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Week 9: Space and Art

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Since ancient times, space - the extraterrestrial - has been a source of interest and reflection for society. As Professor Vensa discussed in lecture, our initial interest in space began with Copernicus, who discovered that the Sun was the center of our solar system. Hundreds of years later, the Cold War between the United States and USSR sparked an arms race and a competitive space race to the moon. As a result, much of the propaganda or artwork in the media reflected the desire of these two countries to reach the moon first and fascination with the outer space, their fascination with the unknown. We also see in modern times, that books, television shows, and films (like Star Trek) often discuss or center around extraterrestrial topics - showing the extent to which space has intersected with art. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Exploring_Space_-_The_Science_Museum_-_geograph.org.uk_-_561168.jpg http://www.startrek.com/uploads/assets/db_articles/71f36e38828
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Event 3: Chinese American Culture Night

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A few weeks ago, I had the honor of acting in UCLA's Chinese American Culture night (CACN). At UCLA, a Culture Night is composed of a play that discusses an important theme within a particular community, while simultaneously being interspersed with cultural performances. For CACN, these cultural performances included traditional dance, hip-hop dance, lion dance, and Wushu. While theater isn't what one typically thinks of in the conventional sense of art, I realized through this experience that the performing arts integrates many of the same concepts that we have examined in this class, concepts that are not necessarily more prevalent in conventional art forms like paintings and sculptures. Notably, theatrical productions embody C.P Snow's concept of the two cultures of science and the arts. Although in the context of this production I operate only from the artistic side, the technical, scientific aspect of the play lent itself to truly elevating the production value of th
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Week 8: Nanotechnology and Art

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Although nanotechnology has been advancing rapidly, the field itself is one that most people do not understand. Ironically though, most people have had exposure to nanotechnology. As mentioned in lecture, it is prevalent in products that are used by most consumers, like cosmetics, diet supplements, agrochemicals, and sunscreen. Additionally, Jim Gimwezki talks about how nanotechnology has been utilized to tackle some of our world's most serious issues, like how silver nanoparticles are being utilized in food packaging because its antimicrobial nature is better for the environment. In Ray Kurzweil's TED Talk, he discusses how society is inching closer and closer to unlocking nanotechnology's potential - that in the imminent future, nanotechnology will enable us to fit all of a phone's features and functionality into a device the size of a single blood cell. http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/Research/2016/04/USDA_investing_in_nanot echnolo.aspx?ID=
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Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

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The integration of neuroscience, as enabled by technological advancements, enables to better understand the brain and expand their artistic horizons. As evidenced by the creation of brain-scanning technology, Anker produced the FMRI Butterfly, which was done by overlapping a butterfly's image over fifteen brain scans. Her technique created an illusion that makes the butterflies appear different visually, despite the fact that each butterfly is identical in print. As mentioned in lecture, another artist that explored neuroscience in his art was William Straten, who created glasses that inverted images upside down. Interesting, we could see that these two artworks, which distort the the perspective of the observers, touches and expands upon the point that art surrounds us in ways that we often don't have the perspective to fully comprehend. Thus, by enabling observers to experience the art actively as opposed to passively observing the art, Straten seeks to strike home this point
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Week 6: Biotechnology and Art

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In high school, I participated in a two-year medical research program where I had the chance to work with a PhD student to study the effects of specific tumor suppressors in lung cancer. From my scientific vantage point, it was interesting to learn about BioArt because I had never considered scientific research techniques as being artwork. https://alchetron.com/Joe-Davis-(artist)-491035-W One form of BioArt that I really appreciated was Davis' usage of microbiology and sound, his map of the Milky way in a transgenic mouse's ear. Davis' procedure of translating art, like it was actually RNA, into a mouse paralleled the reality of what occurs in nature, thereby heightening the artistic merit. But, his usage of this technique brings up the issues of ethics and usefulness of modifying, harming these organisms, in order to create art. With the integration of science in the artistic production process, comes the concerns of consent and morality that is rarely heard of in
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Event 2: The Broad Museum

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Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting The Broad museum in DTLA. Although The Broad is filled with countless fascinating artworks, I had been looking forward to seeing Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room - The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away the most. The Infinity Room is the perfect example of Snow's idea of the rise of the "Third Culture," as the exhibit blends, somewhat inconspicuously, the arts and science. Visually, it is obvious that Kusama's shimmering, multi-colored hanging lights are composed to be very dotty and convey a sense of endlessness, like the universe and the stars - an intentional, beautiful composition that is pleasing to the eyes, like how art is stereotyped. However, these LED lights, these dots, are inspired by Kusama's experience with science. In her youth, she experienced realistic, terrifying hallucinations that were filled with flashes of lights and dots that would become flowers that would come to life, multiply, and
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Midterm Submission

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1F0xlW7jyf3MXg3bjU4YmVKR3c/view?usp=sharing
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