FINAL

Extra Credit Event 1: Architecture + Design Museum

This week I headed over the Architecture + Design Museum across from LACMA. I've been intrigued by this museum for years, primarily because I love its minimalist, design-focused logo, so I was thrilled for the opportunity to encourage myself to visit. I went with my friend Rebecca and received a student discount ($5, sweet!), which not-so-secretly thrilled me.

The current exhibit on display is called S M L XL LA and the museum functions by asking a diverse group of artists to create specific work based on the theme. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a permanent collection of the history of LA's architectural wonders, which are numerous, but the museum is quite small so I suppose it would be impossible in this current location. 

One of the very first pieces we saw reminded me a lot of our week in BioArt. It's a sculptural wall piece by Alison Petty Ragguette made of rubber and porcelain, inspired by biological cross sections as examined under a microscope. It's meant to interact with the incoming light and was simultaneously quite beautiful and slightly disturbing.  

My other favorite pieces were a reconstruction of the central subject in Wes Anderson's 'Grand Budapest Hotel,' made entirely from Legos and constructed by a group of eight artists. It was incredibly impressive and was the piece most similar to what my imagination had predicted I'd be viewing at the A + D Museum. I also enjoyed the below piece on the right, which explored different ways of dividing space using stretchy pieces of material that were reminiscent of seat belts. I could imagine a version of these dividers being utilized in a hip loft space.

 

There was also a 3D Printer exhibit that was typically manned by an artist-in-residence, but she happened to be off for the afternoon. The public is invited to interact with what she and the printer create by drawing pictures that she can then translate to the printer to be made into real-life objects. I tried my hand at a few designs for her to discover upon her return, but I don't think they were very successful!

   It seems to me that this museum's strength lies in its collaboration with local artists. After investigating further, I found they do building projects in conjunction with local children, as well as co-hosting many events at homes and buildings throughout the city, with a focus on different leaders in the worlds of art and design.  I wish they had a larger space to host a permanent collection, but in the meantime, I've added myself to their mailing list in order to attend some of their architectural events around town.              

Week Five, Part 2: Space + Art

Space + Art is an easy one to see where the overlap between the Two Cultures occurs, as space exploration has been a very visible theme in our pop culture, with shows like Star Trek, Serenity, Battlestar Gallactica, among many many others. 

I enjoyed leafing through the various, less publicly acknowledged artistic ways people are exploring the idea of space and our use of it/interaction with it. ‘Cosmic Dancer’ was

beautiful and soothing and deceptively simple - a weightless sculpture, an art piece that only achieves its intention in anti-gravity. 'Mars Patent' is a fascinating concept -- what type of work would people send to exhibit on Mars if we could? If we’re going to be colonizing/mining Mars, shouldn’t equal weight be given to bringing things of beauty to the universe as well? I really enjoyed leafing through the various offerings, and I laughed out loud at this answer in the FAQs: “As a future orientated device the HRM_1.0n only reads female names as valid identities.” 

In another moment of delight, I realized that I had actually held a Buckyball in my hand this past May, while I was working in Sudbury, Ontario and visiting Science North on the weekend with my sons. It is such a tiny town, so to hear its name mentioned in the lecture this week was startling and wonderful. I enjoyed learning more about Sputnik and the Cold War and the videos from that era were such a welcome change of pace. After learning about the early generations of astronauts, I remembered that I had seen the Challenger explode on television with my parents when I was a child. So then, of course, I started YouTubing footage of the Challenger exploding and got sucked down an internet rabbit hole of disasters from my lifetime (the 2006 Tsunami particularly). Unsurprisingly, it turned out a depressing way to spend a Tuesday night - I don’t recommend it!

