amandadDESMA9

Week 8: Nanotechnology + Art May 20, 2017 Let’s consider art to be a process requiring creativity for an aesthetic outcome. And let’s look at the combination of technology and science as a means to continue discovering new things about the world for the betterment of the human condition. Combining all three elements leads us to a whole other realm in which the boundaries we typically see separating these three elements are blurred until you can’t tell which is which. https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ quantumcomputerspart5scanningtunnelingmicroscopebylilisaghafi- 150622195734-lva1-app6891/95/ quantum-computers-part-5- scanning-tunneling-microscope-by- lili-saghafi-46-638.jpg?cb=1437871409 We can see this blurring of lines in the study and science of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology deals with the likes of atoms and molecules of sizes so small it’s still beyond my comprehension. Nonetheless, from the lectures given by Dr. Jim Gimzewski on the work that has been and is being done

Event 5/3 Design Media Arts MFA Exhibition : DELETE ME Location: Broad Arts, Wight gallery Date: 18 May 2017 Time: 5:00 - 7:00pm Focus Artist: Lander Piece: Knicker Twister I attended a multi-artist exhibition called DELETE ME, in which eleven artists displayed a  total of sixteen exhibitions related to the concept of the human condition as it relates to a world that is permanently etched into a digital atmosphere. “Deletion has always been work - that’s why there are editors. It’s a labor of reclaiming space, creating conditions to begin again” ( http://dma.ucla.edu/exhibitions/mfa/deleteme/ ).   Following the theme of “reclaiming space” and “creating conditions to begin again,” the work, Knicker Twister , of artist Lander is a general commentary on the state of humans as we react to our internal thoughts and external environments. He calls the work, which he said took him four months to complete, an ode to “big fusses over little issues.” Occupying the center o

Week 7: Neuroscience + Art  May 17, 2017  Despite the fact that we have been discussing the intersection of art, science, and technology, I still find it difficult to train my mind to think of the products of science (i.e. images of the brain or of the body) as art. Perhaps this is the case because of the divide that society has placed between the two realms. However, after watching this week’s lecture and learning about projects such as Suzanne Anker’s fMRI butterfly and Luke Maninov Hammond’s jewelry projects, I have a new appreciation for being able to see how the products of science and technology - especially in representing the functions of the brain - can be seen as more than just science artifacts, but also as art. Anker’s fMRI butterfly is an art piece composed of MRI scans overlaid with a Rorschach test, and then overlaid with an image of an identical butterfly on each scan. Because of the variation in the Rorschach overlays, the butterflies on each of the MRI scans

Week 6: BioTech + Art May 10, 2017 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/ The_Immortal_Life_Henrietta_Lacks_%28cover%29.jpg The issue of using life/living cells and biological manipulation for scientific purposes has been a hot topic of debate over the past century. The area of bioethics is relatively new and yet extremely complicated. However, for the most part, we can say that many scientists who are breaching norms and crossing boundaries are attempting to help the human condition by trying to solve puzzles using various methods of biological manipulation. A recent story that encompasses both the questionable ethics that surround the scientific/medical community and also the efforts of scientists to find cures for diseases that plague humanity is the story of Henrietta Lacks. While Lacks’ cancerous cells were harvested from her without her permission and while scientists have profited off of her “immortal” cells without her family’s knowledge, scientists have ma

Event 4/3 Design Media Arts Graduate Solo Show Artist: E. Joteva Location: Broad Arts, EDA Date: 9 May 2017 Time: 5:00 - 7:00pm I attended Eli Joteva’s (my TA for this class!) graduate solo show called “MNEMOAWARI,” a three-day exhibit “during which three cryo sculptures will release their entropic potential into virtual and material memory. The interactive multimedia installation deals with the power of awareness within the transference and formation of immaterial impressions” (Joteva). According to her biography, Joteva is interested in the intersection of neurophysics and art and uses biofeedback technologies to create the virtual visual portion of her displays (“UCLA Design Media Arts / Calendar”). The exhibit consisted of three physical cryo sculptures that, as they go through their three-day period of entropy, transferred the data into virtual visual representations that were displayed live on three massive screens. Apparently, the reason for calling these sculpt