Event #3 Blog 

Artist of gallery Maru Garcia Background 

For this week’s event I attended the Maru Garcia 'vivarium' opening at the CNSI gallery. This gallery was a bit different from what I expected, I thought to see paintings hung from the walls but when I walked into the room, there were two projector screens one focused on the two domes with living organisms inside, in the middle of the room. At first glance, I thought the domes just had plants but by the corner of my eye I saw a human being inside one of the domes. I was really confused when I saw this person in the dome. I had no idea how this correlated to our class material. After I did some research on the Artist, I noticed her main focus was to interaction between humans and nature. The way she portrayed this interaction was through the correlation between art, science, and technology. 

Me and the main art piece 

This gallery intersects greater with the topics we are currently learning in class. For example, performance artists having live audiences as they performed medical procedures on themselves. (Medicine pt3) This gallery was similar because of the person that was inside the dome and was being filmed showing every move he made. Another correlation I found from this gallery with our class was, the intersection between art and science. Since the beginning of science research, artists have worked closely together with scientists in order to document specific events or organs of the human body. Like artists. who draw pictures related to science, Garcia did exactly the same through her art piece. She showed the interaction humans have with nature. If it wasn’t for those plants the man was eating inside the dome he wouldn’t be able to survive. Just like that person inside the dome we are also inside a dome expect our dome is bigger, our dome is earth.  When I made this correlation about the person inside the dome is a simpler version of us on earth I was fascinated. No one mentioned anything or said a single word yet through that art piece I was able to see the correlation. 

After attending this event, I believe it will help me on my final project. I will be able to use this to show and give a vivid example about the correlation between science, technology, and art, but at the same time relate it to our daily lives since without these three we wouldn’t be able to function as a society. Each of these impacts our daily lives and also keeps everything in balance. I definitely would have recommended this event to my fellow peers. Even though it was something unusual, it definitely changed my perspective, not to judge but instead be open to try new things. All in all, it was a great experience and something I will never forget from my college experience.

            

The second Dome with no one inside 

References

Garcia, Maru. ‘Vivarium’ 10 May 2018, California Neuroscience Institute 5 floor, Los Angeles, CA. Gallery 

Uconlineprogram. Medicine pt3. YouTube. April 22, 2012. Length 21:19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX-9mXd3Y4

Uconlineprogram. Medicine pt1. YouTube. April 21, 2012. Length 12:58 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk

Extra Credit Blog #2

Main Art piece  

The last event I attend was “Coyotes in Two Directions”, by artist Sarah Brady which was held in the same room as the exhibit “Virvarium” by artist Maru Garcia. Before I entered the room, I was wondering if it would be something similar to Maru Garcia exhibit. But once I entered I saw something I was not expecting an art piece that would robotically move. I believe one of the main differences from this room that makes all the art pieces look different is the lighting. Lighting has a huge impact on how certain art pieces are shown and the perspective it gives. The center art piece consisted of 6 arms with eagle talons at the end. It would robotically move. I was lucky enough to be able talk to the artist and she gave me some background. Brady said that her inspiration for this piece revolved around eagles and how they fly so high up and dip down so low to catch there pray. This art piece reminded me of Garcia art with the human inside of the dome, these art pieces are very similar in the sense that both of them related to life experiences and consisted of moving parts. 

One thing that I thought connected to this exhibit was biotechnology and art, specifically Eduardo Kats Alba bunny (5bioart pt.1). I felt this art exhibit connected to Alba because they both consisted of real animals which were integrated to art. One used robots as a form of art and the other use gene mutation to make an art piece. Of course, one of these art forms is more acceptable than the other but both were considered art. 

Biotechnology and Art (ALBA) 

My good friend Pam and I 

Attending this event allowed me to see robotic art hands on. I had never seen any art exhibits first hand which were related to robotics, but it was a great experience. This art exhibit allowed me to realize the amount of time and elegance it takes to make it work perfectly. I believe it will help me in wiring my final essay because I can relate It to my main idea about robots in the medical field. Both robots in the medical field and Brady art exhibit show the precession and accuracy robots have working in virous scenarios. I definitely would have recommended this event to my fellow peers to see robotics art hands on. Not only that but the one on one time you could have had interacting with the Brady herself which is rare in many art exhibits now in days. This event is Definity one to remember specially because I was acting like a little kid who had never seen such art pieces. 

