Event Credit Event 2: "Singular Spaces" at Fowler Museum

I went to one of the exhibitions “Singular Spaces” at Fowler Museum in UCLA. In Singular Spaces, there are 47 photographs which express “extraordinary” of Spanish Art.

The author Jo Farb Hernández is a professor of art history, and director of exhibitions and special project at San Jose State University. This exhibition introduces her extensive study about Spanish Art Environment that she attempted to have interviews with many artists from 2000 to 2014.

These eccentric buildings were by German Artist Peter Buch. He made me startled much. At first, I could not understand what it is and how message it contains. However, I am able to memorize them well because these are very colorful, humor and flash.  

La Pobla de Benifassa, Castello, Spain Head with a Dream, April 17, 2008.

La Pobla de Benifassa, Castello, Spain Front Façade, Dragon House, April 17, 2008

It was the trick walkway within the labyrinth by Josep Pujiula I Vila

Personally, this photo was very fascinating over me since it elegant and complex outsider art. At that time, I felt that it seems to be like a fantasy space. In the outside, it will be able to a special space if there is such wooden tower in own home garden. It is clear that architecture must have the ability to better not only society but also own life.

It comes to the end of my blog and the class. In this class, I learned many new aspects about “two cultures”, and then it allows me to understand that from ancient times, we have been living with creativity, particularly the relation between art and science. I had a wonderful time with classmates, professor Vesna and Mat. I am proud of studying with you guys. Thank you!

Work Cited

"President's Scholar: Jo Farb Hernandez. " SJSU Today. 26 Fab. 2014. Web. 11 June. 2015. http://blogs.sjsu.edu/today/2014/2013-2014-presidents-scholar-jo-farb-hernandez/

"SINGULAR SPACES." The Fowler Museum. Web. 11 June. 2015.

Extra Credit Event 1: Getty Museum

On May 27th, I visited Getty Museum. After getting off the shuttle from parking lot, huge artistic buildings and stone pavement welcomed me. The atmosphere in Getty museum is completely different from other places in Westwood. They had several kinds of exhibitions in each building.

"Long-Case Musical Clock", which was made by German Cabinetmaker David Roentgen, is decorated by the gilt-bronze. 

Chronos (Father Time) contributes the clock dial. The garland over the dial indicates the passage of the year. It was able to inform "flowers for spring", "wheat for summer", "graps for autums" and "holly leaves for winter". The roundel shows us the face of day and night. 

He also created "Rolltop Desk". Behind the rolltop, there are numerous drawers spring when being released by concealed buttons and levers.

This Desk holds a reading stand with compartments that include an inkwell and sand pot.

The design at the top of desk is excellent crafts. Even though this was made in about 1785, its function and design seems to be superior to the modern desk.

I am impressed how much his furniture is very polished and beautiful. While seeing it, I felt that my studies will be going well if I have such a great desk. Besides, this reminded me of the connection with mathematics (architecture). David must closely create this desk while analyzing and calculating “the best desk”.

 This is “The Bucintoro Departing from the Bacino di San Marco” by Italian painter Luca Carlevarijs. This shows the Venetian ship of state, the Bucintoro, and a ceremonial wedding ring will be tossed into the water by the doge of Venice. This paint made me inspired a lot because it is very dynamic and powerful by long view painting.

 I stayed in Getty Museum for an hour, but it was not enough time to see all exhibitions. There were many fabulous arts, and I rapidly fell in love with them! 

Work Cited

1.“David Roentgen.” Wikipedia. Web. 12 June. 2015.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Roentgen

2. “Luca Carlevarijs.” Wikipedia. Web. 12 June. 2015.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Carlevarijs

Event 3: The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989

The Fowler Museum at UCLA held the exhibition of “The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989.” The artworks made me understand that the product of artistic can fulfill our daily life, and it is very important relationships between science and art (two cultures) for the growth of our civilization.

It is “Canoe (tatara).” In the island of Botel Tobago, which is located in forty-five miles off the coast of Taiwan, Yami people improved own life by fishing in open-ocean canoes in early 20^th century. On the side of this canoe, I can see the painting of “human-like form” which was the symbol of the Yami ancestral culture hero.

