Week 10 Final | VR Robot Avatars

Week 10 Final | VR Robot Avatars

Click to view Project Proposal: VR Robot Avatars

Event 3 Blog Assignment | Broad MFA Exhibit

Event 3 Blog Assignment | Broad MFA Exhibit

For my most recent artistic venture, I had the pleasure and perplexion of visiting the MFA Exhibit hosted by UCLA's very own graduating masters seniors in Broad Hall back in late-April.

To say the least, the exhibit was quite minimalist. Nonetheless I tried my best to interpret the concepts at-hand and create meaning for myself out of the very abstract pieces of art.

During my visit to the gallery I decided to focus on a single room dedicated mostly to art pieces by the student/artist Catherine Ahearn. Her pieces, "Eating and Shitting" as well as "Untitled", were very simple on the surface, and I attempted to gather what they meant beyond the unassuming first glance.

Peep the exhibit below: 

 

 

 

I interpreted the displays of wood in the first four snapshots of the exhibit to represent the ambiguity between consumption and expulsion. In her pieces, Ahearn showcases fixtures that look like they can be assembled into both an outhouse or used as cutting boards in the kitchen. In this way, the pieces represent potential for utilization as tools for "eating" or "shitting" as the title suggests. I take this to see how Ahearn blurs the lines between ingestion and digestion - both being a part of the same process and the meeting place is visualized through the blend of materials that exemplify both the place of consumption (the kitchen) as well as the place of expulsion (the restroom).

One of the smaller facets of the installation included a grey mold that resembled both a conglomerate of cups as well as a urinal. To me. In the same vein as the wood pieces in the piece, I found this grey mold to strike me as a middle ground representation of both ingestion (of liquids) as well as a release (of those same liquids).

I believe Ahearn to have tackled the idea of a meeting ground between the ideas of consumption and expulsion coming from the mutual focal point of deconstruction. Just as food is decomposed during the process of eating and remains decomposed until it's expulsion, so too does Ahearn deconstruct the physical manifestations of human consumption (the kitchen) and expulsion (the restroom) by bringing them down to their common ground: places made of wood and plastic.

In essence, the places in which we as humans choose to consume or expel are made of the same materials though they are experienced for two different purposes, which is interesting because it says to me that the way we experience a space is clearly not defined by the materials with which it was made, but by our preconceived notions and expectations of the space to start with.

Overall, however, I wouldn't recommend this exhibit to those not fond of hyper-modern art. You won't find any background to what you see or much history here. But if you enjoy straining your mind and a good challenge to apply meaning to things, then you will at least find some very pleasant exhibits to eye while you interpret them on your own.

Because this was not an employee-manned event (since it is put on by the students), I've documented my visit to the gallery with two adequate selfies below: one with a peer and one with the schedule of MFA exhibits from this quarter.

 

Event 2 Blog Assignment | The Fowler Museum

Event 2 Blog Assignment | The Fowler Museum

In a recent trip that I made to the Fowler Museum on UCLA's campus, I had the pleasure of visiting the Delhi-based Sahmat Collective: a visual display of arts hailing from India that the Fowler is showcasing between April through early August. 

After reading through a few of the summaries on the walls of the gallery, I learned that since 1989 this Collective has given artists, writers, poets, musicians, and actors in India a platform to artistically express themselves and promote pieces that surround artistic freedom: the gallery itself is a celebration of secular and egalitarian values. After scanning the pieces in the gallery once more after learning the background, it surprised me that the entire exhibit remained religion-free, especially for a culture so rich in deities as India, and focused solely on art for social activism and change's sake.

In context to the disciplines of our course, the exhibit merged the concepts of contemporary visual arts from India across a variety of media from over sixty artists with older, though still innovative technologies such as the motorized rickshaw, which caught my attention the most (below).

 

The section of the exhibit that showcased this rickshaw detailed its use in 1992 as part of a campaign across Delhi which featured rickshaw drivers banding together to paint on slogans that spread messages for commucal harmony across the city. 

