Extra Credit Event 2

For this event I went to the Art + Brain + Morpho Nano Catalogue launch. First there was an online example of the book that I am posing next to. According to the catalog intro, most of the stories and structures were organized by Patricia Olynyk and Professor Vesna. While the Morpho Nano portion came from David Familian, a professor at UCI. Their catalog really explores biological dynamics and different parts of cellular structures.  First Professor Vesna did a short introduction and Professor Olynyk and the other professors all concisely explained their contribution to the catalog. I really appreciated the event because well for starters there were excerpts of the catalog virtually. I also liked how everyone was allowed to mingle and keep looking at different ideas/concepts that led to the catalog. It was also really cool to see Professor Vesna around colleagues and to see her in what she does best. This was my final event and I can see that this was a representation of DESMA 9 all in one, because it literally combined elements that I never would have thought, and they all came together. I enjoyed my time in this course throughout the quarter and it was a wonderful experience.

Extra Credit Event 1

On May 26th I attended the Replica Praesens: A Lecture on Synthetic Life by Sam Wolk, in Broad Art Center. I enjoyed this lecture because visually seeing life activity represented on the screen was really interesting. The third picture represented different color grids intensities that indicate concentrations of nutrients. He used a strip of DNA for a plant that sprouted, and each cell represents a given value for the plant. Wolk was saying that with the replication now they can define a whole species and create a population of diverse creatures from that species, given the values from plant DNA. For the second to last picture, species template, we can see an entire strip of plant DNA and the red dots are the plants waiting to sprout. This lecture was visually appealing, as I am a visual learner. Normally I kind of see these things as absurd, like I do not take the time to explore them. But this on the other hand was very interesting and I genuinely enjoyed my hour. This event was cool in the sense of reading into the slides and being able to discuss the entire live of plants & animals. Definitely a new field, that I might look into.

Space + Art

The space lectures really utilize how nanotechnology, biotechnology, math and robots are all used. Professor Vesna brought that to my attention, because I never thought to connect all these topics in such a way that space does. The lectures started with Polish astronomer & mathematician Copernicus. He could explain the observation of the heavens, and he has influenced a lot until this day, for example being on polish money & having telescopes named after him. The telescope was discovered in the seventeenth century and really thrusted astronomy forward. Then the created of the first atomic bomb after world war two. This struck me because I do not necessarily believe in war and I believe as a country investing into space technology that would hurt thousands, even millions of people.

An interesting fact I did learn was how NASA’s creation was influenced by the space race as well. Then learning that animals were tested by being launched into space. I also understand where those scientists were coming from, by not wanting to send humans to space when they did not know what was there. However, learning about the animals being launched did not necessarily sit right with me. From the 50’s on, the space exploration inspired a lot of space fiction movies as well. Movies and shows that truly did influence society and culture. 

As a child I watched The Jetson’s and The Flintstones so seeing that clip in the lecture brought me solace and really brought home how space influenced art and even my childhood without me realizing it. This class has taught me to view things that I naturally thought had no connection, in a way where I now acknowledge that everything is related.

Sources:

Vesna , Victoria,  Space Lecture Part 1. 2016. Youtube. Web. 26 May 2016.

Vesna , Victoria,  Space Lecture Part 2. 2016. Youtube. Web. 26 May 2016.

Vesna , Victoria, Space Lecture Part 3. 2016. Youtube. Web. 26 May 2016.

Vesna , Victoria, Space Lecture Part 4. 2016. Youtube. Web. 26 May 2016.

Vesna , Victoria, Space Lecture Part 5. 2016. Youtube. Web. 26 May 2016.

Vesna , Victoria, Space Lecture Part 6. 2016. Youtube. Web. 26 May 2016.

Event Blog 3

Me at the event chatting. 

Megan Lindeman & the Hunter Green piece

 This week I went to LASER on the 5th floor of CNSI at UCLA. First there was an introduction by Ana Jofre, she presented research on Introduction to Magnetism. She expressed that she wanted to contribute to culture more than just making measurements of molecules, she discussed how magnets work & electric forces and fields. Then I saw Megan Lindeman, who was an artists speaking about how neuro chemistry enters her heart. She presented a piece called Hunter Green where she discussed it was made from oxytocin and water color based paint. Megan said that oxytocin has subtle effect on the color over time. The main speech of the event was Walter Gekelman and he discussed plasma & molecules, atoms and how heat plays a part in positive and negative charges. I enjoyed this event because I got to first hand physically see how an artist is influenced by science. As well as how scientists take the time to communicate to artists about their findings. It was a great experience and I did not even know that there are events between artists and scientists before enrolling in this class.