For making the canoe, people have to plan and calculate the valance for the safety and efficiency. It reminded me of the concept about “math and art”. Without math (calculating), the culture of Yami people would not exist.

Secondly, this exhibition introduced “ancient head rests or pillows”. Since there were many ancient people who think that the head is linked with “spiritual power and the essence of human being”, the pillows was used to protect the neck or head in various countries from ancient times. This was very interesting because human being has been becoming an animal that unconsciously search for the comfortable pose from ancient times. The pillows must be the tool in order to maintain own health. I thought that this was very connected with science (dynamics) because the pillows could be made by dynamics like which angle is good for the head or neck.

This was “Wayang Golek: Indonesian Rod Puppets.” In the performance, the puppets contain various characters such as Kings, Knights, gods, clowns, princesses, noblemen and many others. I was impressed that the puppets wore lovely accessories. At that time, human being has been being fascinated by the robotics (puppets) from ancient times. It makes me think that we have to keep living with the robots, and we have to develop not only robotics but also “ourselves”.

Work Cited

1. “The Sahmat Collectve: Art and Activism in India since 1989." Fowler Museum at UCLA. Web. 26 May. 2015.

http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/exhibitions/sahmat-collective-art-and-activism-india-1989

2. “Pillow.” Wikipedia. Web. 26 May. 2015.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillow

3. Hansel, Bryan. “How to Calculate Canoe Seat Positions.” Padding Light. Web. 26 May. 2015.

http://www.paddlinglight.com/articles/how-to-calculate-canoe-seat-position/

4. “Why Do I Need a New Pillow?” Sleep to Live. Web. 26 May. 2015.

http://digistrat.sleeptolive.com/srs/SleepToLive/pillows.html

5. “Canoe.” Wikipedia. Web. 26 May. 2015.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoe

Week 9: Space and Art

As Vesna mentioned, the topic of “Space” is including all contents in the class, and it makes my consciousness stimulated very much.

Annick Bureaud points out, “It is artists and their work that reveal to me the essence of space for human beings in the twentieth century, as well as my place in the cosmos. (Leonardo Space Art Project)” This reminds me of thinking that the universe is similar with the brain cell.

Above the photo, the left is a part of the brain cells whereas it is the center of the galaxy in the right. Dmitri Krioukov at the University of California San Diego stated that “while such systems appear very different, they have evolved in very similar ways. (Physicists Find Evidence That The Universe Is A Giant Brain)” Also, both the universe and the brain cell are being “mysterious” because there are many things we do not know in these fields. We cannot expect the functions completely. The mystery must be fascinating many people.

Additionally, I have interests about the relations between the space and the medicine.

The purpose of “the space medicine” is to provide the comfortable place to astronauts, and to overcome the physiological effects in space. Under the microgravity environment, the function of human body is rapidly changed. There are astronauts who have heart rhythm disturbances or cardiovascular disease.

Particularly, Chiaki Mukai, who is a Japanese doctor and JAXA astronaut, explains that it is very significant to pay attention to a bone and muscle in the space. The more people stay in the space, the more a muscle and bone become weaken. This is because they cannot adapt to new environment. To overcome the problem, people need to research more. When getting the solution for poor muscle or bone, it can lead to the remedy or prevention about osteoporosis.  

Arthur Woods says, “The future of space activities, the future of humanity and perhaps even the future all life on Earth is in need of skilled communicators possessing the knowledge and understanding of the scientist combined with the intuition and sensitivity of the artist.” (Leonardo Space Art Project) I strongly feel that challenging the space must be to create the future society.

Throughout all classes, I understand that our daily life is inevitable for the connection with two cultures, and not only science but also human have to develop for better life. I feel thankful to give me opportunities to learn two cultures! 

1.      “M81 Galaxy is Pretty in Pink.” NASA. 04 Jun. 2007 Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer-20070604.html>

2.      "Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers." Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers. Web. 30 May. 2015.

