Extra Credit

Living in the capitol of the State of California definitely has its perks. Northern California has its own beauty apart from Southern California. One of the beauties is the capitol building in Downtown Sacramento. They had an art and history and science exhibition at the capitol for a limited time. The capitol introduced an exhibition for a short amount of time called the Treasures of California.

Title of Exhibition at the Capitol

Inside the Exhibition 

This was very fascinating as it combined the history of early California, as well as the medicine of early California. The exhibit reminded me of the class because it combined medicine and art. As shown in the picture on the right, inside the glass windows were booklets of art pieces that showed early medications of curing the ill. In the early days, there was a lot of influence on herbal medication for helping multiple kinds of sickness.  The exhibit showed this by painting the flowers that were used and putting them onto display.

Selfie

Artwork in Exhibit (2017)

I thought this is very important and I encourage other fellow students to check this out if they are in town. This relates to the class especially the topic in medicine and art because even many years ago doctors were able to work with artists to find significance beyond the beauty of flowers. Gardening and landscaping is a type of art and doctors have been able to use that beauty to help the human body. This is giving others more of awareness between art and other disciplines, especial science and medicine and this is something that this class has taught us over and over again.

Event 3

Selfie with Elli Lopez Palace of Fine Arts Painting

Art Exhibit wall of photos (UC Davis 2017)

The event I attended was at UC Davis. This was an art exhibition of artists by the name of Ellie Lopez, Cynthia Chong, and Kyla Weigand. One artist which I felt was greatly related to this course was Elli Lopez. She is an architecture major at UC Davis and found an inspiration for art within her major. She painted the picture to the right of the Palace of Fine Arts. There is such a comparison between art and architecture. The two are very similar and in order to make different designs one must also be an artist. However within this there is also the hard science involved like mathematics and physics. Elli said she chose architecture because she enjoyed Engineering and also art and there was a similarity between the two. She said she chose to paint the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco because she loved the architecture and geometry within it. I myself have been to the Palace of Fine Arts many times and find it absolutely beautiful. The painting she made was very well made as well. I also enjoy paintings and the color scheme she chose also gave it a bright look.

Waterfall (Chong 2017, UC Davis)

Artworks by Kyla Weigand (2017, UC Davis)

Another painting that I found to be very cool is the one on the left made by another artist in the exhibition, Cynthia Chong. Her painting caught my eye because it was in the middle of the exhibition, the long horizontal abstract piece of art.  I always found abstract art to be very interesting and how each artist makes their own piece very distinct, yet when all placed together they all look the same. I would definitely recommend going to this as these artists were artists that painted as a side passion. They don’t have years of experience or are Art Majors, but they are just artists who learned how to create and were given the opportunity to showcase their work. It makes us realize that there are much more to art than we are used to. This is probably the most important thing I learned from this class, that not all artists come from the same background or major, but more is shown than meets the eye. The line between artists and scientists is fading as art and science go hand in hand.

Week 9

Outer Space picture from NASA telescopes

It’s hard to believe that this class is coming to an end, and I can’t think of another way to wrap it all up than with space and art! Professor Vesna had stated that this topic ties together all the previous topics we have had in class. She had stated that space has mathematics, nanotechnology, and biotechnology and based on past readings and research and of this weeks space topic it seems to be true.

Space is one of the most fascinating things in this earth. It has a universe of its own and thanks to the intelligence and scientists today, we are able to see within this phenomenon. But not only is it due to the researchers and engineers, artists also play a vital role in space as well. Annick Buereaud had stated in the Leonardo Art Project that it is artists and their work that reveal the essence of space for human. Artists have been the fuel of space exploration, with being able to embody in their art the dreams of humankind. (Leonardo Space Art project). This is definitely a different way of seeing art and how as time had passed with new technologies in art, most of it due to the creativity by artists.

Thom Kubli Float

One artist that I found very interesting was German artist Thom Kubli. He had created a flotation tank where this invention goes against gravity and floats, as one would do at the Dead Sea. He inspired this from his thoughts of being “different”, where he said it is the differences that provoke one to see beyond the normal environments (Forde 2010). 

Time Travel Theory 

This is probably where the creative ideas of movies of outer space come from. Many films try to recreate their own idea of what space looks like and what occurs in it. We attempt to understand it from our own perspective, such movies like ‘Meet the Robinsons’ and ‘E.T’. Future innovations I would love to see would be time traveling. It usually seems that space is connected with time traveling. In an article in TIME magazine I read a few years ago, it was said that in space a molecule was able to skip replication steps and even though this was only visible under microscopic lens, it gave the idea that time travel could be possible.  This is something we may not see in the near future, but could see in the distant future.

Works Cited:

Curtis R. Thom Kubli Float! Dancing on the Ceiling Art and Zero Gravity. Web. 2010. http://zerogravity.empac.rpi.edu/kubli/

Forde Kathleen. Dancing on the Ceiling. Art and Zero Gravity. Zero Gravity. Web. 2010. http://zerogravity.empac.rpi.edu/

“Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers.” Leonardo Space Art Project. MIT Press, 1996. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.

Vesna , Victoria, dir. Space Part 1. 2012. Film. 30 Nov 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2O5C0Iv6ROo#Links to an external site.

Vesna , Victoria, dir. Space Part 3. 2012. Film. 30 Nov 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xCvFdfjj404Links to an external site.

Week 8

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is the study of the branch of technology that deals with the dimensions of nanometers of atoms and molecules (National Nanotechnology Initiative 2017). This week’s topic was definitely interesting because usually nanotechnology to me seems like it only deals with technology and science. This allowed me to see the insight into how artists use nanotechnology as well, just like Professor Vesna.

