The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has commissioned a significant new work from artist Sarah Rosalena for its upcoming David Geffen Galleries. Titled Threading the Infinite: Omnidirectional Terrain, this 27-foot tapestry serves as a centerpiece for the museum's permanent collection display, slated to open to the public in 2026.
Rosalena, an associate professor at UC Santa Barbara, combines traditional hand-weaving techniques with industrial jacquard-rapier loom technology. The piece transforms computer-generated satellite imagery of planetary terrains into woven structures. By removing traditional orientation markers like compass points or borders, the work challenges how society visualizes land and geography.
The tapestry represents two decades of the artist’s research into the intersection of craft and technology. Rosalena explores how mapping tools relate to historical colonialism and modern resource extraction. By creating a work that lacks a fixed orientation, she aims to disrupt grid-based thinking and established geographical boundaries.
This commission follows Rosalena's long-term involvement with the museum's Art + Tech Lab, which began in 2019. The creation of the textile draws from her own family history, blending a lineage of traditional Southwest weaving with her grandfather’s work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The resulting piece functions as both an artistic statement and a commentary on current environmental and social issues.
As part of the 50 Works 50 Weeks series, the museum is highlighting the project ahead of the gallery's full launch. The work asks viewers to reconsider their relationship with Earth through the lens of both ancient textile traditions and modern computational imaging. It remains a physical manifestation of complex geological and celestial data.