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Event 3 Blog

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 Color Light Motion     For my third event, I attended Color Light Motion on June 3rd. From the Zoom meeting, two projects that captured my attention most were Glacier Trilogy, and CORALS. What I find particularly intriguing about these projects is that they both address critical and urgent environmental concerns. Furthermore, the projects skillfully leverage technology to their advantage, resulting in captivating installations that not only mesmerize viewers but also actively involve and captivate them in unique manners.      Theresa Schubert's Glacier Trilogy "is an immersive artwork investigating glaciers as the starting point of fluvial systems and the future of water in climate crisis" (Schubert). The Glacier Trilogy consists of three parts, with the first being a synthetic archive, the second revolving around Earth's memory, and the third simulating glacial water systems. This Color Light Motion event specifically highlighted the third part of the tri...
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Week 9

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 Space + Art       This week's lecture videos delved into the captivating history of space exploration, shedding light on humanity's involvement and remarkable discoveries. A comprehensive grasp of space necessitates a thorough understanding of its history. Throughout the lectures, we explored pivotal events such as the enthralling space race, the courageous ventures of animals into space, and the monumental achievement of the 1969 moon landing. The intricacies of space continue to elude our comprehension, amplifying its profound allure. As Professor Vesna touched on, Space has long captivated the imagination of people around the world, inspiring and influencing popular culture, media, and art. One specific aspect of space that I wanted to further research in the art world was zero gravity.       While looking into Space Art, I stumbled upon a fascinating video that introduced me to the incredibly talented artist Eyal Gever. Eyal Gever is a celebr...
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Week 8

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 Nanotech + Art        Dr. Gimzewski's six-part lecture taught us about nanotechnology, which focuses on manipulating and controlling matter at the nanoscale. To help visualize the size, Dr. Gimzewski displayed a chart, showing where things lie on the power of tens scale. For example, a sugar molecule is about 1 nanometer. One concept I found interesting was the idea of biomimicry. Scientists have attempted to replicate the nanostructure of gecko's feet as they are able to easily adhere to surfaces and hold their body weights.  He, of course, discussed nanotechnology's interconnection with art, however what I found particularly significant was its connection with medicine, known as nanomedicine. He highlighted the immense future potential of nanomedicine, exemplifying one instance where it offers a solution to mitigate the toxicity of chemotherapy in cancer patients.      One way in which nanotechnology is greatly impacting the art ...
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Event 2 Blog

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 Cosmological Elements #3                I recently attended the third Cosmological Elements event on May 5th. The initial presentation featured a captivating short documentary titled "The Moon Goose Analogue." Its central concept revolved around the training of geese for lunar missions. Initially, I found myself perplexed, but Professor Vesna later elucidated that the video served as a thought-provoking commentary on the training of humans for space exploration and beyond.      A major question brought about by this Zoom exhibition that interested me was: How do we store data for the future? Preparation for a possible future outside of Earth proved to be a recurring theme emerged across various projects. Sebastian Neitsch delved into the challenge of long-term data storage, emphasizing the limitations of achieving universality in data preservation. Conversely, during the Zoom session, another guest, Ellen Levy, intro...
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Week 7

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 Neuroscience + Art     This week we delved into the history of neuroscience and the many ways it connects to art and can be considered art itself. I particularly enjoyed Suzanne Anker's work with FMRI butterflies and sea sponges. From this, I learned the remarkable fact that  humans share 70% of their genetic makeup with sea sponges (Vesna). Neuroscience explores the processes that occur when we engage with artistic creations. After watching Dr. Daniel Jay's Zoom, I learned more about how the brain perceives and interprets art. By studying the nervous system, artists can manipulate their artwork in order to stimulate the brain in different ways. One example of this is neo-impressionism.     Neo-impressionism emphasizes the scientific principles behind perception and the exploration of color theory. The technique involves applying small dots or strokes of unmixed colors on the canvas. When viewed from a distance, it creates a sense of luminosity and vibranc...
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Week 6

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 Medtech + Art     This week we learned about bio-art and various artists that use living organisms, tissues, or biological processes as their medium. A major question that Professor Vesna discussed in her lectures was: How do we define bio-art? There is debate as to whether the artists have to be working with cells or in a lab for their artwork to be considered bio-art.       The art piece that interested me most this week was the GFP bunny, which refers to a genetically modified rabbit that has been altered to produce green fluorescent protein, or GFP, in its cells. The GFP bunny, also known as Alba, was created in 2000 by French artist Eduardo Kac. The GFP gene was originally isolated from a jellyfish and Kac had help from a  team of geneticists that used zygote microinjection on the rabbit. Although I believe that the rabbit itself is a work of art, many were inspired to create their own art projects. For example, Kac writes that "i n the twen...
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Event 1 Blog

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 Cosmological Elements #2     This week I attended the second Cosmological Elements zoom. The speaker who  resonated with me the most was Cath Le Coteur. Prior to this zoom session, I had no knowledge or awareness of the term "space junk" and its existence. However, now I understand that it refers to human-made debris in space that orbits our earth. It is estimated that there are now over 100 trillion bits of space junk revolving around our planet (Carter). It was interesting to learn that only "27,000  p ieces of orbital debris, or “space junk,” are tracked by the Department of Defense’s global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensors. Much more debris -- too small to be tracked, but large enough to threaten human spaceflight and robotic missions -- exists in the near-Earth space environment"(Garcia). Although in the image below, this junk has a sort of beauty to it and holds a lot of history, like the spatula story Cath mentioned, it can be quite dangerou...
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