Ted Talk. Paul Rothemund 

In the Ted Talk by Paul Rothemund, he showed us how DNA folding can effect the output of things. From taking small molecules and changing the different strands of DNA, there could be a big difference on what the product outputs as. For example, he showed us images of different people and then changed the DNA sequence of it which then produced a different human, and changing even more of the DNA sequence would make a dog or even a tree. He showed us that each molecule is carried out in one way or another and then later on it is either removed or used.

Similar to this is the work done by Paul Thomas and Kevin Raxworthy where they explore the comparisons of life and death by analyzing a single cell. This tries to answer the questions of what constitutes living. This attempts to redefine the meaning of the atom on an atomic level, as currently an atom is what makes up life today. 

Transjuicer, Boo Chapple.

Artists in this field work together with scientists and collaborate on new inventions. One example of this is the project worked on by Boo Chapple, which is to make speakers out of bone. She did this by working with bone matrix in order to make the vibration of sound to occur, called the Transjuicer. (Boo Chapple 2011). This is interesting because artists usually like to see, touch and feel their art, and with their perspective they are able to innovate these features on anything. To be able to make sound from bone and having the idea of making it through bone matrix is something never done before. These artists go one step beyond even the field of nanotechnology.

The field of nanotechnology would not be as interesting or have such innovations that allow us to see the actual work of the molecules had it not been for artists who work together with scientists to attempt to make the field more "visible". 

Works Cited:

“Art in the Age of Nanotechnology.” Artabase. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. <http://www.artabase.net/exhibition/2104-art-in-the-age-of-nanotechnology>.

Boo Chappel. The University of Western Australia. August 5 2011. Web. http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/residents/chapple

Nanotech for Artists Part 1. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=q7jM6-iqzzE

National Nanotechnology Intiative. “What is Nanotechnology”. Nano.gov. 2017. Web. https://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition

Paul Rothemund: DNA Folding, in detail. Ted2008. https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_rothemund_details_dna_folding#t-544111

“Visceral: Interview with Boo Chapple.” Sciencegallery.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. <http://sciencegallery.com/blog/2011/01/visceral-interview-boo-chapple>.

Week 7

Santiago Ramon - Founder of neuro anatomy 

Artist Santiago Ramon was very fascinating as he was the founder of neuro-anatomy. He was the one who really understood on a macroscopic level the nervous system. He introduced neuronal generation and degeneration and how neurons work together. This was very interesting to me, because as a Cognitive Science major who studies neurology as well, I have never been taught who the founder of all these neural mechanisms was. We learn about the different neural changes and mechanics in the brain and body, but are never taught the history behind the founders of it.

Weather App 

One big thing related to neuroscience as well is the idea of consciousness. Based on the advancements in the technological industry, many people worry about the impact that computers have on society. One main concern is whether we as humans have become slaves to the machines. As of right now, we can safely say there is a fine line between humans and computers, however we see subtle changes within our society that can one day erase this line. For example, we depend on our devices for most pieces of advice. We used to be able to look outside and check the weather then decide what to wear that day, but now instead of heading for the window, we head for our phones to check what the weather app says.

Turing Test

One experiment done from this was the Turing test. A person was on the other side of the machine and responded to it and their task was to see if they could tell whether they were talking to a machine or a person based on the responses they heard. In most cases, they were able to tell, but there were also instances where they were not able to tell the difference. This is where concern rose. Just like our human brain, and the neural connections in our brain, with an input and output, this is how the machine works. Once we give an input, then we are able to get a proper output. 

Works Cited:

Giovanni Frazzetto and Suzanne Anker. “Neuroculture”. Science and Society. November 2009. Web.

Mark Halpern, "The Trouble with the Turing Test," The New Atlantis, Number 11, Winter 2006, pp. 42-63. http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-trouble-with-the-turing-test

  

Turing. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”. The Imitation Game. Web. http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html

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

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Conscious / Memory (Part 2).” 16 Nov 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xlg5wXHWZNI

Event 2

"Physical Properties" 

The event I attended was at the Axis Gallery in Sacramento, California. The artist whose artwork is shown below is Roma Devanbu. She is from Boston Massachusetts and completed her graduate education in Art and History at Carnegie-Mellon University. She believed a lot of her artwork came from the spiritual reality of things and from history. This particular artwork shown below is inspired from the physical properties of the earth. She enjoyed a lot of the physical matter in science and physics and made some art pieces based on that. The image shown on the right is the mountain glaciers shown in the arctic and she believed this is a type of spiritual ability and science combined in order for there to be water built upon water. One property is of water, which is the ocean and the other property is ice, which is the mountain. The spiritual component of this is that this occurs because of a higher power which allows one property of water to have two different forms, solid and liquid; and then an artistic phenomenon of science to have the two be placed together, one on top of the other. 

"Verging Eyes"

Other pieces of her artwork were very abstract, but very beautiful. Her favorite piece of mine is the one shown on the left. It is listed for $9,000 if she were to ever sell it. This piece is called the "Verging Eyes" and it is said that when one person looks at another then their two eyes, souls, and hearts meet and they become one, which is why this art piece is showing the converging of two “souls” per say and in the middle we see eyes and resemblance of faces to show the convergence of two people.

"Table Spiders"

I would definitely recommend other students to check out this artwork because this artist seems to have many different interests in the field of art. I have attached more pictures of the artwork and sculptures of this exhibition. Mainly this showcase was dealt with the art and history with science and physics incorporated in it as well. I think it’s really cool how modern artists today are able to find inspiration from other fields as well. I look forward to her future pieces of artwork. On the right is another piece of artwork by Roma. 

"Olympics Loops"