Welcome to the LSU Mystery Project Collaborative
Reaching back to the Mediterranean Bronze Age and forward to cognitive neuroscience and the great AI unknown, The Mystery Project Collaborative seeks to explore from multiple disciplinary perspectives what mystery is, how it has shaped the quest for knowledge and power, and why it is often coupled with secrecy. By examining how mystery hovers on the shifting borders between the known and the unknown, discovery and hiddenness, and creativity and silence, the project seeks to illuminate some of the big questions we are facing on the cusp of major paradigm shifts in the humanities, the arts, the social sciences, and the basic sciences.
See the exciting projects and events underway! We would love for you to join us!
Most of the paintings that grace this website are by the Russian-born American painter, Vladimir Kush. His visual art, which he describes as “Metaphorical Realism,” engages with themes of mystery and secrecy in provocative, playful, and inspiring ways. The Mystery Project Collaborative will feature his work in discussion groups linked to courses and research activity. From left to right, beginning with About Us, are Kush's paintings Evening Flight, Fauna in La Mancha, Sunrise by the Ocean, Cirque du Metal, Doors of the Night, and 1 & 0 in the City Park.