I found it clever that this piece of technology, used for transportation and functional purposes in India to this day, could be designed artistically with a purpose for sending a message in a similar vein as an advertisement, but with a more rallying cry.

The exhibit was also keen on turning the old rickshaw into a more technology-friendly installation by attaching a television screen inside the rickshaw, which played a slideshow of different slogans from rickshaws all throughout the peace movement of 1992. 

Overall, I thought that this section of the exhibit did a great job of merging technology, not in the digital sense, but in the manufacturing sense, into an art that is meant to uplift a community. From there, the collective took an adaptive step further and made the art piece more readily understandable in relation to the digital media and helped the viewer engage with all of the different slogans though only one rickshaw was physically present in the room. In this way, the piece was able to paint a holistic experience of the different rickshaw art-slogans via the screen inside the vehicle, while not dismissing the physicality of the experience by keeping a physical rickshaw on display as well and merging the two together. 

The messages from some of the different rickshaws that were painted in 1992 were also shared below. These were the different messages found on the digital slideshow installed in the rickshaw.

Alongside the physical vehicle was a wall of different pictures again showcasing a multitude of slogans (below). 

To me, the exhibit really represented the idea of art as something that can be a mobile message. It also tied into themes from earlier in the course surrounding the idea of manufactured and replicable art - art that can be mass-produced. In regards to this exhibit, the piece was essentially taking messages and painting them over and over again. However, I think that this reproduction made the art more powerful rather than cheapened it, which is different than I wrote about in my blog a few weeks ago.

Overall the exhibit was an enjoyable experience. I got to see how art and technology could be merged together with a very political and cultural fusion. It was great to experience such contemporary pieces coming from such a different part of the world.

I would recommend the exhibit to those interested in global arts and culture, specifically with an interest in India itself, as all of the art will revolve around that specific culture. Definitely worth a visit, especially as it is free and on the UCLA campus!

Below are a few other enjoyable photographs of "art on the move" in India, as well as a snapshot of me and some peers at the exhibit! 

 

Week 9 Blog Assignment | Space + Art

Week 9 Blog Assignment | Space + Art

SpaceShipOne - Winning Ship of the Ansari X Prize

This week, as we learned about the intersection of space exploration and art, I found my curiosity peaked towards the idea of a future in which casual, leisure-focused space travel was a reality. 

This idea was first tapped by the announcement of the X Prize in 1996, later changed to the Ansari X Prize. This prize was significant in that it encouraged the average innovator to strive for intergalactic excellence and push to explore space from a non-governmental standpoint [Vesna]. 

After digging up some more research on this event, I found that even John Spencer, the president of the Space Tourism Society based in Los Angeles, agreed that the event was "a milestone for humanity" and "the kickoff of the space tourist industry" [David]. 

Lady Gaga - Planned to have performed the first concert in space.

Fast-forward to 2013, almost a decade after this "launch" of tourist-geared space travel, and Virgin had partnered with the famous musician Lady Gaga for what was supposed to be the first concert in space slated for early 2015 [Harris]. While these plans failed to materialize within the few years after the official announcement, the attempt signified what could have been a very large-scale fusion of the scientific and technology-geared "final frontier" merged with an art form such as pop music, thereby closing the literal and symbolic gap and cold characteristics normally associated with space. 

In fact, Virgin has proven to be at the forefront of tourist-geared space travel and innovations since the idea has skyrocketed within the past decade. Their dedicated branch of the multi-industry giant's many facets, Virgin Galactic, seeks to innovate on behalf of space travel from a non-governmental standpoint. The video above demonstrates a montage of perspectives and motivations from people working within the company [Virgin]. Their whole division caused me to question why people would choose to go into space? What is it about the experience that entices us besides the novelty of it all. In most of the research that I found, I read about how Space Travel was an emerging market, but not necessarily why. 