References 

Brady, Sarah. “Coyotes in Two Directions” 7 June 2018, California Neuroscience Institute 5 floor, Los Angeles, CA. Gallery. 

Garcia, Maru. ‘Vivarium’ 10 May 2018, California Neuroscience Institute 5 floor, Los Angeles, CA. Gallery 

uconlineprogram. 5 Bioart pt1. YouTube, YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013, Length 15:04.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaThVnA1kyg.

Week 9 Blog 

“The Power of the Powers of Ten.”

This fascination of space and the world around us has always been a big topic at hand. This week I read about multiple blogs and organizations that are working towards funding the vast interests of space. I read, Powers of Ten blog, Leonardo’s Space Art Project, Coded Utopia, and Artic Perspective Initiative which all related back to the correlation between space and nanotechnology. I never made this correlation between space, nanotechnology, and literature until this week. One thing that stood out to me from the blog, Coded Utopia was. “Moving away from the creation of recognizable work, an art becomes an experimental territory for producing subjectives.” (2009). I found this interesting because I thought it related back to the robotics lecture and the idea of individuality and originality fading away. (Benjamin, Walter). Another thing that correlated to this was the reading Power of Ten. This blog related back to the video which showed the different aspects of using the multiples of 10. (Power of Ten) This serves as a reality check to show the huge world around us like outer space. 

 “60,000 Miles up: Space Elevator Could
Be Built by 2035, Says New Study.”

One quote I found that correlated to literature and space was from Leonardo Space Art Project by B.E. Johnson, “Knowledge- technology and the recording of it and the expression of it is the most important gift to our future and to our heritage. This quote is important because every single technological advancement made today will impact the future generations. Just like literature impacted space travel. For example, Author Arthur C. Clarke and his book “The foundations of Paradise”, which was written in 1982 about an elevator that con transport humans up to space.  Science fiction literature, shapes space travel by making these ideas a reality and then scientist execute these new ideas presented through literature. After Clarke came up with this idea of an elevator, a scientist name David Smith is now making plans for this elevator in the future (8Spacept1). 

“Space Mining – the Reality of Tomorrow? 

Nanotechnology and space is also correlated, as they found Bucky balls which are helium found on meteors. (8Spacept1).  This idea of mining meteors is also being worked on in order to use all its natural resources needed on earth. (8Spavept6). It is fascinating how throughout the course topics I was unaware about correlate so much with each other. Especially this week’s topic about nanotechnology and literature which help shape space travel itself. 

References

“An Eames Office Website.” Powers of Ten Blog, blog.powersof10.com/.

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Prism Key Press, 2010.

 “CODED UTOPIA.” Continental Drift, 18 May 2009, brianholmes.wordpress.com/2007/03/27/coded-utopia/.

EamesOffice. “Powers of Ten™ (1977).” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Aug. 2010, Length, 9:00. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0.

Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers, spaceart.org/leonardo/vision.html.

“Space Mining – the Reality of Tomorrow? - Room: The Space Journal.” Room, The Space Journal, room.eu.com/article/space-mining-the-reality-of-tomorrow.

“The Power of the Powers of Ten.” Design Thinking, designthinking.ideo.com/?p=1043.

Templeton, Graham. “60,000 Miles up: Space Elevator Could Be Built by 2035, Says New Study.” ExtremeTech, 20 Nov. 2014, www.extremetech.com/extreme/176625-60000-miles-up-geostationary-space-elevator-could-be-built-by-2035-says-new-study.

uconlineprogram. “8 Space pt1 1280x720.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 July 2013, Length, 8:11. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZIqTR332l8.

uconlineprogram. “Space pt6.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 May 2012, Length, 8:17. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYmOtFjIj0M.

Extra Credit Blog #1

Background information on Reardon

The event that I attend was a guest presenter named Jenny Reardon from the University of Santa Cruz and it was called Just Genomes? At first, I thought this was going to be the same presentation as the first event I attended with Daniel Navon, but I was complexly wrong. As the presentation began, I was very confused because it seemed she would just reference her book which me and many other students did not read so it was harder to grasps the information. After 15 minutes into the presentation I was able to make the connection from the presentation and had a better understanding. The main argument of this presentation was does genetics have a relationship to peoples race and color in their skin pigmentation, and also cheaper alternative to looking and solving someone’s personal genome. 

