Event 5: Breathing Light

This past Friday, me and a few of my friends made the arduous drive down Wilshire to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  After waiting in traffic for some time, we bought our tickets for the LACMA and signed up for the hour-long wait to see James Turrell's Breathing Light Exhibit.  Thanks to this hour of waiting I was able to explore the museum with my pals and we found works from world famous artists like Picasso, Monet, and even Andy Warhol.  But after the hour elapsed, we ventured over to the James Turrell exhibit where we were greeted by the fellow pictured below with the iPad.  He checked us in, and told us we were to wait to be called in.  When we were finally called into the room with the exhibit, they had us all take off our shoes and place them in the cubbies beneath us after putting on white booties over our socks.  Then we were instructed to walk up the stairs into the exhibit, and to not get within 5 feet of the walls or edge.  The exhibit was a large, white room with curved sides, designed to eliminate the viewer's depth perception.  After talking a little with the workers at the exhibit, they informed me that James Turrell’s art is a nexus for the worlds of art, science, architecture, astronomy, mathematics, archaeology, and spirituality.  A lot of these worlds are topics that we have covered in this quarter's curriculum.  Overall, Breathing Light was a really cool experience from my perspective.  I especially enjoyed "zoning out" looking at the back wall of the exhibit, making the color of the walls the only thing in my line of sight.  After staring at this wall for a while, and after the color of the exhibit changed a few times, my brian began creating shadowy images against the colorful backdrop.  I saw shadows of people begin to form on the back wall, and I was in awe.  I really enjoyed the exhibit and have been raving about it to all my friends ever since.  I think anyone and everyone should definitely go see this exhibit at some point.  

Week 9: Space + Art

This week's lecture was all about the final frontier: space.  Like Professor Vesna said, this week's topic is a culmination of all the topics we have covered up to this point because space is so vast and incorporates a number of different subtopics within it.  I especially enjoyed learning about the history of space, specifically things like the atomic bomb, the Cold War, the Space Race, and even Star Trek and Star Wars!

Lately, art and space have been converging in a number of ways, with a lot of modern artists seemingly becoming more fixated with the cosmos.  One of the most notable "space artists" is probably German photographer Thomas Ruff who transforms satellite imagery in space and creates famous news photos.  In 2010 Ruff created the "ma.r.s" series which was a series of satellite photographs of Mars' surface that he took from the NASA website. This is just one of many examples of modern artists utilizing satellite imaging to create works of art out of the most wondrous parts of our universe.  These photographers are taking space and its natural beauty and transforming it into new age art.  

Another example of space and art coming together is the Star Wars series, which is a major part of pop culture.  This famous series has generated millions of dollars and has transported audiences for years to a galaxy far, far away.  Throughout the series there are a number of characters and creatures that were inspired by wildlife on our planet.  Now, Star Wars has gained so much popularity and influence that modern scientists have been naming new species of animals after Star Wars.  Some of these species include Han Solo, Tetramorium jedi and Yoda purpurata.

 The next great sci-fi series that needs mentioning is Star Trek.  This show coined the phrase "The Final Frontier," and the whole show is about exploring space and seeking to conquer that final frontier.  The first Star Trek series debuted in 1966, and they have been making spin-off TV shows and movies ever since.  The most recent movies are critically-acclaimed motion pictures, and some of the picturesque CGI scenes in the movie are works of art in themselves.  Star Trek has expanded its influence over the years, and some people even consider the show responsible for inspiring the invention of the cell phone.  The show is also incredibly progressive, having one of television's first multiracial casts.  This show combines space with the art that goes into creating an original TV series and a series of movies as well.

In this week's lecture Professor Vesna talked about the Space Race, and to me this is an incredibly important period in American history. Because of the Space Race and the Cold War, the United States has asserted its superpower status in the world after knocking off the rival that was the USSR.  Between Sputnik, the Apollo missions, and many other advances, the US and the USSR both put large sums of money into the Space Race.  Many argue that this was a waste of money, but because of this exploration we made many advances in modern technology.  Some of these items include Satellite TV, Laptops, the Dustbuster, smoke-carbon monoxide detectors, telemedicine, the joystick, 3d graphics and virtual reality, non-reflective displays, ear thermometers, and satellite navigation.  

