Arts and sciences together and everything in its place

“Xylotheque’s Nocturne’’ (birch, maple, cherry, mahogany, walnut, red oak and white oak veneer on plywood), by Kate Conlon and Boyang Hou, at the Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, Mass., through May 28.

—Photo by Cat Lent

The curator explains that this work spans the length of the gallery's Henricks Art Wall. Tufts faculty members Kate Conlon and Boyang Hou created "Xylotheque's Nocturne’’ using laser-cut wood inlay to depict modern-day cabinets of curiosities with laboratory images. The intricate panels show beakers, test tubes, spray bottles, lab coats, lots of sticky notes and much more. "Together these panels create a portrait of the [building's] spaces for learning and research through a merger of ancient and contemporary techniques, harkening to a time when the arts and sciences were a single, shared discipline of human achievement.’’