            

Reardon beginning her presentation 

One correlation I made between this presentation and Navon presentation was the fact both of them did not like leaving questions unanswered. For example, Reardon was talking about when she worked on the genome project, there was a huge argument between scientist and how some just wanted to solve it and other wanted to understand why the genome worked a specific way. This is similar to Navon presentation when he was having a problem with solidifying his confusion but that never stopped him until he got the data needed to prove his theory correct (NAVON, 2018). Another portion of this class that related to this presentation was the section, Medtech and art. These two connected because of the standing issue of some people not having access to the material needed in order to preform specific trials or experiments which makes it that much harder to generate a conclusion and find results. This even also correlated to science and technology because through technological advancements it is making these experimental producers much easier and less expensive. (Snow C.P., 1959). Technology is allowing science research to be performed at a much cheaper and more effective rate. 

            

My friends and I at our last event 

This event was definitely helpful despite being one of the more confusing ones. It gave me great background information about the genome project and the limitation many scientists are facing due to insufficient funds for their research projects. This presentation will help me in my final because it gave me the perspective of how many scientists are not able to perform expensive research trials due to not being able to afford the expensive machinery. Thanks to technology, this barrier will soon be diminished because it is making scientific experiments much cheaper. I would have defiantly recommended this event to my fellow peers because it gave a unique perspective to science and technology research. I feel like the negative aspects of science research aren’t really shown as they should, so people aware and possibly increase their research funds.

References 

NAVON, Daniel PhD. “The gene didn’t get the memo”. The Social Genome Knowledge & Politics in a Postgenomic Society, 13 April 2018, La Kretz Garden Pavilion, room 1101, Los Angeles, CA. Presentation

Reardon, Jenny PhD. “Just Genomes?”. The Social Genome Knowledge and Politics in a Postgenomic Society, 18 April 2018, La Kretz Garden Pavilion, room 1101, Los Angeles, CA. Presentation. 

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

Uconlineprogram. Medicine pt3. YouTube. April 22, 2012. Length 21:19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX-9mXd3Y4

Week 8 Blog 

“Use of Nanotechnology and Its
Importance Outside Your Televisions.”

This week reading consisted of “The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of fact and fiction in the construction of a new Science” by Jim Gimzewski and Victoria Vesna and watched lectures by a guest James K. Gimzewski a professor here at UCLA and they both had to do with the interconnections between nanotechnology and art. Nanotechnology has shaped our society through the art of science fiction (Gimzewski & Vesna). According to Jim Gimzewski, Nanotechnology can be defined as “science that is concerned with control of matter at the scale of atoms and molecules” (Gimzewski &Vesna). I found this to be interesting because atoms and molecules are constantly changing shape as they interact with each other. Like atoms and molecules which are constantly changing, we can also change our perception to view the world around us differently. Both nanotechnology and media arts have a common background in which to address the issue of manipulation.

“Consumer Products
Inventory.”

Since nanotechnology and art is being integrated as a part of our daily lives, I found it interesting when our professor stated it was going to be the pushing factor into the 21 century (Nanotech Intro). The future is in the palm of our hands with new advancements every day. I feel like this week’s topic was closely related to bioart with genetic mutation within the food we eat (Bioart pt4). According to Professor Gimzewski, there are currently over 1000 products on the market which have been made by nanotechnology. (Nanotech Jim pt6). Like genetic food, products made by nanotechnology are also controversial and many people do approve of them due to not knowing the future outcomes of consuming these products. For example, the product slim shake chocolate shake, is low in calories because it contains mostly silicon nanoparticles. The reason for this product being so rich in flavor is because the silicon is surrounded by chocolate which makes it a smaller number of calories.

“Increased Application of Silver Nanoparticles
 in Healthcare Entices Demand.” 