Their mission page helped make things clear when it stated that "We believe that in the future, life on Earth will be made better by the exploration of space. Children inspired by meeting and relating to astronauts from their communities will grow up to start new businesses and found new companies. Students who fly suborbital experiments while still in school will have an enormous head start on their careers, gaining experience that the current generation of leaders didn’t have until they had been in the workforce for decades." [Virgin] 

In this way, Virgin's goals for exploration as a means to discover seem pretty in-line with governmental goals from my perspective. In that case, I wonder what the draw is for the average citizen to fly also - perhaps a personal discovery that lies within the greater search for knowledge and resources in the cosmos. 

Citations

Cavanaugh, Laura. Lady Gaga. Digital image. ABC News. Getty Images, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 31 May 2015.

David, Leonard. "SpaceShipOne Wins $10 Million Ansari X Prize in Historic 2nd Trip to Space | Space.com." Space.com. Space.com, 04 Oct. 2004. Web. 31 May 2015.

Harris, Shamecca. "Lady Gaga Confirms Concert in Space Plans." ABC News. ABC News Network, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 31 May 2015.

Logan, D Ramey. SpaceShipOne Flight 15P. Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.

"Our Vision of the Future - Virgin Galactic." Virgin Galactic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "8 Space Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. UC Online, 29 July 2013. Web. 28 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "8 Space Pt5 1280x720." YouTube. UC Online, 29 July 2013. Web. 28 May 2015.

"Virgin Galactic Portraits Film." YouTube. YouTube, 11 June 2012. Web. 31 May 2015.

Event 1 Blog Assignment | The Hammer Museum

Event 1 Blog Assignment | The Hammer Museum

Last week, I visited the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles for the fifth time in my college career, and as usual it proved to be an enriching experience. This season's visit displayed a variety of exhibits ranging in theme from suburban housewife satire to modern architectural designs across the world to apocalyptic short-films centered around a thumb. Yes, a human thumb. 

Most intriguing to me, however, was Pedro Reyes' exhibit known as "The People's United Nations" or (pUN). The project served as a simultaneously kitschy yet powerful exhibition that put the diplomatic and global problem-solving goals of the United Nations into the hands of ordinary people and allowed them to come up with the results.

These results were then represented as quirky and light-hearted takes regarding very real global issues. Reyes used a heavy dosage of paradoxical imagery to convey the contrast between controversial topics such as war, famine, and politics against peaceful, child-like symbols like a dove or a peace sign. In relation to the disciplines covered in our course regarding Art x Science x Technology, I began to notice a distinct trend among Reyes pieces - taking the technologic advancements made in global interactions like war and politics and re-representing them with new meaning by adding artistic elements to them. 

As seen above and to the right, one of the largest and most readily eye-catching pieces in the exhibit was the large, white sculpture hanging from the ceiling. Knowing that the exhibit was about politics, my mind immediately ascribed the label of "fighter jet" as potential muse for the abstract piece. Upon reading the title of the work, "Drone Dove", it made sense that what I saw was actually a flying war vehicle in-part, but inverted in a way that is also conveyed peace through the peaceful imagery of the dove. What Reyes did was fuse together two very different images into one art piece - what I interpreted to be a bridge that he sees between war and peace. 

      

Reyes extended this theme of technology/science concepts complemented by artistic expression in a series of paintings that draped one of the walls in the single-space exhibit. 

Reyes complemented a groups of paired images together into endearing paradoxical art pieces - a rose & a gun, a jungle gym & a tank, and freedom (breaking away of chains) & DNA, just to name a few, on the wall. The message seemed clear enough - that objects normally associated with dreadful feelings (like violence) could be quelled with harmonious or uplifting images. I found it interesting that all of the scientific inventions/technologic components of the pieces seemed dubbed as the "scary" or "fear-inducing" components of the pieces- needing to be balanced out with more light-hearted images to supplement. What is it about technology that has pushed it into weary territory? 

