Event 3: Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER)

Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) was an amazing experience bringing together multiple interdisciplinary speakers and encouraging discipline integration and curiosity.  With talks around understanding mechanisms behind ADHD, investigating archaeology in ancient Egypt, studying neural morphogenesis, exploring communication in this new age, and questioning data privacy with technology, this evening was a true gathering of brilliant minds and showcased thought-provoking work that I would recommend to anyone.

Dr. Vesna started the evening giving an introduction of the reasons behind the beginning of LASER. She compared to similar how a diamond has many points, this evening would bring together many points of view.

Opening slide of LASER presented by UCLA Art|Sci Center

The first speaker was Claudia Schnugg, an independent researcher and curator who works at the intersection of art and science. She discussed the idea behind collaboration and her own projects. In the importance behind collaboration, Schnugg mentioned two major points, collaboration creates liminal space and shifts sense making. According to Schnugg, in creating a liminal space, interdisciplinary collaboration allows both artists and scientists to undergo a transition phase that heightens experimentation and creativity. The concept of a shift in sense making relates to how artists and scientists gain a new perspective on their work from collaboration. Her discussion on the motivation behind art and science collaboration elaborated the great importance Dr. Vesna spoke about in her beginning lectures and the purpose of this class. She then gave a tangible application of her work with Agent Unicorn. Hardware, machine learning, and 3D modeling was used to create a device placed on ADHD children to help understand distraction and attention span in the condition.

Slide of Claudia Schnugg's background

Agent Unicorn project
(Arts Electronica <https://www.aec.at/aeblog/en/2016/03/15/agent-unicorn/>)

The next speaker was Hans Barnard, a professor and researcher at UCLA Costen Institute of Archaelogy, who spoke of his findings on the discovery of the painted pan-grave bucranium found in Mostagedda, Egypt. The pan-grave refers to a time period in ancient Egyptian history, marked by the types of graves the people had. The graves of this time period were found to be adorned with handmade vessels, shells from the red sea, and markedly animal skulls. A painted cow skull was found recently with distinct written language, the only text of the pan-grave people every found. Barnard spoke of the ability of science to decipher these scriptures, providing a form of linguistic analysis. It was amazing to learn of a field I never really knew of, archaeology, and how it incorporates scientific improvements and methods to study art and uncover archaeological secrets.

Slide of pan-grave bucranium studied by Hans Barnard

Another speaker was Tamira Elul, a professor and researcher of developmental neurobiology. She discussed how she uses tools from the art world to celebrate biology mechanisms learned from her scientific research. Specifically, she uses the Processing programming language, developed at MIT Media lab by Casey Reas and Ben Fry primarily for visual artists. Elul truly embodies the intersection of art and science by using this program to create simulation of cells, cell shape, and movement to model neural morphogenesis. She uses art to showcase her scientific research as, in her words, a “celebration of form and shape”.

Slide explaining Tamira Elul's research in neural morphogenesis 

Another speaker was Behnaz Farahi, an architect and interaction designer in Los Angeles. Her work explores how technology changes our relationships, specifically communication and perception. As projects, she mentions a 3D cape with motion tracking technology and moving ceilings to show plasticity and reciprocity in architecture. By utilizing material science, sensory technologies, and interactive design, she creates pieces that incorporate both art and science and that allow us to rethink our relationship with our devices.

Slide depicting 3D cape with motion tracking technology by Behnaz Farahi

The final speakers were Symrin Chawla and David Ertel, UCLA DESMA graduate students, that presented their installation Data Burial: In Living Dunes. Their work investigates what data privacy means now with the advent of social media and technology that can live longer after our death. A technology piece is currently in sand dunes and its real time burial reflects data in this new age. By incorporating earth science research to find the correct location for slow dune burial and hardware engineering for network and photo signaling, their installation acts at the intersection of science and art to showcase the testing of the limits of data privacy with technology.

Data Burial: In Living Dunes installation by Symrin Chawla and David Ertel

The LASER event was an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone and plan myself to attend in the future. Attending this event opened my eyes to the incredible work occurring at UCLA and around the world with art and science collaboration. The talks were truly inspiring to artists and scientists alike and encouraged me to broaden my perspective and point of view and embrace cross-collaboration and creativity. 

Proof of attendance with the presenters

References:

California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) and Leonardo/ISAST, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology. "Leonardo Art Science Rendezvous (LASER)." UCLA Art|Sci Center, 25 May 2017.

Unless otherwise noted, all pictures were taken at the event.