I had no idea that Elon Musk’s SpaceX was receiving funds from NASA to privatize space exploration -- I’m not really sure how to feel about this and am prompted to do more research. Musk is a universally fascinating figure who comes up often in conversation and I loved his appearance on Colbert talking about his development of reusable rockets (amazing video is in the clip below). A man who captures the imagination of scientists and artists alike, he’s purportedly the man behind the concept for the character of Iron Man’s Tony Stark.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,The Colbert Report on Facebook,Video Archive

'Powers of 10' was a video I had viewed a few years back when the Eames exhibit was at LACMA. I find the Eames to be a fascinating couple and the video to be mind-boggling and disorienting. This time around it reminded me of this ‘Fold Paper to Get to the Moon’ TED-Ed video that had been making the rounds this week: 

 Behind the scenes, the TV world seems to be experiencing an exceptional wave of interest in space stories that will be coming to your screens this fall. For example, I recently auditioned for a show that will be making it’s way onto SyFy in November, called Ascension. It’s about three generations of humans making the commitment to colonize a far off galaxy. Here’s the breakdown: “49 years ago, NASA sent a 1500-foot spacecraft on a 100-year mission to penetrate deep space and reach the faraway star Proxima Centauri.  The spaceship Ascension is powered by controlled explosions of nuclear bombs, and the 350 people aboard consider themselves to be lifeboat for the human race -- but they're only halfway to their destination and some crewpersons ("Earthers") want to turn back and go home.  The murder of local beauty Lorelei Wright ratchets up the internal tensions to a high pitch, and First Officer Oren Gault is under orders to investigate and find the killer.  But it's possible that his borderline-amateur investigation will reveal the deepest secret of the Ascension – and the true purpose of the project...” 

 
Also coming to TV soon are two 60’s era Space-Race shows: ABC drama The Astronauts' Wives Club (sort of like Desperate Housewives meets Mad Men) and NBC comedy Mission Control starring Krysten Ritter (the story of a lone woman working in a man's world of early space exploration).

Sources
Business Insider: Colbert/Elon Musk
CNN footage of Challenger explosion
Lecture Part 2, Vesna
Lecture Part 4, Vesna
Mars Patent
Powers of 10
Ascension Trailer: SyFy
Cosmic Dancer
Adrian Paenza TED-Ed video

Week Five, Part 1: NanoTech + Art

Though I absolutely found the subject covered this week challenging, it was interesting to read how nanoparticles help us in everyday life and can contribute to making life simpler or more functional. I thought of

the face cream I use, which is called ARgENTUM, and uses nanoparticles of colloidal silver, hence why the name has the chemical element symbol for silver (Ag) in its name -- something I never would have noticed before. It also drew my attention to the fact that we need to remain aware of the products we’re using and how they are manufactured -- Gimzewski’s reference to the Chocolate SlimShake was slightly sobering.

I found Paul Rothermund's TED talk very interesting, particularly the idea that the technology is open to everyone and students around the world were mailing him examples of their work building structures with DNA. His 'Happy Face' experiment was delightful. I like that he touched upon the imperfections still inherent in this type of experimentation, however. It reminded me of a story going around the web last week, “Girl Grows Nose on Her Spine After Failed Stem Cell Transplant.” After further research, I also learned that stem cell research has progressed out of work with nanoparticles “Experimentation with different types of nanoparticles...has provided the background from which stem cell research has been launched.” - Theresa Phillips, Biotech.com. The effects of what can go wrong are a good reminder that all of this is still a developing science. The story of the growing nose reminded of the new 3D computers and how they are being used with cells to create actual body parts with living tissue. "Basically what it allows you to do is build tissue the way you assemble something with Legos. So you can put the right cells in the right places. You can't just pour them into a mold." - Keith Murphy, CNN article

In my one legitimate connection to nanotechnology and physics, I played a waitress named Fay Neman (a play on Feynman) who works at Planck’s Cafe (a play on Planck’s Constant) in a 2010 movie called "The Big Bang." Filled with subtle references to particle physics, in the film, noir-style detective Ned Cruz (Antonio Banderas) is searching for a lost dame named Lexie Persimmon (a play on “lex parsimoniae” which is the Latin translation for Occam’s Razor) while reclusive billionaire Simon Kestrel is building a particle collider under the ground in New Mexico (the movie was made during the time when the people behind the Swedish Hadron collider were still holding their breath in search of the Higgs-Boson particle). Quote from the director Tony Krantz: ‘if you say that all life is a collection of opposites, two sides to the same coin, the two stories of the film — the search for the girl and the search for the missing particle — are ultimately the same story. It’s a metaphor for life itself, for physics itself."  I give what is probably the most steamy delivery of the inner workings of atoms on film, while in bed with Mr. Banderas (the scene is NSFW but here’s the trailer, which is SFW).

