Event 3: Making Strange: Gagawaka & Postmortem

The third event I attended was here on campus at Fowler Museum. Out of my four years at UCLA, this was actually the first time I visited the museum, and it was surprising to know that there is such high quality art that is accessible to all students but most people are unaware of. When I visited Fowler, there were only a few other people there, so I was able to walk through the exhibit without disturbance or having to wait for others to observe a piece.

Dress made out of tampons

If you were to ask me to think of an idea for abstract, interdisciplinary art, this exhibit would probably be close to something I'd imagine: things made out of unexpected things and body parts lying around. Making Strange: Gagawaka & Postmortem are two different bodies of work by multimedia artist Vivian Sundaram. Gagawaka consisted of pieces of garments made from medical supplies and recycled objects. The idea of creating fashion items from trash, essentially, was fascinating and a demonstration of a collaboration between unexpected partners, or a combination of two cultures you could say.

Spine, 2013

Triangular Shelf, 2013

Surgery Doll in Black Tights, 2013

 While in the spotlight was on the clothes the mannequins were wearing in Gagawaka, in Postmortem, the spotlight shifted to the actual mannequins. Or the concept of the human body that the mannequins represented. The Postmortem exhibit especially caught my attention because of its focus on the relationship between medicine and art. As a physiological science major, seeing torsos, arms, heads, and decapitated bodies stuck to walls and rearranged provided a thought provoking view of our fragility as well as the perception of our physical entities.

Proof of attendance selfie

This was well-displayed concept art. Go take a look. 

Event 2: Infinity Structures: Paradoxical Spaces

The opening reception for the exhibition, Infinity Structures: Paradoxical Spaces by Robert Gero was my second time in the ArtSci Gallery, so unlike the first time, I actually knew where I was going while making my way around the halls of CNSI. I was anticipating the atmosphere to be similar to the first. From the even description, I knew that the point of the exhibition was to explore the idea of space and creating new ways of viewing the physical world. Walking into the room with the lights moving around, mood-setting music playing, and white beams traversing from the bottom of one wall to the top of another, it was a clear distinction from the solid edges of the brick walls and cement floor in the hallway I had just been in. 

Robert Gero is an interdisciplinary artist studying philosophy and mathematics. With this project, the abstract, philosophical topic he tackles is speculating the existence of unique structures in which there is a stable exterior and an infinitely expanding interior. The pillows sitting on top of beams were a common topic of question, and Gero said that those were already in the room before he set up the exhibit. He added them as a material representation in his dynamically expanding abstract space. I connect his work with the math + art section of our class as it deals with the idea of infinity and because of the visual and aesthetic effects created by the different views and angles. 

 If it is still up in CNSI, I would recommend making the trip to campus to view this exhibit. Just standing in the middle of the room and taking in the environment for a couple minutes would be an experience. I might make you think a bit about the physical world you see in relation to the continuously changing space that exists all around you.

Proof of attendance - picture with the artist!

Event 1: Waste Matters: You are My Future

While I attended the opening of this exhibition back at the beginning of the quarter on April 16, I think that by writing about the experience now having gone through the course gives me a good understanding of art, science and technology and a better understanding of the significance of the art I saw. This was the first art exhibition I had attended, so I went into the gallery not knowing what to expect. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was, "Oh hey, free food and drinks. This is fancy." Well, there were a few other students there as well, so I kind of followed suit and walked around the room, plate and napkin in hand, observing the pieces in front of me. The first thing I noticed was that in the middle of the room, there were poops in glass containers.

Poops in glass

Remember, this was at the beginning of the quarter before I had learned about Medicine, Biotechnology and Bioart, so understand my confusion. However, after walking through the exhibit, and reading a bit about Kathy High, which we also learned about a few weeks ago in one of the lecture videos, I discovered that she has suffered from an autoimmune disorder called Crohn's disease. Since then, she has used art to express the importance of maintaining the immune system and connected this to research on microbiota. That explains the pictures I saw of kids playing and being happy on a colon, where a lot of gut bacteria lives as part of the immune system and helps to keep us healthy.

Parts of the "Re-mediator" series 

Back to the poops, I later learned that this piece was a form of Bioart that respresented fecal transplantation, a studied method of treatment for Crohn's disease. It was all connecting now. Overall, I enjoyed Kathy High's exhibit, and I would have recommended other people going over to CNSI to see it (though it's no longer on display). Since I saw it at the beginning of the quarter, it was a good introduction to to how art could be used to bring awareness to important medical and scientific issues.