           

This last piece I wanted to touch on not because it directly related to Art x Sci x Tech, but because it stood out to me. What I see when I look at this piece, an installation made of various shapes of speech bubbles, is the idea that words have become tangible. In context to the rest of the exhibit, this piece seemed to glue all the components together by conveying the message that words mean nothing unless they produce a tangible byproduct as a result. I found this piece particularly innovative.                     

Overall, I would recommend this event, and the Hammer in general, as the museum is relevant and challenging in regards to it's very modern art displays that are a response to the world around us in a way that you might not find at a museum centered around more classical art forms or art pieces. The pieces were engaging and often eye-popping. Plus, the museum is free to visit and fully equipped with cafe, patio seating, and even table tennis. Make sure you block out a few hours!  

Week 6 Blog Assignment | BioTech + Art

Week 6 Blog Assignment | BioTech + Art

Scientists Breed Glow-in-the-Dark Rabbits

This week's material peaked my curiosity towards the idea of animal modification and genetic restructuring at the hands of human intervention. One of the most interesting facets of this week's material for me was the glow-in-the-dark bunny, which inspired me to delve more into recent studies in animal genetics.

Surprising to me was how the researchers hope that the technique can lead to new ways to produce medicines, and that the rabbits are expected to have the same life span as their non-glowing counterparts, but research-lead Moisyadi said he understands people can object to this kind of experimentation involving live animals. [Holpuch]

The key question that I posed this week was this: How much control do researchers/people really have over genetic modifications? What rules do we impose on ourselves as guidelines and why? 

Ultimately, the genetic engineering of animals has increased significantly in recent years, and the use of this technology brings with it ethical issues, some of which relate to animal welfare — defined by the World Organisation for Animal Health as “the state of the animal…how an animal is coping with the conditions in which it lives. One of the pressing concerns regarding experiments such as the glowing rabbits is the sheer number of animals required for experimentation. Many of the embryos that undergo genetic engineering procedures do not survive, and of those that do survive only a small proportion (between 1% to 30%) carry the genetic alteration of interest [Ormandy].

The Liger - Hybridized Jungle Cat, The Largest in the World

Stories akin to the glowing rabbits in include Hercules, a 922 pound behemoth - the world's largest living cat according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Hercules is a liger -- the hybrid offspring of a male lion and a tigress -- who lives at the Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina. Ligers, which do not exist in the wild [Jaregui] and stories like Hercules represent controlled genetic modification for human entertainment and sight-seeing rather than medical purposes or scientific advancement.

Trailer for Jurassic World - ft. Genetic Modification

In a more readily practical scenario than medicinal bunnies or enjoyable ligers is the recent usages for spider silk which, due to its incredible strength in relation to size, is being researched for use in bulletproof vests, artificial tendons, bandages, even computer chips and fiber optic cables for surgery. Because harvesting enough silk requires tens of thousands of spiders and a lot of waiting time. So researchers are turning to goats, an animal that could be improved with spider DNA. Professor Lewis from the University of Wyoming has isolated the genes that produce dragline silk, the strongest type of silk spiders use when they anchor their web. Then he spliced the genes with the genes used by goats to produce milk, mated that goat, and confirmed that three of the seven baby goats retained the silk-producing gene; at this point the milk from the goats can be filtered out for the spider silk [Handley]. 

Today, the Media seems to take a negative stance on human interference in animal genetics. In the most recent trailer for the upcoming Jurassic Park film, we see that the conflict of the plot comes from a newly created dinosaur that is designed to be larger and more impressive than any dinosaur before - with deadly consequences as it turns against it's creators. Stories like Jurassic Park again cause us to question: how much control do we really have or understand over our genetic modifications? Should we fear our own manipulations? 

Citations

Comstock, Paige. "Ligers, Tigons, and Splice: Human-Animal Hybrids | The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity." The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, 20 May 2011. Web. 11 May 2015.

