Event 5: UCLA Senior Discount - EXTRA CREDIT

I visited the UCLA Department of Art's Senior Exhibition: called Senior Discount. This is an end-of-the-year exhibition for UCLA undergraduate art students who are graduating seniors. It is displayed in the New Wight Gallery in the Broad Art Center on North Campus - there are many interesting pieces of art and I encourage those to attend who are interested! To the right is a picture of one of the rooms in the art gallery.






This particular exhibition reminded me of two concepts covered over the course in particular: the idea of CP Snow's Two Cultures and the ideas addressed in Ken Robinson's Changing Education Paradigms. For example, we can see how North Campus and South Campus are clearly divided in the studies that each building represents - the Broad Art Center is the location for this senior art exhibition, and it is just about as far North Campus as one can get! One exception to this division that I am aware of is the CNSI building. Although it is located on South Campus, it showcases many art events that I have been exposed to in this class, and it has been eye-opening to see the collaborations first hand.



Additionally, Ken Robinson's Changing Education Paradigms addresses the idea of Divergent Thinking. This is the idea that there are lots of possible ways to answer a question or think about a concept. There are many interpretations or solutions that one may come up with in order to figure out how to solve a problem. Similarly, divergent thinking can be applied to the artworks displayed at Senior Discount. Each person is entitled to his or her own interpretation of the art, and each person's experience will be different, just as each person's experience of life is different.


The image to the right reminds me of our discussion of Space + Art. It looks like a celestial image to me.

Sources:

Changing Education Paradigms. Perf. Sir Ken Robinson. YouTube. Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. <http://youtu.be/zDZFcDGpL4U>

"Fuel Creativity in the Classroom With Divergent Thinking." Edutopia. 2014. Web. 03 June 2016.

"Senior Discount." UCLA Department of Art. Web. 03 June 2016.

Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-25. Web.

Event 4: Art + Brain Book Signing - EXTRA CREDIT

On Thursday evening, June 2nd, I attended an event at the CNSI building at the Art Science Center at UCLA. It was an event to commemorate the launch of two catalogs and a book signing based on the concept of collaboration between brain science and art. Professor Vesna had her catalogue on display (pictured below) of a her decade of collaborative works of art with James Gimzewski.

Dr. Gimzewski has pioneered many research projects on mechanical and electrical contacts with single atoms and molecules using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). This goes back to our previous discussion of STM in week 8, when we learned about how STM can be used to "feel" the connections between atoms at a microscopic level and map out their structure and their location in space. This process is beyond anything we can see or feel as humans, so in some ways it can be seen as miraculous.

Additionally, professor Vesna introduced three other professors: a woman named Patricia who is also publishing a catalog based on her work with neuroscience and art, based on a grant she received at Washington University in 2014. Another professor named David spoke about his work with Bioart at UC Irvine - the energy of the "brainstorm" in which we create an energy around us when we mentally connect with people. Mark Cohen also spoke, saying that his collaborations with artists has completely opened his eyes to new innovations in science. This reminds me of our discussion of Two Cultures in the beginning of the quarter - there is an amazing bridge between the humanities and sciences that can be formed when artists and scientists work together on projects.

This event was particularly profound for me because Dr. Gimzewski gave a few words on the shooting at UCLA that happened the day before. The loss of Professor Klug has weighed heavily on me and I became emotional as Dr. Gimzewski stated that we should all look out for each other and care about one another's well being, because that is one main way to prevent these horrific things from happening. I believe that the bridges between art and science will absolutely continue to make a positive impact on the world, and we need to keep fostering these connections.



Sources:

Gimzewski, James K. "Lecture: Nanotech for Artists Part 2." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 15 May 2016.

"Gimzewski, James K." UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry. Web. 02 June 2016.

"Scanning Tunneling Microscope." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 02 June 2016.

Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. “Conscious / Memory (Part 1).” Lecture. 16 Nov 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DLVQIwOn7o8>