My entire body was tattooed with atoms, planetary paths and the workings of the universe. In preparation for my role, I read the Tao of Physics and watched a ton of movies assigned to me by the director. I’ve got to be honest, even after this study and after delivering a two page monologue in which I describe exactly how atomic physics works, I find the intangibility of it all extremely difficult to retain and grasp, no matter how many times I relearn it. 

In my opinion, the film suffers from one of the problems in the world between the Two Cultures -- just because something is clever or you understand something, doesn’t always make for good art or good storytelling. The physics references were far over the head of the vast majority of people who see the film, so without the sufficient knowledge to understand the subtext and clever references, it instead seems like some shlock campy thriller. I had an acting teacher that was always bringing it back to the idea of the ‘butcher’ -- even if you’re doing Shakespeare, the butcher from your local store should be able to see your work and understand and relate to it. The emotions and basic character needs should be strong enough in storytelling to sustain interest through even 16th century English or for that matter, a clever interlacing of particle physics and quantum mechanics. 

Lecture 1, Gimzewski
Lecture 3, Gimzewski
Lecture 6, Gimzewski
BioTech Website: NanoTech + Stem Cells 
ARgENTUM Apothecary
TED: Paul Rothermund Details DNA Folding
The Next Frontier in 3D Printing
The Big Bang trailer
The Tao of Physics

Event Three: Kayaking on the LA River

I was so thrilled to read that the LA River was eligible to count as one of our events in this class, because for the last year I've been dying to go kayaking on it, ever since I heard that such a thing was possible. What? Where? And HUH? The LA River has such a historically bad reputation, that every person I mentioned this to came up with some sort of wise crack about the filth I would encounter (Note: the LA River badly needs a brand overhaul). Near Elysian Fields there is a stretch of river with a sandy bottom, one of only 3 such sections in the 51 mile run of the LA River basin. Apparently the US Army Corps attempted to concrete over it, but the Glendale to Elysian Fields stretch is one of the deeper sections and one that easily floods so the concrete would simply not stay put, much to our modern day luck. 

Our group (LA River Kayak Safari) started off by meeting at Oso Park and biking for about 20 minutes up along the south side of the river (a gorgeous, popular riding trail) until we reached the 'put-in' point, which was just south of the 2 freeway. After a 15 minute 'How to Kayak' lesson, we were in the water! 

As an extra treat and surprise, we had 4 scientists from The Natural History Museum who happened to be along on our tour that day, so we heard an earful about the ecosystem of the river, its fowl and fish and fauna. One of the most interesting things discussed was the health of the river. They told us that the river was deemed quite healthy and they were able to scientifically measure this in a few manners: One, the river contained healthy populations of dragonflies, mayflies and black flies, that apparently only breed in healthy water environments. Two, the fish in the river had been tested and the results came back below the acceptable levels of mercury for eating.  I learned that the majority of water in the LA River comes from runoff from water-treatement plants, which is probably a big part of how it gets it bad reputation. But apparently the water being offset into the river is only one grade below drinking level, which should make us all feel a lot better about what's really going on in there. 

The kayaking trip was a spectacular way to try something new in Los Angeles, enjoy the outdoors and support the ecological health of our city. Especially since I live on the eastside only about a mile from the river, I feel highly motivated to get involved with FoLAR and to eat at FrogSpot and to get a bicycle of my own so I can enjoy these awesome new trails that people are working so hard to create. I'm so proud of the Angelenos that are trying to take back our city and our waterways and turn them toward a healthier ecosystem and a source of joy for our residents. Bravo. 

Week Four, Part 2: NeuroScience + Art

I find there to be a natural and obvious connection and overlap between scientists and artists in the Neuroscience + Art information. To me, art & science dovetail quite easily and necessarily when it comes to the brain and exploration of human thoughts & emotions. I think this question of ‘What is consciousness?’ is at the heart & soul of many many artists' life searching and the crux of their work. 