Glowing Bunnies. Digital image. The Guardian. The Guardian, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 May 2015.

Handley, Andrew. "10 Insane Cases of Genetic Engineering - Listverse."Listverse. Listverse, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 May 2015.

Hercules the Liger. Digital image. The Guardian. The Guardian, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 10 May 2015.

Holpuch, Amanda. "Scientists Breed Glow-in-the-dark Rabbits." The Guardian. The Guardian, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 May 2015.

Jauregui, Andres. "Hercules, 922-Pound Liger, Is The World's Largest Living Cat." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 May 2015.

Ormandy, Elisabeth H., Julie Dale, and Gilly Griffin. "Genetic Engineering of Animals: Ethical Issues, including Welfare Concerns." The Canadian Veterinary Journal. Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, May 2011. Web. 11 May 2015.

Pictures, Universal. "Jurassic World - Official Global Trailer (HD)." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "5 Bioart Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. UC Online, 8 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "5 Bioart Pt2 1280x720." YouTube. UC Online, 17 May 2012. Web. 08 May 2015.

Week 5 Midterm | uConcert

Week 5 Midterm | uConcert

Click to view Project Proposal: uConcert

Week 4 Blog Assignment | MedTech + Art

Week 4 Blog Assignment | MedTech + Art

Symbol of the Hippocratic Oath

This week's material prompted me to analyze the concept of bodily pain, specifically in regards to the "untreatable" symptoms of the human condition such as chronic pain. On some level, MedTech exists to treat human pain and, with this in mind, I questioned: Why do some value the best process as treating the pain while others find the answer in escaping the pain? 

In examining Hippocrates' Oath of Medicine [Tyson], we note that the Oath represents how medicine is meant to align "for the benefit of the sick". I find the oath significant in that it asks us to recall that the reason medical technologies are invented, the root of the field's progress, is the tangible goal of alleviating ailments and improving the physical human condition, which is different than previous fields such as Math/Robotics that don't directly overlap with human physicality. 

The Curative Powers of Raw, Wet Beauty

I noticed that two different approaches have emerged to combat the reality of physical human pain in medical technology: one approach to examine the body from the inside and one from the outside. 

To expand, we can evaluate the Ted Talk on "Raw, Wet Beauty" [Gromola], where Gromala explores MedTech x Art projects like the Interactive Meatbook; explaining that it represents how our dependence on language and books has ripped us from the primordial connection to our inner senses. In her project, Gromala finds us looking outside of ourselves for understanding (represented by the book) only to be reminded that understanding can be found within ourselves (the organs/meat/senses that we are composed of composes the book). She practices this process through her treatments in VR and Meditation, which take pain and treat them through sensations [NCE]. The curative purpose of medical technology therefore becomes tied to our inner states and the sensations that relieve the pain in different capacities, even if there is no quick cure.

A Transhumanist Concept: Cybernetics

Even if there were a quick cure for chronic illnesses, the procedures would still not be able to curb a body decayed by age or death itself - other physical hindrances of the human body. This is where fields like Transhumanism burgeon: not to look inside the body for answers as Gromala, but outside of the body entirely. Transhumanists advocate the improvement of human capacities through advanced technology; technology "we don’t notice because it’s blended in with the fabric of the world" [WTA].

One manifestation of a transhumanist future can roughly be described as a future where we will live forever as digitally encrypted entities inside mechanical bodies [Willis]. Originally unfamiliar with transhumanism until this past week, I interpreted theories like this in the field as an escape from bodily limitations rather than a treatment of them- perhaps under the assumption that our bodies cannot be treated and useful forever due to aging and illness. As humanity continues to push into the future, we will continue to discover if the best practice is to really use the internal "raw, wet" components of our beings to resolve our pains, or if we really will need to be come more dependent on technological components modifying our bodies in order to thrive. 