 One thing that really stood out to me was nanoparticles and how they have various effects on everyday products we use. For example, silver Nano particles, which are found in our gym clothes, socks, and even some refrigerators are antibacterial and prevent the growth of bacteria on these surfaces (Nanotech Jim pt3). Nanotechnology and art is being integrated into our daily lives by products we use and consume to even the way we perceive the world around us. 

 

“Properties and Applications of Silver Nanoparticles.”

References 

Bhisey, Rohit. “Increased Application of Silver Nanoparticles in Healthcare Entices Demand.” TMR Research Blog, 16 June 2017, tmrresearchblog.com/increased-application-silver-nanoparticles-healthcare-entices-demand/.

“Consumer Products Inventory.” PEN News, www.nanotechproject.org/cpi/products/nanoceuticalstm-slim-shake-chocolate/.

Gimzewski, Jim and Victoria Vesna.The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact & Fiction in the Construction of a New Science, vv.arts.ucla.edu/publications/publications/02-03/JV_nano/JV_nano_artF5VG.htm.

“Properties and Applications of Silver Nanoparticles.” Properties and Applications of Quantum Dots, www.cd-bioparticles.com/t/Properties-and-Applications-of-Silver-Nanoparticles_60.html.

uconlineprogram. 5 Bioart pt4. YouTube, YouTube, 17 May 2012, Length 5:47. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qSc72u9KhI.

uconlineprogram. “Nanotech Intro.” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Mar. 2012, Length 1:02. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ3y6TkXJ6Y.

uconlineprogram. “Nanotech Jim pt3.” YouTube, YouTube, 21 May 2012, Length 12:21. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0HCNiU_108.

uconlineprogram. “Nanotech Jim pt6.” YouTube, YouTube, 21 May 2012, Length 6:49. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKlViSKkPd0.

“Use of Nanotechnology and Its Importance Outside Your Televisions.” Use of Technology, Use of Technology, 18 Jan. 2017, www.useoftechnology.com/use-of-nanotechnology-and-its-importance/.

Blog Week 7

Inception 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3A3-zSOBT4.

This week we read, Neuroculture by Giovanni Frazzetto, The Spiritual Problem of the Man by Carl Jung, and watched various videos which all pertain to the topic of Neuroscience and art. I never really noticed this correlation between neuroscience and art until this week. According to Giovanni, he states “Ideas, concepts, and images in neuroscience widely circulate in culture and are portrayed in literature, film, works of art, the mass media, and commercial products, therefore stopping values and consumer practices.” (pg.1) For example, neuroscience research began due to curiosity of the general public. It surrounds our everyday life, through news articles and movies like inception. (Inception Trailer) Neuroscience ideas assimilate into cultural imaginary, just like in Jung article when he states, ”... man fight each other and find out psyche as something which thwarts our will.” (pg. 4) This connection to neuroscience is art is related to our own brain fighting ourselves, just like when we go back and forth when making a decision within our head. 

Modern Man in Search of a Soul.

In the video lectures, one thing that stood out to me was the idea of consciousness. The given definition was “state or condition of being conscious.” (Neuroscience pt1) With technology, we are becoming lazier and depending a lot of technology to do the thinking for us. This correlates back to the topic about robots and how they we humans are becoming one with them (Robotics pt1). This also reminded me of the movie stealth and how robots do not have consensuses but in that movie the robot did have one because he was unable to delete his memory, something every robot is programmed to do (Stealth). 

The use of medicine in order to help patients suffering from a chemical in balance is a big part of neuroscience. Despite many drugs like cocaine and LSD being tried in the early 50 and 60's, one thing that shocked me was Project MK Ultra which consisted of the CIA giving LSD to government workers to see if it could be used as a mind control drug (Neuroscience pt3). This project reminded me of the unethical issues related to artists working with gene mutations as a form of art (Bioart pt1). Despite being a south campus major, I never noticed how much Neuroscience shapes my daily life and impacts everything I do. To think this is only the beginning as we make new advances each and every day.

Project MK Ultra Patient
www.thesun.co.uk/news/5115368/the-top-secret-cia-experiment-behind-stranger-things-and-new-netflix-drama-wormwood/.

References

“Can We Create Consciousness In A Machine?” AGE OF ROBOTS Magazines, 14 Mar. 2018, www.neuroroboticsmagazine.com/can-create-consciousness-machine/.

