Extra Event No.2: Fowler Museum

The last event I attended this quarter, in the final week! Because of the busy schedule this week, I chose the last event as the closest place. I have been to our museum before, but it was long time ago. Comparing to my previous visits, this time, I had a specific theme to look for: the interaction of art and science. The name of current exhibition is Fowler at Fifty, celebrating the fiftieth birth day of Fowler. Wow!

The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth: Ancient Threads/New Directions
The first exhibition I want to introduce is the Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth. The estimated time period is 500-100 B.C.E., but the technique, color and design are of high standard. The design of the cloth, exhibiting the graphic combination of rectangle and circle, geometric arrangement of symmetry, the output of the left is actually pretty "modern" comparing to its era. Moreover, since the civilization of Peruvian was far from that of ours, the similarity on design proved that it was human nature of aesthete towards math and graph. The interaction of science and art is innate!  

New World Wunderkammer: A Project by Amalia Mesa-Bains

Another exhibition next to the Peruvian is the New World Wunderkammer.The table in the middle of the showroom raised my interest. It looks like a record of scientific experiment of plant cultivation. The record showed the structure of the tree, the growth and the color it revealed. I think it is a botanic study  in Wunderkammer during New World era. In all, this theater of wonder will animate the cultural landscape and human geography of the New World through objects of beauty.

I would recommend my friends to take a look at the exhibition, since it was the fiftieth anniversary, the path Fowler has been through was plotted on the wall, which gave us a general idea of the background of it. 

Picture with Jason

Work Cited

"Amalia Mesa-Bains." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalia_Mesa-Bains>.
"New World Wunderkammer: A Project by Amalia Mesa-Bains | Fowler Museum at UCLA." New World Wunderkammer: A Project by Amalia Mesa-Bains | Fowler Museum at UCLA. Fowler, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/exhibitions/fowler-at-fifty-new-world-wunderkammer>.
"The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth: Ancient Threads/New Directions | Fowler Museum at UCLA." The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth: Ancient Threads/New Directions | Fowler Museum at UCLA. Fowler, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/exhibitions/fowler-at-fifty-peruvian-four-selvaged-cloth>.
"Peruvian People." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 May 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_people>.

Extra Event No.1: Hammer Museum

Two weeks ago, my friend and I went to Hammer museum together as the fourth event for our DESMA class. Hammer museum is located in Westwood, 15 minutes by foot from our school. Despite the close distance and the fair interest I had in visiting museums, it is a fact that I have never been to Hammer before! Maybe I thought it is too close and too easy, but for whatever reason, I'm here!

walls at entrance

The wall at the gate is surprising, setting the tone of modernity and animated atmosphere throughout the museum. By arranging simple graphs and lines and assigning various colors, a beautiful picture is created. The application of symmetry and parallel lines are obvious on this three walls, the beauty of math and art is fully appreciated in this artwork.

Flash Talk by Erik Vilain

We attended Flash Talk given by Dr. Erik Vilain on Forrest Bess. Since we were not allowed to take the picture inside, this is the only picture I can post here. The professor of Human Genetics and Director of the Institute for Society and Genetics at UCLA gave a seminar about intersexuality and the genetics of gender identity. Some stories he gave about his conversation with his patients really opened my vision in this mystery field. Although hard to empathy their real feelings, but replace my position with them also evoke the pain as a minority in the society.

Mark Leckey, On Pleasure Bent

 Later we went to the showroom of Mark Leckey On Pleasure Bent, since we were not allowed to take pictures again...TvT...I can only find some artworks by Mr. Leckey online. From his exhibition, we saw how technology shapes desire. In a dark room with multimedia including pictures, videos, sculptures. The picture below I found online is one of the exhibition I saw in the showroom, named transfiguration. The inconsistency of cloth and old man with an awkward position represented the problem we met when technology met with our culture.

Transfiguration (working title), 2013. Mixed media. 51 3/16 x 39 3/8 in. (130 x 100 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown's enterprise. © Mark Leckey

I would recommend all UCLA students (not only our class!) to take a look at Hammer museum, although not as famous as those large one like Getty or LACMA, there are still some exciting artworks to be appreciated.

Work Cited

Frank, Priscilla. "Mark Leckey's 'On Pleasure Bent' Explores How Technology Shapes Desire (PHOTOS)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/mark-leckey_n_3750245.html>.
Leckey, Mark. "Mark Leckey: On Pleasure Bent - Exhibitions - Hammer Museum." Mark Leckey: On Pleasure Bent - Exhibitions - Hammer Museum. Hammer, 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/detail/exhibition_id/240>.
"The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics." The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics Eric Vilain Director Comments. UCLA, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://socgen.ucla.edu/people/eric-vilain/>.
"Mark Leckey." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 July 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Leckey>.