Citations

Bostrom, Nick. "What Is Transhumanism?" Transhumanism.Org. World Transhumanist Association, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Gromola, Diane. "TED X AmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty." YouTube. YouTube, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Hippocratic Symbol. Digital image. Snippits and Snappits. Blogspot, 15 Mar. 2015. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

NCE, Grand. "Confronting Pain Project Basis for New Chronic Pain Research Institute at Simon Fraser University | GRAND NCE." Grand NCE. Grand NCE, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Shutterstock. Transhuman Upgrade. Digital image. Wired UK. Conde Nast Digital, 03 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Willis, Paul. "A Transhuman Future? - Royal Institution of Australia." Royal Institution of Australia. RiAus - Australia’s Science Channel, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Week 3 Blog Assignment | Robotics + Art

Week 3 Blog Assignment | Robotics + Art

Ford Assembly Line

The ideas behind this week's material prompted me to analyze the process of industrialization, specifically mass-manufacturing, in relation to the intersection of art and technology, beginning with Henry Ford's presentation of the Assembly Line [Vesna]. As we read, this wave of innovation increased productivity in manufacturing and pushed the foray into replicable goods that started with Gutenberg's Printing Press back in the mid-15h century [Norman]. 

This burgeoning concept of manufacturing and robotics-based production (defined by efficiency and mass quantity) caused me to raise and analyze the following questions: how does the value of art change once it can be reproduced and mass-manufactured? What is lost or gained when something becomes replicable?

Benjamin tackled this concept by sharing one idea that reproduced art lacks the time and space in which it was meant to be displayed or experienced [Benjamin]. I applied this concept akin to seeing the Statue of Liberty replica at the New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas. The piece looks similar to the original statue, albeit smaller, but loses the same patriotic-instilling sense of national pride and reflection when not admired off Ellis Island; large and on display as intended where originally presented. 

I would also argue that a sense of exclusivity is lost in the industrialization process, as with Ford automobiles, which used to be symbol of wealth and elitism until they became available to the public. On the other hand, mass-reproduction of art does spread ideas or influences of art more quickly than otherwise possible, as Benjamin alludes to with art mediums such as film.

One film that tackles this idea of robotic-production is the 2001 film AI: Artificial Intelligence, which centers around a world where robots are manufactured and can be bought by humans. After couple's boy is hospitalized, the two cope by purchasing an android-child to be their new surrogate-son. The film questions what is missing from this replicated "boy" that can be reconstructed to look and feel like a real human. When the family regains their biological son back, they abandon the android child in a forest. I interpret the film to suggest that not all things can be replicated: that emotions and the essence of life (a soul?) loses value when not original, and translate this to art in general and what it is supposed to make us feel as an original piece or concept versus a replica. 

Etsy Craft Materials

In a recent article on craft-website Etsy's new IPO, society has taken a similar stand to question the coexisting nature of capitalist-driven manufacturing and the individuality and uniqueness of craft arts, which seem at war with one another. [Gittleson] While some would argue that mass-manufactured products devalue labor and lead to cheap surroundings, others believe it provides convenience: both sides attempting to address what value is gained and lost when technology helps us produce so efficiently. 

Citations

"A.I. Artificial Intelligence." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence - Official® Trailer [HD]. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law. AI: Artificial Intelligence. Youtube, 21 May 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Etsy Craft Materials. Digital image. BBC News. BBC, 16 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Gittleson, Kim. "Etsy: Can Craft and Capitalism Coexist?" BBC News. BBC, 16 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Norman, Jeremy. "Relating the Rapidly Changing Present to the Distant Past as Far as Book History Is Concerned." Relating the Rapidly Changing Present to the Distant Past as Far as Book History Is Concerned. Jeremy Norman & Co., Inc., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Unknown. Henry Ford Assembly Line. Digital image. Bloomberg. Bloomberg Media, 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Robotics Pt2." YouTube. UC Online, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.