But you cannot holistically cover the topic of space without talking a little bit about NASA. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the U.G. government agency in charge of the civilian space program and aerospace research.  On the NASA website is an article about the 50 years of NASA history in which NASA's chief historian analyzes the history of his organization.  From everything like Sputnik I and II and the Space Race, to lunar and planetary exploration, NASA has contributed a lot in terms of space exploration.  This organization may cost us a lot of money, but because of this exploration, we have made a number of incredible discoveries that have fueled the Digital Age.  And if we want to keep developing as a species, and continue to grow and learn new things, we must seek what else is out there because if we do not, our planet will not last much longer. 

 Works Cited

Chayka, Kyle. "Where Art and Space Travel Meet: Why Is The Art World Suddenly So Captivated By the Cosmos?" The Creators Project. N.p., 9 Oct. 2012. Web. 30 May 2015. <http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/where-art-and-space-travel-meet-why-is-the-art-world-suddenly-so-captivated-by-the-cosmos>.

Jens, Kevin Beent. "A Fish Called Greedo: 10 Species Named After Star Wars." StarWars.com. N.p., 01 Apr. 2015. Web. 30 May 2015. <http://www.starwars.com/news/a-fish-called-greedo-10-species-named-after-star-wars>.

"Star Trek." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2015. <http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek>.

"The Space Race." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 30 May 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/space-race>.

Dick, Stephen J. "50 Years of NASA History." NASA.gov. NASA, 10 Apr. 2008. Web. 30 May 2015. <http://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/historyLetter.html>.

Event 4: Singular Spaces

This photographic exhibit was composed of photographs of Spanish art taken by Jo Farb Hernandez.  These original works were created without any sort of architectural or engineering planning.  The pieces are often very colorful and fanciful, marked by "incongruous juxtaposition," basically just putting things next to other that don't make a lot of sense.  The most interesting part of this exhibit for me was hearing about how each artist chose to work within the confines of their own space, whether it be their home, garden, or neighborhood.  This mixture of life and art makes these works much more personal for the artist and the viewer, and I think working in your own area adds not only a personal touch, but also ties the art in with the artists' culture and surroundings.

 The first photograph that stood out to me was this one to the right, created by Julio Basanta Lopez in 1933.  This picture is depicting the Western entrance to the city of Epila, Zaragoza in Spain.  This scene is incredibly colorful, with whites, blues, reds, greens, you name it.  I also noticed the large number of crosses that can be seen in this picture, and that made me think of the Spanish Inquisition.  Whether the Spanish like it or not, religion has played a huge part in the country's history, and they have always been a predominantly Catholic country even in 1933.

 This next piece created by Peter Buch show a monumental building in the shape of a head in La Pobla de Benifassa in Castello, Spain.  Another very colorful and unique image that is a monumental building for the Spanish.  I cannot quite figure out why, but the color and the uncomfortable face on the structure really caught my eye.  Here, they have transformed an important building into a work of art that depicts a monster-like creature peeking its head out of the ground.  Such a subtle bit of re-design, and the building now has a completely different meaning, with its influence now spanning across the globe.



This image here is another photograph by Julio Basanta Lopez.  In the same location of Epila, Zaragoza, Spain, this is a picture of just a few of the demons that are resting above the entrance gate to the city.  This distinctive grouping of demons is actually at the southern end of the gate, and as you can see there are 2 angels and a demon.  Next to these three, there is also a figure dangling from a hangman's noose, but he was only recently added in 2009 or 2010 and has since been removed. I was originally very disturbed by the person dangling from the noose, but then I remembered what I learned at my Catholic High School, where religious people whether they are Christian, Jewish, or Islam, all agree that suicide is the gravest of sins.  Keeping that in mind, I now understand the presence of the noose, alongside all the other religious paraphernalia.

This final piece was cool to me, because I thought these towers that they were creating were amazing.  As you can see in the picture, these are wooden towers build from skinny poles of wood which were carefully designed, but again, without any architectural or engineering planning behind them.  The tower on the left is even supporting a man's weight!  The fact that they had the capability of creating these towers without any real advanced knowledge really inspired me.  I thought this exhibit was good, but I wish it came with more information and backstory behind the works.

