Image: American University Museum, Washington, D.C.
American University Museum will host artist Tim Makepeace for a walking gallery tour and talk titled 'Ghost in the Machine' on Saturday, July 11, at 11 a.m. The 30-minute program is billed as a close look at Makepeace’s experience as one of a cohort of artists invited by NASA to observe the assembly of the James Webb Space Telescope before its 2021 launch.
The museum described the event as a chance to learn how the telescope informed Makepeace’s work and to hear more about his process. According to the announcement, the discussion will focus on how he captures the telescope’s technological ambition, geometric elegance, and the human presence embedded within it. The program is set to take place at American University Museum in Washington, D.C.
The talk sits within a July schedule that the museum has described as especially full, with the month serving as its last full month before the institution closes on August 9. In the same email, the museum highlighted several other gallery talks and artist events across the month, but 'Ghost in the Machine' is the first of two listed opportunities to hear directly from Makepeace about the project.
A second walking tour and talk under the same title is scheduled for Saturday, July 25, at 11 a.m., also at American University Museum. The two listings use the same description, indicating that the museum is repeating the event later in the month for audiences who may not be able to attend the first session.
Makepeace’s appearance connects the museum’s programming with an art-and-science story centered on one of the most closely watched engineering projects of recent years. The James Webb Space Telescope is identified in the museum announcement as the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope, and the event frames Makepeace’s work as a response to the extraordinary scale and precision of its assembly.
The email does not specify the broader exhibition context for 'Ghost in the Machine', but it does identify one work by Makepeace in the image list: 'Ray Tracing-MIRI onboard JWST', dated 2025 and made with gouache, sumi ink, and acrylic paint on paper. That image suggests the event is tied to the artist’s visual interpretation of the telescope and its components, though the museum announcement itself focuses on the gallery tour and talk rather than a separate exhibition description.
The museum’s July notice places Makepeace’s program alongside other talks on Richard Dana, Bonnie Lautenberg and A. Brockie Stevenson, reinforcing a month of artist-centered events at American University Museum. For 'Ghost in the Machine', the verified details are straightforward: Tim Makepeace will lead the tour and talk on July 11 from 11:00 to 11:30 a.m., with a repeat session set for July 25 at the same time.
