A grant to the University of Connecticut will support a new exhibition and public education initiative that seeks to challenge the assumption that there is only one way of understanding and valuing truth. In collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History, “Seeing Truth” will use scientific instruments, photographs, paintings, textbooks, and other objects to explore big questions including, how might both art and science contribute to new understandings of truth and knowledge?

The University of Connecticut Humanities Institute (UCHI) received a $275,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support the exhibition and programming for “Seeing Truth: Art, Science, and Making Knowledge (1750-2023),” which will be presented at the William Benton Museum of Art during the 2023 academic year.

UConn President Thomas C. Katsouleas announced the Luce grant during a reception introducing the UCHI Fellows for the 2019-2020 academic year, a group of 13 UConn faculty, visiting residential and dissertation scholars conducting research in a wide range of disciplines ranging from history and literature to culture and political science.

“One of the most exciting things about the humanities is that it really connects the work we’re all doing,” Katsouleas said. “Whether it’s fine arts, engineering, agriculture or nursing, every corner of the university benefits from the insight and knowledge imparted by humanities research.”

“Seeing Truth” will bring together scientific instruments, photographs, educational props, textbooks, paintings, taxidermy, expedition materials, and maps. The exhibition will challenge notions of what counts as a “scientific” object or as “art,” which will in turn challenge the assumption that there is only one way of understanding and valuing truth and knowledge.

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