Frank Oppenheimer had a lifelong belief in the importance of art in an equal and closely connected relationship to science. He personally recruited artist Bob Miller to create "Sun Painting", the first major art installation at the Exploratorium. Another early work was the "Tactile Dome" (1971), by August Coppola (father of actor Nicolas Cage and brother of the film director Francis Coppola). This was a 3-dimensional tightly convoluted passage that was completely dark inside, and which visitors had to explore relying on the sense of touch, encountering many tactile experiences along the way. Both installations proved to be immensely popular, and renewed versions of both are still on display today. In 1974, Oppenheimer established an ongoing artist-in-residence program at the Exploratorium, regularly bringing in a succession of emerging and established artists working at the boundaries of art and science.