Event Blog 2

Masa Jazbec & myself at the event

For this event I attended Masa Jazbec's lecture. She researches robots and androids in Japan. Masa described classifications for the new machines in relation to human society, Geminoid' s, Humanoids and Androids. Masa stated that Geminoids are closest to humans. She even went as far as to say the Gemini's are copies of human beings. These robots have been integrated into our society, as they have grown smarter through time as humans have further developed them. I personally feel that having robots so closely integrated into our society could be problematic. I believe the closer robots are to humans, the line between the relationship with humans and robots will be blurred. In most cinema films, that division causes a problem for humans, I do not think that robots with emotions and humanlike characteristics should totally be integrated. Especially as Masa goes into detail of a girl interacting with a geminoid version of her father, and she could not comprehend that it was a robot she was talking too. That did not sit well with me, because I believe robots with that much human likeness could easily bring about miscommunications and mishappenings.

Nanotechnology + Art

Nanotechnology and Art

In this week’s lecture, the idea of nanotechnology changing the world, has been brought into discussion. NanoArt is a complex artistic-scientific process that comprises three major components: 1. creation of the nano sculpture (sculpture at atomic and molecular levels), 2. visualization of the nanostructure and image capture; 3. artistic interpretation of the scientific images using different artistic techniques. Nanotechnology and art have been combined in many ways, such as paintings & pictures, to nanotechnology being presented in every day household items. Richard Phillips Feynman was an American theoretical physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, which held a significant role in the nanotechnology field.

The most interesting part of the lecture was to know that nano-art is in on the market! Especially 1000 different items. Such as cooking oil, teas, health supplements, long-life packaging, anti-bacterial kitchenware. Even outside of food, nanotechnology is in makeup, I use loreal make up all the time so to discover it is a nanotechnology company really baffled me. Especially when Dr. Gimzewski stated Nanoparts are in agriculture, and everyday foods like hot dogs!

I am against nanotechnology being in food, especially with GMO foods. I did not know that genetically modified foods do not have to be labeled, and consumers truly do not know what we are eating.  The technology is very powerful and a lot of people are not even aware of it.

Sources: 

Gimzewski, James K. "Lecture: Nanotech for Artists Part 1." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 21 May 2016.

Gimzewski, James K. "Lecture: Nanotech for Artists Part 2." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 21 May 2016.

Gimzewski, James K. "Lecture: Nanotech for Artists Part 3." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 21 May 2016.

Gimzewski, James K. "Lecture: Nanotech for Artists Part 4." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 21 May 2016.

Gimzewski, James K. "Lecture: Nanotech for Artists Part 6." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 21 May 2016.

Vesna, Victoria. "Nanotech Intro." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 21 May 2016.

Images: 
www.pinterest.com
http://nanoart21.org/blog/ 

Neuroscience + Art

Neuro Science + Art

Neuroscience is an exploding field and artists have always been intrigued by the mind + body, as well as a stream of consciousness. Consciousness, defined by Professor Vesna is “A sense of one’s personal or collective identity, including the attitudes, beliefs, and sensitivities … special awareness or sensitivity”. I believe that we humans are just now truly discovering our brain, something that has already been in place for thousands of years. Franz Joseph Gall was one of the first few to attempt to help figure out and explain different areas of the brain to the public, coining his own term phrenology. As well as the founder of neuro anatomy, Santiago Ramon y Cajal.

Here is a painting of Ramon y Cajal.

From the New York times article, that references CP Snow’s assertion that there are two cultures of artists and scientists, where artists did not care about science. As well as scientists paid no attention to art. However, within neuroscience and art scientists and artists are consistently crossing these boarders.

Here is an art piece, where at first glance it is a tree. But the trunk is clearly the base of the brain. Also, instead of leaves, there are thinner to represent veins in the brain. Scientists and artists have influenced each other as there are artists who paint and create pieces based off anatomy. As well as doctors and nurses using music and other forms of art to help patients. Either way, both neuroscience and art both can help benefit those in need + doctors/ artists.

Picture as to why music therapy helps autistic children

Works Cited:

Max, D.T "Proust was a Neuroscientist". New York Times. 11 May 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/books/review/Max-t.html?_r=0>

Noe, Alva. “Art and the Limits of Neuroscience.”Opinionator. The New York Times, 11 2011. Web. 11 May 2016.

Vesna, Victoria. “Conscious / Memory (Part 1).” Lecture. 11 May 2016. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DLVQIwOn7o8>

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Conscious / Memory (Part 2).” 11 May 2016. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xlg5wXHWZNI>
Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Conscious / Memory (Part 3).” 11 May 2016. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E5EX75xoBJ0>