3.      “Physicists Find Evidence That The Universe Is A Giant Brain.” The Mind Unleashed Uncover Your True Potential. 19 July. 2013. Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://themindunleashed.org/2013/07/physicists-find-evidence-that-universe.html>

4.      “Space Station.” JAXA. Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://iss.jaxa.jp/med/index_e.html>

5.      Chiaki Mukai. “Kibo Promises Development in Space Medicine.” JAXA. Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://global.jaxa.jp/article/interview/vol47/index_e.html>

6.      “Space Medicine.” Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_medicine>

7.      “Chiaki Mukai.” Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaki_Mukai>

Event 2: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan Sundaram

In May 8^th, I visited Fowler museum at UCLA. Even though I often went to the location closed to UCLA museum, I did not entered there. I was amazed there were many attractive works of the art than what I imaged.

It was the concept of “Making Strange: Gagawaka and Postmortem”. This is related with the bodies of sculpture and assemblage projects by the Indian artist Vivia Sundaram. There were twenty-seven unique sculptural garments which were made by recycled supplies and medical materials such as bandaging, plastic pill packs, and X-rays.

At first, I saw “Diva R-E-D” which was made by many bright red brassieres and combine with fabrics and laces. It was a very fantastic idea because the padded bra cups was used as the “dress fashioned”. As long as I see it closely, it is difficult to recognize “brassieres”.

I preferred this product which was made by “sponges”. The color gradations red, orange, pink, light green and blue would be attractive to many women. The dress did not look like “sponges” as much as I would like to try it on as the fashion. I was amazed that Sundaram expressed the combination between “fashion” and “industry (recycled materials)”.

Personally, these three recalled me of the topic of “medicine and art”. The first one was called "Scake-shell (2011)", which is made with X-ray film. It was translucent and shiny black. Sundaram attempted to twist, roll and cut this X-ray film to express an "elegant" dress.

The second one is called "Poisoned Robe (2011)" that is nonwoven, micro-dot fabric surgical cap and foams.

It was difficult for me to expect the concept of “Poisoned Robe (2011)”, but my eyes were glued on this artwork because Sundaram’s creativity surpassed my imagination. 

At last, it is "Pill-fill (2011)" which was made by pills, capsules, glass-nylon and zipper. The inside of the shape like human was filled with lots of "pills". When seeing this artwork, I felt that "human cannot live without pills". From ancient period, human has been seeking for longevity or eternal life.

Sundaram gave me the message that human lives in "two cultures" as Vesna's lecture. His artworks showed the combination between the science (the industrial materials and medical supplies) and the art (fashion) very well. I got the chance to consider how human has possibilities and the fragilities of the body. I recommend this free exhibition! You can obtain many imaginations from Sundaram's artworks!

Work Cited

1.      Sandaram, Vivan. "Making Strange." Fowler Museum at UCLA. Web. 25 May. 2015.

http://fowler.ucla.edu/press/press-release-making-strange-gagawaka-postmortem-vivan-sundaram

2.      "Vivan Sundaram." ArtForum. 20 Dec. 2011. Web. 25 May. 2015.

 http://artforum.com/words/id=29889

Week 8: Nanotechnology and Art

Do you know what kinds of product are made by nanotechnology? In this week’s lecture, we cover the collaboration between nano-science and art.

Vesna and the guest speaker Gimzewski state that Nanotechnology is highlighted as science of the twenty-first century, and it influences to various fields such as energy food, agriculture and electronics in our society.

Personally, I am familiar with nanotechnology in the beauty. My friends in Japan, who are interested in the beauty, pay more attention to nanotechnology, particularly “Nano Care Facial Steamer. (above the photo)”

They tell me that the Nano steamer can let their skin and hair moisturized by the mist of the Nano steamer while sleeping at night. This is because the mist in the Nano steamer would penetrate their skin and hair effectively, so my friends often recommend me using this product for the skincare. Of course, there exist many other cosmetics which are made by Nano-technology. However, it is hard to define whether Nano-technology is dangerous for our health or not. This reminds me of “GMO”. The scientists need to research and test both Nanotechnology and GMO more in order to prove the safety. At that time, we require to search and learn them by ourselves, not trusting the company’s advertisement.

The movie shows 10 benefits about Nanotechnology. Especially, I am impressed with No.2 product because this makes me understand the potentiality for Nano-technology to apply for the rescue of the life. In the assignment reading, Jim Gimzewski and Victoria Vesna pointed out, “Nanotechnology works at a scale where biotech, chemistry, physics, electrical and mechanical engineering converge, and thus has real potential to impact every aspect of our lives. (6)” As the quote, the impact of Nanotechnology must be immeasurable to our life. So, human has to research the concept or fundamental of Nanotechnology more and more, and manage it to avoid the danger. I believe that human creativity or imagination can overcome the difficulties because it is “infinite” as Nano-technology!

1. Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of fact & fiction in the construction of a new science.” 26 Jan. 2004. Web. 24 May. 2015.

2. Berger, Michael. “Governing the risk of nanotechnology in food and cosmetics.” Nanowerk. 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 24 May. 2015.

http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=8960.php

3. “Panasonic Nano Care Night Beauty Face Streamer.” Japan Trend Shop. Web. 24 May. 2015.  

http://www.japantrendshop.com/ES-panasonic-nano-care-night-beauty-face-steamer-p-1074.html

4. Alltime10s. “10 Awesome Facts About Nanotechnology.” Youtube. 25 March. 2014. Web. 24 May. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7BjkXF2bxU

5. UConlineprogram. “Nanotech Jim pt6.” Youtube. 21 May. 2012. Web. 24 May. 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&t=89&v=oKlViSKkPd0

6. Falaschetti, Christine. “Nanotechnology and the Science of the Beauty.” HELIX Connecting Science to You. 19 Sep. 2012. Web. 24 May. 2015.

https://helix.northwestern.edu/article/nanotechnology-and-science-beauty

7. “Nanotechnology.” Etc group. Web. 24 May. 2015.

http://www.etcgroup.org/issues/nanotechnology

Week 7 Neuroscience + Arts

In Week 7, the topic is about the relationships between Neuroscience and Art. Briefly, neuroscience is the field to explore the structure and function of the brain or nervous system.

As the professor Vesna pointed out in the lecture video, two psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are regarded as the founders for neuroscience. Firstly, Jung studied under Freud, and respected his theory. Later, he separated with Freud because he could not accept Freud’s concept of unconsciousness in the dreams, however both psychologists’ concepts contributed to the growth of neuroscience.  

Compared Freud’s with Jung’s concept, I have same thoughts as what Jung stated. While Freud’s concept was based on “sexuality” individually, Jung’s idea was related with “collective unconscious” (especially, “mythical aspect”). In my experience, when I have a dream about snakes, I often imagine “Ouroboros”, which means the "eternal return" from ancient times (Egypt and India). I feel that the dream can provide a good message in my daily life. This would be a part of “collective unconscious”.

In the article of Giovanni Frazzetto and Suzanne Anker “Neuroculture”, it explains that the neuroscience can be the fundamental to explore the creation of other resources in our lives. They believe that “Hence neuro-cultural products become metaphors to describe and interpret neuroscience knowledge embedded in social values and competing cross-cultural norms within divergent societies. (1)”

This is very interesting to me because the divergent societies can be produced by the connections between neuroscience knowledge and cross-cultural norms. As my experience, many people would have norms unconsciously. The unconsciousness can spiritually lead to our “creativity”, and then our society can be developing by amazing images that neuroscience are together with art.

Work Cited

1. Linne, Marja-Leena. “Computational Neuroscience Research Group.” The Computational Neuroscience Research Group. 16 Dec. 2015. Web. 17 May. 2015. http://www.cs.tut.fi/sgn/cns/

2. “Childhood Dreaming: Jung and Easily Freudened?.” The Soft Anonymous. 14 Jul. 2011. Web. 17 May. 2015.

http://thesoftanonymous.com/2011/07/14/childhood-dreaming-jung-and-easily-freudened/

3. “Ouroboros.” Wikipedia. Web. 17 May. 2015.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros

4. “TheCreative Brain: ‘the imagination network’.” Connecting The Growingbrain.com. 2 May. 2014. Web. 17 May. 2015.

http://www.connectingthegrowingbrain.com/blog/2014/05/02/the-creative-brain-the-imagination-network/

5. Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. "Neuroculture." Science and Society 10 (2009): 815-821. Print.

6. “Collective Unconscious.” Wikipedia. Web. 17 May. 2015.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

7. UConlineprogram. “Neuroscience-pt2.mov.” Youtube. Youtube. 17 May. 2012. Web. 17 May. 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFv4owX3MZo