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Event Blog #3

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Event Blog #3 For my final event, I went to the J. Paul Getty Museum. I have been here a few times in the past, and each time I make the visit I’m amazed. The museum itself is a work of art, with beautiful white stone making up all the buildings and impeccably manicured landscaping. There are several water features and an amazing view of LA as well. It’s a great spot for a picnic. Stained Glass As I said, the museum itself is a work of art, and the experience really begins before you even enter the building complex — it starts with a tram. After parking, you’re loaded into a tram that acts as transport to the museum. But it’s much more than that. The tram provides a great view of Los Angeles and helps to build anticipation for your visit. It also acts as a wonderful example of how architecture can merge the two worlds of art and science. King Louis XIV Once inside, I went to the exhibition featuring European art. While examining the intricate stained glass displ
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Week 9: Space and Art

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Blog #9: Space and Art Neil deGrasse Tyson This week’s topic was Space and Art. Space is something I’ve been interested in for a long time, and have been learning about more in depth recently. I read Neil deGrasse Tyson’s book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and absolutely loved it. It explains many of the space phenomenon you hear about frequently, but don’t exactly understand: dark matter, dark energy, black holes, etc (Tyson). One of the topics extensively covered in the lecture was the Cold War, in which the United States and the Soviet Union were racing to establish technological supremacy in nuclear capabilities — and in space exploration. The Soviet Union won the race to get to space first, while the United States was able to put a man on the moon first (Vesna). This reminds me a lot of an article I read recently on the race to equip satellites with weapons. The article stated that Russia has already launched a satellite capable of offensive maneuvers, and t
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Week 8: Nanotechnology and Art

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Blog #8: Nanotechnology and Art Drexler's assembly line This week’s topic was Nanotechnology and Art, taught by guest lecturer Dr. Gimzewski. One of the things that caught my attention was Drexler’s theoretical “nano assembly line.” His idea was that nanotech mechanical arms could be arranged in an assembly line to move atoms around one by one. In this way, dirt could be input and the arms could rearrange the atoms to create a burger for example. Dr. Gimzewski compared this to what a cow does; eating grass and dirt and growing meat on their bones to be turned into a burger. The thought that this is possible was mind-blowing to me, until Skalley sort of disproved its likelihood. Geodesic dome by Buckminster Fuller Skalley struck me as important in another way, though. His discovery of the “Buckyball” carbon structure likely wouldn't have taken place if he hadn’t taken interest in architecture. Through spectroscopy he knew that an atomic structure comp
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Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

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Blog #6: Neuroscience and Art Gall's 27 compartments This week’s topic is neuroscience and art. One of the themes that intrigued me was the prevalence of misinformation (and/or lack of information) on this topic. The brain is such a complex organism that we still don’t understand most of its processes, even though we can replicate some of its functions with neural networks and AI. One result of this knowledge gap, and a natural part of the scientific process, is incorrect theories. An example from the lecture is that of phrenology, presented by Franz Joseph Gall. He divided the brain into 27 specific compartments by function, evaluated people’s abilities by their head shape, and laid the foundation for the idea that intelligence is correlated to brain size. He called each compartment an "organ purposed for a certain faculty." Left brain vs right brain Another example of an incorrect theory is that of the right brain being used for creativity and the left
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Event Blog #2

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         I attended the Fowler Museum on UCLA’s campus for my second event. This is a place I’ve been meaning to visit my entire college career, so this was a great opportunity to finally go. A lot of what I saw at Fowler made me think about the interaction between art and technology, and what we really mean when we label something as a technology. The silver ship        The first exhibit I went to that made me ponder this was “Reflecting    Culture: The Francis E. Fowler, Jr. Collection of Silver.” Right near the  entrance is a plaque discussing the process of turning silver ore into  silverware. It says “art, craft, and business all commingle in the fashioning  of silver, which involves long hours and arduous techniques, acts of  repetition and acts of imagination.” What a wonderful way to describe the  marriage of art and technology and science! The process of turning raw ore  into wonderful pieces of art isn’t something that humans have known how  to do for a particula
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Week 6: BioTech & Art

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Blog #5: BioTech & Art Astronauts at the ISS must be sanitized before launch. This week’s topic is probably the most controversial that we’ve seen so far. When we look at some of the art projects from this week’s lecture series, I think a strong reaction is probably elicited in all of us. Therefore, the first artist I’d like to discuss is Joe Davis. I think he’s a great example of both the good and the bad that can come of mixing biotechnology and art. On one hand, he represents a very creative and mercurial mixing of the “two cultures” that CP Snow analyzed. But he also represents the dangers of this mix: sending bacteria into space is a terrible idea. NASA, and every other spacefaring organization, takes great care to rid all bacteria from anything launched into space so as to not either harm any aliens out there or allow domestic bacteria to evolve unchecked in the cosmos. Davis disregards all of this in a careless manner with his E Coli project. Marta de Meneze
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Week 4: Art and Medicine and Technology

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Blog #4: Art and Medicine and Technology This week’s topic was art and medicine and technology. When I began thinking about the intersection of medicine and art I really couldn’t see how they related. The medical profession seemed very removed from art because I was thinking of it too narrowly. I was imagining helping the sick and healing the wounded, but when I listened to Professor Vesna’s lectures one of the first things she mentioned was Body World. That surprised me, but I realized that it was a perfect example of this intersection — the use of medical plasticity procedures to preserve bodies, and then arranging them artfully in a traveling display. I personally visited this show when I was young at OMSI in Portland, Oregon. It really grossed me out at first, but it also intrigued me very much. As I began thinking more about art and medicine and technology, I realized that this intersection is actually an everyday part of our lives. Any time we manipulate our bodies wit
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