is at once of a particular time and place, and yet touches on something far deeper within us.”
Working across disciplines and with a range of different Michigan State University laboratories and researchers, Jan Tichy: Darkness transforms the heart of the museum — the Julie and Edward J. Minskoff Gallery — into a reimagined architectural and multi-sensorial experience. This process included a challenge that the museum had never embarked on before: encapsulating the gallery, including its iconic two-story window, into a darkness that allowed Tichy to introduce light on his own terms.
Through an exploration of light as our most immediate connection to nature, the installation interrogates our relationship with architectural elements like windows, doors and balconies, reshaping how these elements mediate our experience of the natural world, light and darkness. At its core, the exhibition is an open invitation for visitors to renegotiate their connections to the rhythms of nature, circadian cycles, and the broader environment.
Tethering the exhibition not only to the architecture of the building but also the academic experts conducting impactful studies on MSU, ranging from the effects of light on our brain and our health, to its impact on our planet’s flora and fauna, Tichy worked closely with the Hoffmann Lab, the Yan Lab, the Bug House and the Controlled-Environment Light Laboratory for over year on original research that informs the final work on view. The exhibition and the work of these Labs share the common goal of encouraging curiosity about the subject of darkness.
“The collaborations with four MSU labs around the theme of darkness and its influence on human life is not about illustrating research,” noted Tichy, reflecting on the co-creative processes he has developed across campus. “But about inspiring new perspectives and sharing our different audiences, so visitors to the museum have more direct access and experience with the questions shaping the work of these innovative labs and campus organizations.”
The process of bringing Darkness to life is a prime example of the sorts of research conducted by artists, who also experiment and engage in generative inquiry that helps us all better understand our world. Together, research across disciplines—including the arts—ultimately inspire better conversations, change our perspectives, and provide the creative tools necessary to tackle the most pressing challenges of our time, such as the environmental and psychological impacts that stem from a loss of darkness.
“My work invites viewers to engage with light the way artists and scientists do, as something to be observed, shaped, and cared for,” Tichy said. “In my practice, light is never neutral; it is shaped, limited, redirected, and sometimes withheld. These questions extend beyond the museum, asking us to notice how light enters our homes and cities—when it supports well-being and perception, and when it overwhelms or disrupts.”
With the MSU Broad Art Museum’s efforts to provide world-class, unparalleled art experiences, the Signature Commission Series is part of the forward-looking, innovative vision for the museum as it moves into the next decade of its existence.
“The Signature Commission Series is just that: a series that is ongoing to really create something monumental on this campus,” noted Bridges. “With each artist, with each iteration of the series, we will continue to learn together and explore what’s possible in the world of art, and of course, the world of ideas.”
As part of Tichy’s work on campus, he also partnered with Abrams Planetarium to develop an immersive experience that explores light and darkness through the work of several labs and researchers at MSU. Through this artist-generated planetarium experience, audiences will see their campus surroundings in new and profound ways, guided by the voices of the researchers involved and the artist himself. Learning from Noctalgia: The Art and Science of Darkness at MSU premieres at Abrams Planetarium at 7 p.m. March 18 , with additional showings during MSU Science Festival on April 17 at the MSU Broad Art Museum and April 18 at the Planetarium.
Jan Tichy: Darkness (Jan. 24–July 26, 2026) is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University as part of the Signature Commission Series and curated by Steven L. Bridges, senior curator and director of curatorial affairs. Support for this exhibition is provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Endowed Exhibitions Fund, MSU Federal Credit Union, and Artis.