Proof of attendance - Picture with the artist!

Week 9: Space + Art

We went from picking apart the world on a nanoscale last week to the macroscale and discussing the farthest corners of the universe this week. I think that the stark contrast really drives home the point that this "cosmic ocean," as it was said in the lecture video, is where everything from science, technology, and art comes together (Vesna). This week gave an interesting perspective in terms the vastness of the world as the video, "Powers of Ten," shows how a view of outer space can be zoomed into a view of atomic particles in a span of 10⁴⁰ meters. Fans of the video blog about the beauty of seeing the world from different angles, and I agree that this prompts very complex questions about the idea of existence and my own place in the universe.
 

Pin dropped on current location using Google Earth

In addition to promoting this abstract type of thinking, space exploration has been the reason for increased investment in the education system and emphasis on science and mathematics in schools. It's flourished in the cinema and with increased support for the cultural impact of space activities, has come to demonstrate our identity as explorers and artists by nature. While we've explored many areas of knowledge from math to neuroscience to nanotechnology with goals of better understanding ourselves and progressing towards the future, our human interest in space represents how much we still don't know and how much we still have yet to learn.

Final scene from Men in Black II - "Still a rookie"

Just as the Star Trek introduction states, space is the final frontier. Similar to the starship Enterprise, with the innovations of science and technology along with the boundless potential and curiosity of art, we continue to explore strange new worlds and boldly go where no man has gone before.

People as part of an infinite universe

References:

Earnes Office. "Powers of Ten (1977)." Youtube. Youtube, 26 August 2010. Web. 31 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0>

Powers of Ten blog. "Happy Power of Tens Day!" blog.powersof10.com. Earnes Office LLC, 10 October 2013. Web. 31 May 2015.

"The Leonardo Space Art Project Working Group." Leonardo Space Art Project. International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology, 1996. Web. 31 May 2015.

Uconlineprogram. "8 space pt2 1280x720." Youtube. Youtube, 29 July 2014. Web. 31 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLZMDpoP-u0>

Uconlineprogram. "Space pt6." Youtube. Youtube, 30 May 2012. Web. 31 May 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYmOtFjIj0M>

Week 8: Nanotechnology + Art

In this week's lecture, we focused on the great influence that nanotechnology, as a collaborative science,  has on our daily lives, as it is shifting the paradigm into the 21st century and challenging social and scientific views (Gemzewski). Following Richard Feynman, who first suggested working with objects on the atomic scale, people have been breaking down and manipulating the world from it's smallest components, in ways invisible to the naked eye. Advances in nanotechnology impact various areas of our daily living including our food, electronics, and clothing, and it brings about advantages in many respects.

Viewing the world on a nanoscale

Nanoparticles are an example of nanotechnology contributing to the lives of the general public. It is one of the biggest areas of commercial business, and for example has been used to make the self-cleaning fabric in pants, tennis balls that stay inflated longer, and alternative replacements for cosmetic products. This last example is accomplished through artificial atoms called quantum dots, which have varying physical properties based on size (Anscombe). These are all products we regularly use, and they indicate how we're exposed to nanotechnology in many ways we can't see.

Quantum dots being used to make cosmetic replacements

As Gimsewski and Vesna explain in their article, with nanotechnology, there is a blurring of fact and fiction, and this new science is also shifting our perception of reality from a visual culture to one that is more abstract. Researchers and scientists are working with things once thought to be intangible, and now it is interesting to see how minuscule changes on the nanoscale can make such a great impact in the way our society and culture is progressing towards the future.

Lotus leaf on the molecular level

References:

Anscombe, Nadya. "Quantum Dots: Small Structures Poised to Break Big." Photonics. Photonics media, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=22350>

Gimzewski, Jim and Vesna, Victoria. "The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of fact & fiction in the construction of a new science." Web. <http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/publications/publications/02-03/JV_nano/JV_nano_artF5VG.htm>

Uconlineprogram. "Nanotech Jim pt1." Youtube. Youtube, 21 May 2012. Web. 24 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7jM6-iqzzE>

Uconlineprogram. "Nanotech Jim pt3." Youtube. Youtube, 21 May 2012. Web. 24 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0HCNiU_108>

Uconlineprogram. "Nanotech Jim pt6." Youtube. Youtube, 21 May 2012. Web. 24 May 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&v=oKlViSKkPd0>