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Event Three: California African-American Arts Museum

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The California African-American Arts museum is home to exhibits representing black artists from around the world. While at the museum there was an exhibit highlighting the work of Ernie Barnes, an American artist and former NFL football player. His work challenged the notion of sports being a place solely for competition and rather embodied sports as an art form of not just the mind but also the body. In 1984, Barnes was named the lead sports artist for the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles, the exhibit showcased a lot of the work that he had created for the games. Each exhibit in the museum was designed to showcase a different style and the story of an artist. I was extremely excited to see the work of one of my favorite young artists Kohshin Finley. Finley is originally from Los Angeles, and known for creating highly detailed portraits that use different elements of poetry and deep contrasts of color to depict emotion and intent.  In relation to this class the museum was s
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Week 9 Blog Post

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Russian Propaganda via Giavonni Pallotta  Growing up my childhood dream was to be an astronomer. I always aspired to be able to look deep into space and see what truly was out there, and seemingly the questions that I have always had were not unique. The idea of space and the question of "is there more" has been engrained within American society. The Space Race brought about high levels of competition  amongst nations all over the world which in turn led to great technological advancements and progression in other industries as well, such as art. Through use of various styles of propaganda and media materials, leading governments were able to effectively use space as a means of infiltrating popular culture (Ngo).  While America and the Soviet Union battled through the Cold War, the Space Race was an instrumental piece of the battle. The Russians utilized propaganda in the same way as the Americans, as a tool to increase nationalist identity. The art work on the left dep
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Event Two: Dogs! A Science Tail

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For my second event, I attended the California Science Center's latest exhibit: "Dogs! A Science Tail". The exhibit examined the relationships between humans and their dogs, and dogs and one another. Through a series of interactive exhibits I was able to learn the reasoning behind many dog behaviors such as sniffing one another, and the origins and evolution of what we now know as domesticated dogs. The interactions varied in type, but the exhibit started with the testing of human speed versus different breeds of dogs. I really liked how easy it was to engage in the information, and how family friendly the environment was. Each piece of the exhibit paired technology and science together in ways that would be beneficial to learn and apply knowledge in. From racing dogs, to training them in a virtual simulation, the creativity allowed for a simply way to educate yourself, while also having fun. In context to this class, the exhibit was representative of how a
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Week 6 Blog Post

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In examining BioTech and art I look at the questions provided in relation to Ruth West.  Is life itself a valid expressive medium? How do we define and value artistic media and technologies? And ultimately, are there (or should there be) limits to human creativity? Victimless Leather via TCA Project In trying to answer these questions is it important to understand the definitions of both biotech and art, and the fluidity of both of them. Biotech is the pairing of " cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products that help improve our lives and the health of our planet" (Bio). As mentioned frequently throughout my various blogs, art is expression through various mediums. Its definition is fluid and I find the definition of biotech to be equally as fluid as well. The intersection of the two is seen through many different displays. The Museum of Modern Art in New York, actually has its own bioart exhibit-- in a leather jacket was made using
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Event One: Sound and Science Symposium

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This past week I attended UCLA's Sound + Science 2.0 program, in which different speakers and presenters expressed different ways in which sound and science intertwine. The first presenter I saw went by the name of Ivana Dama-- Dama designed a program that could turn a microscope into an instrument. Originally born in Yugoslavia, now Serbia, Dama had a different perspective on sound and vibrations because her experiences with bombings within her native country. In translating that curiosity, she sought to create a musical instrument that could be accessible to everyone and could showcase the pairing of science and art. Her performance consisted of using the microscope to create sounds in relation to the slides that it was examining. Her presentation was really interesting in that it showed how art can be unconventional and far from traditional. Following Ivana Dama, James Gimzewski, a Polish researcher, presented on quantum entanglement and the sounds that can come from it. His p
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Week 4 Blog Post

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As discussed by our Professor in this week's lecture, the human body has been critical the role of medicine has been historically speaking in regards to art. In lecture one, she discusses human dissection and how the act of being present for these intimate moments with the body has helped with the creation of art regarding it (Vesna). Throughout history the body has been symbolic and representative of so many different things, and are serves as a means to represent that. Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci via: Erickson Beyond the actual creation of art and medicine affecting that, there have been recent studies that explore how art itself actually affects medicine. In an article entitled "Can Studying Art Help Medical Students Become Better Doctors?" by Robert Glatter, MD, Glatter explores this different perspective. He writes about how creating art allows medical students who primarily use the left side of their brain will allow them to be more stimulated and use
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Week 3 Blog Post

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Henry Ford's Assembly Line via: Weber Industrialization began in the late 19th century. This time was a period of technological advancement and increased efficiency within the work force and day to day American life. As machines were invented that could perform tasks at a quicker rate than humans, robots and other machines began to take their places--mainly because they were more cost effective ( The USA) . While this affected blue collar work, it also impacted other industries as well, including creative industry. American society was now moving at higher rate, expecting more things in less time, and this ideology became a fabric of American culture.  i, Robot via: madeinatlantis The idea of efficiency and the desire for productivity over humanity has been seen throughout many different films and stories shown to the American public as representations of effectiveness being greater than everything else. The movie iRobot follows the story of robots being used as forms of
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