Skip to main content

Scott Huh DESMA9 Event 1: Symposium

On Friday, April 21st, I attended the “Eco-Centric Art + Science: Prophesies and Predictions” symposium. Out of the multitude of speakers at the symposium, the one I found most intriguing was Charles Taylor. His presentation was about the interactive installation, Bird Song Diamond. The purpose of this presentation was to help us experience the world from a bird’s perspective, which in turn, allows us to fit in better and understand the larger part of our environment. When you look into a diamond, you see many different reflections. Charles Taylor’s intentions with using the diamond was that each reflection reflects different disciplines interacting together through shared interests. These disciplines include artificial intelligence, technology, art, and engineering.

The part of the presentation that interested me the most was how computer scientists and electrical engineers work with artists to create figures that combine data collected in the environment. More specifically, these engineers were able to link the birds’ different phrases with the intentions of their songs. This reinforces Vesna’s lecture about how art and science juxtapose through the continuing advancement in technology. The intention of Taylor’s research was to have people experience the world as a bird and to understand the birds’ perspective in a more comprehensive way. Through this, more people will have a better understanding of the degenerating environment, which does not come from research papers and textbooks.

Throughout this course, the lecture that caught my eye was the one about the gap between science and art being bridged by new technology. With computers and the programs that modern technology offers, scientists are able to utilize these programs to collaborate with artists. Just like the diamond that Taylor talks about, through shared interests, these diverging disciplines are able to become one. I am glad that I chose to attend this symposium because I found the topic that has completely changed my perspective about art, and I will be designing my midterm around it.


So, my fellow classmates, if you want to broaden your perspective and further reinforce your knowledge about art and science together, I highly recommend you attend this symposium.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 3 Robotics + Art

The idea of the robot, according to Vesna, came out of theater as a response to mechanization of labor. In the past, assembly lines were solely manual labor done by humans. Before machines were created, humans were treated as if they were part of the machine. The idea of separating actions into pieces by having each worker do a single part of the production came from Gutenberg’s printing press. This was also reflected in Ford’s assembly line. The advancement of technology and computers was the starting point for replacing humans with machines in assembly lines. Chaplin and Lang’s criticism of the mechanization of workers relayed the fact that workers were being superimposed and replaced by machines. The mechanization of workers reminded me of the movie RoboCop. This movie takes place in the future in old Detroit where crime-rates are at an all time high. The senior president of Omni Consumer Products (OCP), Dick Jones, signs a contract with the mayor of Detroit pr...

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 6: Biotechnology and Art

Being raised by religious parents, I was somewhat familiar with the ongoing controversy in the field of biotechnology and nanotechnology. One of the reasons for this controversy, as Vesna states, is because “artists are actually meddling with the genetic structures of natural systems.” Up until this week’s lecture, I was indifferent about the ethical dilemma involved in this topic. In my opinion, there is a major different between artists and scientists experimenting with the general structures of living organisms. Scientists in this field have experimented with things such as transgenic rats using glowing jellyfish genes. Osamu Shimomura was the first person to inject these genes into mice for research purposes. These mice served as animal models “for studying biological processes and diseases that luminescent jellyfish genes can be used to tag certain genes or proteins.” According to High, genetically manipulated animals are promising tools. This type of genetic modification...

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 9: Space + Art

Space elevator diagram Humans have always had the innate urges to attain new knowledge and explore new worlds. Due to this, human interest in unveiling the mysteries of space has been prevalent and everlasting. From telescopes to space shuttles, we have continued to challenge our scientific limits, thriving to discover more about the world we live in today. As a civil engineer, I found the concept of space infrastructures, such as a space elevator, to be extremely interesting. Like the beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk , the space elevator is a static structure that is literally out of this world, reaching a geostationary orbit at a height of thirty-six thousand kilometers. There are countless design considerations that go into this structure. The lower end of the elevator would be subjected to stronger gravitational force, counterbalanced by the centrifugal force at the upper end. As a result, the elevator would be put under massive tensile force, so the material would have...