One of the most beautiful examples from this week’s reading was the ‘Brainbow’ project, which allowed more than 100 neurons to be mapped at ones by the addition of different florescent colors. Created in spring 2007 by Jeff Lichen and Joshua Sanges, professors at Harvard, the resulting images are absolutely beautiful, and actually remind me of an abstract watercolor I just saw.  Also, a lot of the artwork shown in the lectures to illustrate the stories of the pioneers in LSD and cocaine work were psychadelic and striking themselves, and often reminiscent of the imagery from 'Brainbow' as well.  

Most resonant to me from this week’s reading was the work of Carl Jung, which I had been wanting to explore more of for quite some time now and which I’m compelled to study further when I have more time after this class. I related to his idea of global consciousness (and found the Global Consciousness Project to be an especially interesting pursuit) as something that intrigues me as well from a few of my own personal revalations throughout life. For example, in 2004 I was working in a remote location in Canada and became ill with blood poisoning that was caught only about 24 hours before it would have killed me. In the resulting dreamlike state, I felt pourous, at peace, and hardly separate from the people around me. Ever since then I have a belief in a global unconscious and a basic human interconnectedness that we haven’t yet explained. Therefore Jung's conception of universal consciousness was quite profound and interesting to me, and I'd like to learn more about it. 

Jung’s archetypes -- The Self The Shadow The Anima The Animus The Persona -- gave me more clarity on a character I played over a decade ago in college. As a freshman, I played a character named ‘Animula’ in a play called The Trap, about the life of Franz Kafka. I was to represent the soul of Kafka as a 9 year old child in a white dress, who opens the play with a 4 page monologue primarily in German (I believe this part really represents sort of an unconscious dream state), and then spends the remainder of the play on stage, unspeaking in various places off to the side doing things like playing jacks and jumping rope. Now I’m looking at this from a psychological viewpoint -- Kafka’s Jungian ‘Anima’ is always present, the softer feminine side of him hidden from everyone else’s view but visible to the viewers of history as you glimpse his vulnerability in relation to all the horror he experienced in his life. 

Another quick favorite from the reading, this one made me laugh out loud: "In 2003, with the aim of achieving immortality, conceptual artist Jonathon Keats put his brain, as well as its original thoughts, up for sale. To comply with the conventional rules of commercial markets, he registered his brain as a sculpture created by himself through the act of thinking. He then facilitated the sale by producing an exhibition and catalogue at the San Francisco Modernism Gallery. The artwork consists of MRI images of his brain activity as he thought about art, beauty, love and death.” I find that so delightful. 

I’m also reminded of the Tony winning musical ‘Next To Normal,' which deals with Bipolar 2 Disorder and its effects on a grieving family. I saw Alice Ripley in a production at the Ahmanson about 4 years ago. I don’t love the musical, but approaching it from a scientific standpoint and now from my own experience with postpartum, I appreciate it much more. I particularly love this song, which deals with a daughter’s feelings of invisibility in her family after the death of her brother, the ‘golden boy’ of the story, who torments his still alive mother with songs of what could have been and temptation into believing he’s still alive. 

Sources
Brainbow | Center for Brain Science
Artwork: Inspired Motherhood by Melanie Biehle
Video clip from Next to Normal
Review of Proust Was a Neuroscientist
Neuroscience + Art: Lecture II 

Neuroculture by Giovanni Frazetto and Suzanne Anker

Week Four, Part 1: BioTech + Art

Of all the art forms we’ve studied so far, for me BioArt is where the line between art and science becomes so blurred that it’s impossible to distinguish one from the other or to give this work such a boxed-in title.  

I think this question in particular is the most difficult to answer: Should the restrictions be more or less stringent for artists using medicine, biotechnology ad neuroscience than for scientists in industry/academia? If pressed, I think I would say the restrictions should not be based on the person’s title, but on the problem attempting to be solved. If the problem is at a level of obvious human benefit ie: defeating cancer cells, the restrictions should be less. If the problem is of a ‘lighter’ weight, ie: let’s see if I can implant a human ear on my arm, then yes, I do think that not everything should be allowed, particularly when it comes to the experience and pain levels of other living creatures. Therefore, I do not agree with allowing animal testing for beauty products, but I understand the necessity for it in projects that could eventually save and extend human lives and lower human suffering. Of course now we get into the existential question of what makes a life valuable, are some lives more valuable that others, etc etc. 