Event 3: Gagawaka + Postmortem

Vivian Sundaram is the designer behind this incredibly fascinating exhibit at the Fowler Museum on campus.  Sundaram is a habitant of Delhi and a veteran of socially engaged art.  The exhibit was split into two parts, Gagawaka and Postmortem, with Gagawaka being comprised of about 30 wearable garments, made completely of recycled materials, medical supplies, or other various materials that interact with the fashion in a whole new way.  Postmortem made up the various mannequins and anatomical works throughout the exhibit.  When these two projects are combined, they create this exhibit, giving these garments and mannequins an added aesthetic appeal with the dual projects.  After seeing this exhibit, to me it seemed like the artist was trying to express the fragility of the human body, while also using the recycled materials to reflect our changing society on its way to a completely global community.  To me, this exhibit expresses the relationship between art and science, and how things like dresses made out of surgical masks can represent a cultural shift.

Upon entering the exhibit, the first two works I see are two very avant-garde dresses with hats and masks accompanying them.  They are both a similar blue-turquoise color, so that's what initially caught my eye.  Then, I read the captions below the works and found that they were made out of surgical masks and surgical caps.  I found this really interesting, how the artist used these materials to create a work of fashion.  To me, the surgical masks and hats represent our modern culture, and I could be completely off, but I think the artist is trying to show us that our priorities need to be sorted.  People, especially in Los Angeles, take fashion incredibly seriously, and can talk about the latest trends for hours, but when it comes to things like the medical field, they are completely overlooked in our modern culture.  The artist is combining art and science to start a dialogue about our global community.

The final piece that really stood out to me was the tunic made of chain mail.  I thought this was really fascinating, mostly because I really could not figure it out.  I think it could be a piece that represents how far we've come as a society, going from using things like heavy chain mail as protection, to now having things like kevlar, making chain mail simply a costume for Hollywood.  I think that's why the artist puts this piece at the end of the exhibit, as a testament to how far we have come as a species, and how much more potential we have for the future.

I really liked this exhibit and definitely would recommend it to any and all that are thinking about going to see it.  I think it provides an interesting perspective on the world and an interesting narrative about our global community.  I loved how art and science were present throughout the exhibit, with the combination oozing out of garments made of medical supplies.

Week 8: Nanotechnology + Art

In this week's lecture we learned about just how important nanotechnology is.  Dr. Gimzewski, former IBM researcher and current UCLA professor, informed us that almost every aspect of science and technology is somehow affects or influenced by nanotechnology.

First of all, what is nanotechnology? By definition, it is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1-100 NANOmeters (there are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch.  Basically, we are dealing with stuff that's really small, but can be used across many scientific fields like chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering.  Nanotechnology is a pretty recent phenomenon, with its technologies only being created 30 years ago.  Nonetheless, nanotechnology has proven incredibly useful for scientists working to create materials at the nanoscale.  Materials created this way come out with "higher strength, lighter weight, increased control of light spectrum, and greater chemical reactivity than their large-scale counterparts."

In my research, I discovered a Nanotech artist named Christian Orfescu, who's day job involves an analytical laboratory at Caleb Technology.  Orfescu is incredibly passionate about his craft, and about nanotechnology, but he hopes to expand the curiosity behind nanotechnology, considering over 70 percent in the U.S. use products incorporating nanotechnology.  Orfescu is very talented when it comes to color manipulation.  He is very good at using the nanotechnology to his advantage, creating beautiful images that are full of both color and wonder.


The next body of work I found was one belonging to Cambridge University, specifically the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy.  The piece to the left is entitled "Crystal Kaleidoscope" because that's exactly what this looks like.  This particular work is a "false colour convergent beam electron diffraction pattern."  There are a number of reflections in the center, including concentric circles of reflections similar to the energy levels of an electron. Additionally, odd numbered energy levels have only a single branch of intensity that corresponds to scattering from the oxygen atoms within the structure.


Another article I found, written by National Geographic, believes that art is the key to making nanotechnology for understandable and relatable.  The article actually talks about the exhibition "nano" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which of course was created by a team of UCLA minds.  The article is basically saying that nanotech art can catch people's attention, and make them think about nanotechnology and ask more questions.  Because of this, art is making this intimidating science more approachable.

And finally I came across an article entitled "When Nanotechnology Meets Art."  This article was basically another blog post comprised of Nanotechnology Images of incredibly beautiful things in nature.  The first was the underside of a single scale on a butterfly wing, and then the blog went on to compare the image of a type of butterfly that looks like an owl, to the actual face and eyes of an owl.  The similarity is pretty scary.  I really liked finishing with this article because for me, it is a culmination of everything about nanotech and art.  These images are beautiful parts of nature that we simply never get to see up close.  The future in this field looks incredibly bright, and it is already one of the most important industries in the modern day.  We are just at the tip of the iceberg here, and I cannot wait what lies in store for the future.













