the answer to life the universe and everything

From Zero to Infinity: The Story of Everything recently debuted in Doheny Memorial Library, drawing one of the largest-ever audiences to a USC Libraries opening exhibition.

The multipart exhibition is a unique expression of how library collections inspire artists to transform past knowledge in unexpected ways. The Story of Everything features digital artworks by artists Victor Raphael and Clayton Spada, as well as rare books from the USC Libraries’ special collections that helped fuel their creative explorations.

Twenty digital compositions from the artists’ From Zero to Infinity series are displayed on the ground floor of Doheny Library. The pieces overlay abstract images of galaxies, solar systems and other astronomical phenomena with visual elements ranging from religious texts to scientific treatises and cave paintings.

Artworks such as “Above Reason,” “Ecliptic Plane” and “Problema X” contrast modern and ancient ways of knowing, revealing both tensions and common elements. By bringing together disparate ways of understanding our place in the universe, Raphael and Spada reflect on the limits of human knowledge. “We don’t know the answer to everything,” Raphael said. “But we do know everything is connected.”

Dean Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries said that Raphael and Spada’s artworks reveal core values shared by the libraries. “In the intricate, technical process of their creation,” she said, “one can find a reverence for the knowledge of the past and its profound relationship to our intellectual and spiritual lives.”

The artists maintain a sense of humor despite - or perhaps because of - the vast scope of their philosophical inquiries. “To distill every aspect of existence into some supposed ‘story of everything’ - that takes hubris,” Spada said.

It also required quite a few trips to the library. As part of their creative process, Raphael and Spada worked closely with librarians at the USC Libraries’ special collections who guided them toward visual materials in their From Zero to Infinity series. Investigating the libraries’ rare holdings “evolved our process in ways we couldn’t have imagined,” Spada said.

Many of these intriguing objects from the libraries’ collections are displayed in Notes From the Story of Everything in the Treasure Room of Doheny Library. Visitors to the exhibition can see everything from a pop-up edition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” to a 17th-century atlas of the moon.

In the LiteraTea Café and the ground floor corridor of Doheny, Footnotes From the Story of Everything continues Raphael and Spada’s explorations in a changing display of illustrations from books on display in the Treasure Room.

From Zero to Infinity: The Story of Everything will be on display through Dec. 13 in Doheny Memorial Library. The USC Fisher Museum of Art has a 30-year survey of Victor Raphael’s work titled Travels and Wanderings, 1979-2009 on display through Dec. 19.