On May 19th I attended another LASER Rendezvous at the CNSI Centre on campus. I really enjoy these events because there are many different speakers that talk about various different topics. Some are heavily art based and some heavily science based, while others are an equal combination of both. First we entered the gallery where there were many different sculptures and paintings on display. After browsing in the gallery we went into a different room where all of the speakers presented their ideas.
("The Chaos Inside" by Sydnie Bui)
The first thing I looked at was this hanging wire head and brain, with a light beam on it to show the shadow. This was a very fascinating piece and the picture does not do it justice. In the write up underneath it the artist explains that the piece was designed to show the chaos in our minds.
("Entropy" by Eric Fram)
These three paintings are based on various images of plasma and flux ropes, with a human figure reacting to the idea of entropy. The artist aims to portray chaos in these illustrations as well.
The first speaker at the event was named Ana Jofre. She is a physicist turned artist who briefly taught us about magnets and magnetic fields. First she explained positive and negative electrical charges, and that an electric field is a force felt by another charge. To physically describe magnetic fields she brought in and passed around a demo. This was a battery with two twisted pieces of copper wire that created a motor and spun on its own. This reminds me of Professor Vesna's lecture on Robotics. This is a prime example of the fusion of art, science and technology.
(Copper Wire Spinning on a Battery)
The second speaker was named Megan Lindeman. She is a visual artist and she explained how neurochemistry and dark matter play a role in her art. She explained artists fascination with dark matter and how it is distributed throughout the universe. What I found the most interesting was the idea that you can't see dark matter, so artists have to map the visual objects that it is in between. She paints using a combination of oxytocin and paint. This brought me back to Week 1 and Professor Vesna's discussion of two cultures. She seems to combine art in the form of paintings with science in the form of dark matter and neuroscience.
("Radicalized, Small Threats, and of course the Sunrise" by Megan Lindeman)
The third speaker was named Walter Gekelman, a professor of experimental plasma. Some people consider plasma to be the fourth state of matter. Walter Gekelman spoke about what is required to make plasma fusion possible on earth. The suns heat is not hot enough for fusion to occur, and even the centre of the sun isn't either. Plasma needs extreme heat to fuse and be used as a power source. 300 million degrees is the temperature required for fusion on earth. Walter Gekelman and his colleagues work on making plasmas, creating conditions for them, and conducting experiments relevant to what happens on the suns surface. This made me think of Professor Vesna's lecture on Robotics because technological advancements nowadays are so relevant for artists as well as scientists.
(Image off of Basic Plasma Science Facility at UCLA)
I would definitely recommend this event to other friends and Desma 9 Students. It is very exciting being able to learn about many different artists and scientists in such a short period of time. These events also help further my knowledge in course materials because each presentation is a new outlook on the integration of science, technology and art as one entity.
(My friends and I at CNSI)
Works Cited
Vesna, Victoria.
"Robotics pt.2." Youtube. Uconlineprogram. 15 Apr.
2012. Web. 24 May. 2016
Vesna, Victoria.
"TwoCultures part1." Youtube. Uconlineprogram, 30
Mar. 2012. Web. 24 May. 2016.
"Basic
Plasma Science Facility at UCLA." BaPSF. N.p., n.d. Web. 22
May 2016.
"Megan
Lindeman." Radicalized, Small Threats, and Of Course the Sunrise.
N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2016.
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