Christodoulou, Holly. “The Top Secret CIA Experiment behind Stranger Things and New Netflix Drama Wormwood.” The Sun, The Sun, 24 Dec. 2017, www.thesun.co.uk/news/5115368/the-top-secret-cia-experiment-behind-stranger-things-and-new-netflix-drama-wormwood/.

Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. Neuroculture . MACMILLAN , 2009.

Jung, C. G., et al. Modern Man in Search of a Soul. Martino Fine Books, 2017.

uconlineprogram. “Neuroscience-pt1.Mov.” YouTube, YouTube, 17 May 2012, Length, 14:07.www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzXjNbKDkYI.

uconlineprogram. “Neuroscience pt3.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 May 2012, Length, 15:30. www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=E5EX75xoBJ0.

uconlineprogram. 5 Bioart pt1. YouTube, YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013, Length 15:04.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaThVnA1kyg.

Uconlineprogram. Medicine pt1. YouTube. April 21, 2012. Length 12:58 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk

uconlineprogram. 5 Bioart pt1. YouTube, YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013, Length 15:04.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaThVnA1kyg.

warnervod. “Inception - Trailer.” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Apr. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3A3-zSOBT4.

Ziskin, Laura, and W. D. Richter. Stealth.

Event Blog #2

            

Background information on Ciemence Pinel

The event that I attended was a presentation titled, “The Environment in Epigenetics Enabling research Entrepreneurship” by Ciémence Pinel a doctoral student who was researching the effects and processes of research funding and collaboration in the laboratory setting. At first, I was a bit intimidated due to the fact that the conference room was only big enough to sit 20 people and there was over 30 DESMA students who had showed up for the presentation. They weren’t expecting so many people to show up to the event. Once the whole situation was figured out, the presentation began. At first, I was a bit confused as to the whole idea and research results being discussed. After she stated her main conclusion which was that researchers are entrepreneurs, it all made sense. The reason for conducting this study was to show how many research labs work together with various other labs in order to maximize their profits from the research. (Pinel, 5/9/2018).  She conducted an ethnographic study which consisted of two laboratories which were labeled lab A and B.  Lab A main focus was Breast Cancer research and Lab B main focus was Computational Biology (Pinel. 5/9/2018). 

Comparison between Lab A and B

Despite these labs having completely different areas of study, they both shared data when it was needed to help in their research. This experiment reminded me of the last event I attended with Dr. Navon and how he used other people’s research as samples and a way to see correlations within his mutation organization groups. (Navon, 4/13/2018). Another thing that stood out to me from the presentation was that, researchers have three main characteristics which are, profitability, mobility, and versatility. Researchers like entrepreneurs have these characteristics in order to maximize their money, time, and outcome/results. 

One thing that really stood out and connected with the class concepts was the concept of robots used in the medical field and research (Robotics pt1). In some of the pictures, during her presentation there were robots being used in the research labs helping researchers during their studies. This field of robots being used in many medical/scientific environments is becoming more common now in days. After attending this presentation, it opened my eyes and gave me new ideas to be able to add to my final project. Since my midterm proposal was related to robots within the medical field, I will be able to add onto my proposal allowing me to make my final much more supportive having great examples of robots in the laboratory setting. I definitely would have recommended this event for my fellow classmates due to the fact the research conducted was different from regular research studies in science. This research was qualitative and was focused more around peoples thought not statistics. It gave a different perspective into medical research. All and all I really enjoyed this presentation. It gave a variety of perspective which all related to the same field and at the same time also gave me ideas for my final project.

My DESMA9 classmates and I 

References 

Uconlineprogram. Robotics pt1. YouTube. April 15, 2012. Length. 14:31. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRw9_v6w0ew

NAVON, Daniel PhD. “The gene didn’t get the memo”. The Social Genome Knowledge & Politics in a Postgenomic Society, 13 April 2018, La Kretz Garden Pavilion, room 1101, Los Angeles, CA. Presentation

Pinel Ciémence. “The Environment in Epigenetics Enabling research Entrepreneurship” The Social Genome Knowledge & Politics in a Postgenomic Society, 9 May 2018, Life Sciences Building room 3314, Los Angeles, CA. Presentation.