Innovation Gallery
ASU Museum of the Human Story
A part of ASU's Museum of the Human Story, the Innovation Gallery is housed on the ASU Tempe campus in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change building. Innovation Gallery is a public space to enjoy free, informative exhibits and programming related to our research. Faculty and graduate students frequently use the gallery as a laboratory to interpret, design and develop unique and interactive exhibitions. We also draw from the vast archaeological, ethnographic and scientific collections maintained by the university or provided by community partners.
Innovation Gallery hours of operation: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., excluding university holidays
Opening Soon
Message in a Bottle
April 4 - May 8
Communicating research to the public is an important part of the scientific process. Sharing bioarchaeological discoveries with non-scientists helps the community understand what we do and how we do it, promotes science and STEM education, fosters community engagement, creates advocates for our discipline and conveys information that is often behind academic or publisher paywalls. That said, one of the major challenges of speaking to non-scientist audiences is communicating in a manner that is approachable and free from technical jargon. A way to do this is through artistic representation. The Phoenix Bioscience Core, an Artist + Researcher (ARx) program pairs scientists with professional artists to collaborate on translational pieces of art. Upon completion, the public is invited to view the resulting work, where teams of researchers and artists use the artwork to educate the public about the research and the art.
The Message in a Bottle exhibit showcases the translation of bioarchaeological research in the Peruvian Andes into a suite of cloisonné jewelry that pays homage to Moche metalwork, illustrates the process of conducting excavation and skeletal analysis in the Andes, and communicates paleopathological findings such as traumatic injuries, trepanation, and developmental conditions. This exhibit features artwork by Mary K. Lucking, inspired by the research of Anne R. Titelbaum, a bioarchaeologist and associate professor at the University of Arizona.
About the researcher and the artist:
Anne Titelbaum is a biological anthropologist who specializes in human skeletal anatomy, paleopathology, and bioarchaeology. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, where she teaches dissection-based clinical gross anatomy to first-year medical students. Her primary research area is Andean South America, with a focus on archaeological populations of coastal and highland Peru. She has participated in a number of archaeological projects in Peru, including the Proyecto Arqueológico Huaca de La Luna, the Huaca Prieta Archaeological Project, the Proyecto Arqueológico Complejo El Brujo, and the Proyecto Arqueológico Huari-Ancash. Her research interests include musculoskeletal stress, ancient disease, developmental conditions, traumatic injury, trepanation, and mortuary practices. She has served as Treasurer and Board Member for the Paleopathology Association and is currently an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Paleopathology.
Mary Lucking works primarily as a public artist, creating artworks that help people explore and understand the environments and communities where they live. Her work ranges from large-scale, permanent artworks to temporary interactive installations, and includes art incorporated into walking trails, transit stations, and neighborhood parks. She also maintains a private studio practice where she can work with media and themes that don’t fit well into the structure of public art: small-scale work inspired by philosophical questions and emotional tensions. Her studio art is based in cloisonné—a meticulous craft where multiple layers of vitreous enamel are melted into finely-wrought wire designs.
Past exhibits
Finding Lucy: A celebration of 50 years
Fifty years ago — on Nov. 24, 1974 — a young paleoanthropologist named Donald Johanson was walking in the dusty landscape of the Afar Rift Valley of Ethiopia when he discovered the first human ancestor fossil who reliably walked upright on two feet — “Lucy.”
The 3.2-million-year-old fossilized 'Australopithecus afarensis' skeleton remains the most complete representative of human ancestors who were adapting to life on a changing landscape. This discovery is known to be one of the most significant anthropological findings of our time, which ushered in a new era of science-based human origins discoveries.
The Institute of Human Origins and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change have partnered to create an exhibit to mark this milestone in human origins. Through photographs, specimens, casts, and lifelike reproductions, this exhibit tells the story of Lucy's discovery, explores how she fits into the human family tree, and reveals how she continues to inform our understanding of what makes us human.
Hand Made: Continuances in Traditional and Contemporary Art
October - December 2022
The exhibition highlighted continuances in techniques and designs emanating from pre-colonial to contemporary times for Latin American and Latina/o/x artists. Specifically, art making techniques and designs made throughout the various regions of Latin American and the U.S./Arizona.
What is artesania or craft art? It is a system of communal values and aesthetics, that has been passed down through generations of people who possess local or akin knowledge of materials, techniques and customs. The objects created many times embody the everyday lives or experiences of the people who crafted them – as beliefs, dreams, childhood, relationships, livelihood, among others.
During the summer of 2007, the School of Human Evolution and Social Change acquired this collection from the Arizona State University’s Center for Latin American Studies through Jerry Ladman Ph.D. Ladman an economist who directed the center and started this collection in 1976, acquired it from his research-related travels throughout Latin America. While the collection began about 46 years ago, its entrance into SHESC’s collections invited new opportunities for research, education and exhibitions.
3,000 Years of Mexican and Central American Culture: The Deep Roots of Domestic Life in Mesoamerica
February - May 2022
Indigenous cultures in Mexico and Central America have experienced many transformations over time. However, long-lasting cultural continuities can still be seen in native societies in this region called Mesoamerica. These continuities, including maize foods, pottery making, textile weaving, and rituals for healing and community cohesion, remain because of their connections to domestic life. Some of these traditions are even found today in societies in New Mexico and Arizona. This exhibit introduced Mesoamerican cultural features that have continued in some form over 3,000 years or more –the deep cultural roots of household traditions. The clothing, domestic pottery, household utensils, foods, ritual items, and art in this exhibit speak to these continuities. Through the objects and themes on display, we engaged with local communities on interesting and important topics that unite us: households, everyday living, human creativity and cultural identity.
Revealing Artifacts: New Research with the Roosevelt Archaeological Collections at ASU
February - June 2020
Artifacts and records from massive excavation projects around Theodore Roosevelt Lake in central Arizona’s Tonto Basin make up some of the largest archaeological collections at Arizona State University. This material is an invaluable resource for new research. This exhibition features artifacts and images from the Roosevelt collections, specifically highlighting new research with Roosevelt Red Ware pottery as an example of the research potential of the collection.
Metzilocan Extension
March - September 2019
Contemplate the "Monolith of Tlaloc" in the gallery. This display is an extension of the new "Metzilocan" exhibit at the nearby ASU Art Museum, which chronicles artist Claudia Peña Salinas’ research on the Aztec deities of water, relating ancestral symbolism and knowledge to modernist and contemporary structures. The gallery will also feaure items from the school's Latin American collection that were hand-selected by Salinas to accompany her artwork.
Revisiting the Latin American Folk-Art Collection
September 2018 - February 2019
This exhibit is curated by students of the museum studies program at SHESC. It features 104 items from the school’s Latin American folk-art collection of over 400 pieces. Arranged around the themes of daily life, spiritual beliefs, animals and nature, the exhibition speaks to the diversity of Latin American culture. The collection came to the school in 2008 and, a decade later, provides a new opportunity to appreciate these works in the recently renovated Innovation Gallery.