Not the center of the universe?!

Image from the show “Copernicus,’’ in the Bannister Gallery, at Rhode Island College, Providence, through Oct. 25. Curated by Jenny Chen Jiaying and Frank Wang Yefeng, this exhibition was inspired by Nicolaus Copernicus's On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, published in 1543 and the first Western book to challenge geocentrism — the belief that the Earth is the center of the universe. By this, he also suggested by implication that humanity is not the center of the universe, either.

“‘Copernicus,’ the gallery says, “provides a new perspective on the world and humanity, dissecting technology, geopolitics, nature and society to question anthropocentrism, centralization and other ideas common among humans. ‘Copernicus’ aims to challenge viewers and have them think about the modern equivalents of the same sort of questions that Copernicus asked hundreds of years ago.’’