I think there’s the potential for a lot of BioArtwork to become narcisstic and unecessary. For example, Alba the rabbit seemed to be mostly something that Joe Davis created just to see if he could. And I think when your artwork is messing with living beings that feel pain and joy and emotion, the ethics gets very very tricky! For example, just because you’re a French trained chef who prepares a beautiful sous vide pork belly, doesn’t mean that Wednesday night dinner for your kids is the appropriate place to use that technology and knowledge. I feel similarly about Joe Davis -- just because he put in the time and research to understand the glowing jellyfish cells, doesn’t mean that creating a glowing rabbit is the appropriate place to use that technology.  I found Kathy High’s work caring for lab rats really touching and sad and beautiful and pointless and meaningful all at the same time. I found it disturbing in the most profound humanistic sense because to me it is a metaphor for the pointlessness and meaning of life and how one spends one’s time here on earth. Adding to my confusion, Kathy High’s work with ‘Rat Laughter’ (which is attempting to answer the question, Can rats communicate their level of well being through ultrasonic sounds?) is to me a valued scientific and not artistic experiment, even though she defines herself as a visual/media artist.

This class actually sparked a heated conversation between my husband and myself at our date night this week.

I brought up my difficulty in determining whether a lot of these people were primarily artists or primarily scientists. My husband’s perspective is that it depends on the viewpoint of the consumer of their products -- ie whether they experience the end result as art or science. Myself, I don’t think that someone’s self-definition should be primarily related to result, but should be connected more to personal process. For example, if I consider myself an artist and discover a cure for cancer during my creative biotech experimentation, does that then make me a scientist? If I’ve trained as a scientist and consider that my profession, and develop technology that is then hung in an art gallery, am I now therefore an artist? See, I’m stumped because I don’t think I even have an answer here! The line between the Two Cultures becomes quite blurred for me.  

On the positive, enjoyable side of this week's intellectual dilemmas, I was tickled by SymbioticA & Adam Zuretsky-- I really appreciate the humor he brings towards his experiments. In a world that often seems to be populated with people who take themselves too seriously, I value his light attitude and the joy he brings to his work. This project in particular made me giggle: "The Brainus is an anus made of biopolymers, which was then seeded with brain tissue. The Analolly is a lollypop made of biopolymers, which was then seeded with anal tissues. The primary tissues used for these sculptures were taken from a dying eel. The eel was killed for food and the primary brain and anal tissues were isolated from the waste of culinary excess. The public is invited to vote: Which would you rather lick? Brainus or Analolly and Why?"

My absolute favorite project from this week is Natalie Jeremijenko’s ‘Impatient’ health clinics in Manhattan. Again, is this eco-activism, or interactive performance activism art, or creative medicine? I LOVE all her theories and plans and dreams for how to deal with the environmental issues in Manhattan. “Reimagining our relationship to natural systems” reminded me of the work of FoLAR in reestablishing a natural environment around the LA River. “Displacement is not the way to deal w environmental issues” reminds me of this RadioLab story where they were shipping NYC waste out to somewhere in the midwest but it was actually, in this case, beneficial for both places. I wonder what Natalie's viewpoint would be on this solution. I love what a problem solver she seems to be, particularly her solution for putting living gardens right in the street in front of fire hydrants in Manhattan. Absolutely brilliant, and now I can't see a hydrant in LA without thinking we should have some sort of small succulent garden living there. Or course, we're a different climate, so it's a slightly different issue, but I love all these environmental solution thoughts I'm having since hearing about her work! 

Resources:

Adam Zaretsky: Dangerous Liaisons, Part 1
TED Talk: Natalie Jeremijenko

Lecture 1: BioTechnology + Art
Lecture II: Biotechnology + Art 

Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classification | Ellen K Levy
RadioLab: Poop Train