Works Cited:

"What is Nanotechnology?" Nano.gov. National Nanotechnology Initiative, n.d. Web. 20 May 2015. <http://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition>.

Feder, Barnaby J. "The Art of Nanotech." Bits The Art of Nanotech Comments. New York Times, 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 20 May 2015. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/the-art-of-nanotech/?_r=0>.

"Nanotechnology Now." Nanotechnology Art Gallery. Nanotechnology Now, n.d. Web. 20 May 2015. <http://www.nanotech-now.com/nanotechnology-art-gallery.htm>.

Lovgren, Stefan. "Can Art Make Nanotechnology Easier to Understand?" National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 23 Dec. 2003. Web. 20 May 2015. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1223_031223_nanotechnology.html>.

"When Nanotechnology Meets Art." ScienceAndReligion.com. N.p., 20 Apr. 2011. Web. 20 May 2015. <https://iaincarstairs.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/when-nanotechnology-meets-art/>.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Event 2: This is the End

This was a very bizarre experience to say the least.  It was a rather brief movie, which they set up in front of two very comfortable bean bag chairs.  We walked in and immediately saw a slow-motion clip of water dropping onto a thumb, although I couldn't really tell if it was real or computer generated.  That confusion lasted throughout most of the movie.  There were constant random sounds that would almost jump out at you and make you a little uncomfortable.  All of the shots in the movie were really slow, drawn out pans, and there were never more than a few words being said and displayed on the screen at one time.  Then I was really confused when a CGI chimpanzee began talking to us, and I couldn't really understand what he was trying to say.  The phrases were very confusing, and it almost seemed like I was missing something throughout most of the movie.  By the end, a thumb went into a belly button that began spilling a blue liquid, and the narrator was repeating the word summer a lot.  I was pretty confused, and didn't really know what to think, but it was a really interesting experience that definitely spurned some thought.

Event 1: Provocation

 Earlier today I attended the Hammer Museum and saw the exhibit "Provocation" in Gallery 1.  I had no idea what to expect going into the event, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.  I began reading about the exhibit  and the artist behind it, and I was taken aback upon reading brands like Longchamps attributed to this artist.  I then turned around and saw a really tall structure which looked like a spool or press of some kind.  But what really caught my eye about this piece was all the various questions that were covering it.  Questions like "How do we light a fire under the lazy customer to walk up a flight of stairs?"

 The next piece I noticed was these two bus seats.  I thought this was weird at first, so I read the snippet beneath the work and read about how the artist worked to create brand new double-decker buses in London that would be nicer, cleaner, better engineered, and better for the environment.  I really like that the artist chose to use two seats to represent this great achievement in his career.  He could've used a big huge picture of the bus, but I like the simplicity of the seats.  They are much more subtle, and I think that's why I enjoy them so much.

Next, I saw a diorama of a building somewhere in Asia, with the question under it: "How do we build a building to represent a city?"  I thought just the fact that the artist was asking this question was amazing.   But I really like the aesthetics behind the structure as well.  The gold represents prosper for the city, and it's also very modern and almost futuristic, showing that the city is well-equipped and prepared for the future.  Above all, the building is a gem compared to its surroundings.  And I think the city is the same for its inhabitants.  

 This structure here is actually a series of large blocks, with trees planted on top of them.  However, the blocks are varying heights, so some tress stand taller than others, creating a "forest village" of a park.  The amount of time and effort these people are putting into a park just baffles me.  But at the same time, I can really appreciate the attention to detail, and the uniqueness of this idea.  This will be really awesome once it gets built, and I think the fact that it is being built within a city makes it that much cooler.

 This final work is another park, but it is a "park made out of desert."  They are planning on building large, desert colored coverings over the park to provide shade for the pool and park below.  These people are literally building an oasis in the desert, the most modern and beautiful oasis that I've ever seen.








Overall, I was fascinated by this exhibit.  I actually learned a lot about architecture, and the process behind the designing of these structures and parks. A lot of this relates back to our Art + Science section, along with Art + Math.  Both of these combinations are at play, creating a cornucopia of brilliant designs and ideas.   I would highly recommend this exhibit to anyone considering going.  The Hammer Museum is a really cool place.