Event Blog No.3: Diary of Smells: Shards - A Smell Laboratory

screen showing abstract pictures

Table with different smell bottle

On Nov. 7th, I attended an exhibition in CNSI Art|Sci Gallery about smells held by Josely Carvalho. It was a relatively small exhibition comparing to the previous two I have attended. However, the size of the room and my early arrival gave me an intimate interaction with artworks and artists! She is a Brazilian artist living in New York City and Rio de Janeiro. She focused on multi-media art that brings different sensory to the audiences, which I, honestly speaking, have no idea before. The first impression is thrilling! My friend Heming and I were the first audiences of the exhibition, and the welcome music of the room is a loud, terrifying sound of broken glass and later a gunshot. The room is so small that in turn amplified the volume. Without the presence of Ms Josely at first, we even doubt if we came to the right place.

With Josely Carvalho

Under the guidance of staff and professor Vesna, we found the artist, a kind, old woman. She was patient to explain her work to us and everyone who came later. Although with strong accent, her explanation was detailed and inspiring.

Every bottle contained a special smell with a different story. With almost ten different elements mixing in the water, the output was very strong. 

There were two smells left strong impression on my mind. One was #7734D7 She Bled, it was collected from a broken wine glass with bloody mud. Accompanying with the sound and smell, a vision came up to my mind spontaneously: an accident happened at dinner party that sharp glass lacerated your finger, with impulse of the unbearable pain, you dropped the glass on the muddy ground.

The other was #3925D8 Affection, the smell that invoked my hunger at that moment! The mixture of Vanilla and Ethyl Malthol produced a long lasting sweet smell.

I would definitely recommend this event and it might be the best one for me so far, since the conversation with true artists really helped me understand their artworks.

She Bled

This is the event with best interaction with artists in all five events and I really recommend if my friend would have a chance to explore the magic of smell!

Work Cited

"Creative Capital." Creative Capital. Creative Capital.com, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. <http://creative-capital.org/grantees/view/268/project:226>.
"Diary of Smell: Shards." Josely Carvalho. Joselycarvalho.net, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. <http://www.joselycarvalho.net/work_installations.htm>.
"Diary of Smells: Shards | UCLA Art | Sci Center Lab." Diary of Smells: Shards. UCLA Art | Sci Center Lab, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. <http://artsci.ucla.edu/?q=events/diary-smells-shards>.
"Josely Carvalho." Josely Carvalho. Joselycarvalho.net, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. <http://www.joselycarvalho.net/bio.htm>.
"Josely Carvalho (Brazilian) ." Josely Carvalho Biography and Links – Josely Carvalho on Artnet. Artnet.com, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. <http://www.artnet.com/artists/josely-carvalho/biography-links>.

Event Blog No. 2: Trip of Glow!

It was the first event I attended this quarter on Sept. 28th--Glow on Santa Monica beach! This was an art festival in every three years, performed by 15 artist this year. It was estimated that more than 150,000 crowds during the exhibition. As described on its website, "An all-night cultural experience featuring original commissions by artists that re-imagine Santa Monica Beach as a playground for thoughtful and participatory artworks." We started our trip early in order to avoid the traffic. However, it was actually too early, and we are waiting for artists setting their works up. 

Picture with Karen Atkinson

Karen Atkinson is the professor at CalArt. Her work is a large screen coated with phosphorescent paint that holds the shape of projected images, like an echo repeats a sound. 

Chamber of Mystery and Ring of Fire by Mathieu Briand

With Mathieu Briand (left three)

Sculpture in the Chamber of Mystery

Starting at 6:43 pm, the time sun descended below the sea, chamber of mystery made by Mathieu Briand opened to the public. We went into the chamber and saw the sculpture and the echo made by the special sound inside. Above the chamber is the ring of fire, it represents the power of the sun after sunset. We talked to Mr. Briand, who is a french artist, he regards the ring of fire as sun, the whole work display the worship to sun and our earth's primal essence. 

With professor Victoria Vesna

Me wearing octopus dressing!

Eventually, we found our professor! She was taking the ride of the Pacific Wheel wearing the glowing octopus, the whole wheel would become the ultimate revolving mandala. The name was the Octopus Mandala Glow(OMG). The wheel represents the industrial age and the octopus shows human's wish to control it instead of being controlled. It was also a symbol that people taking back the joy of simple like and celebrating the end to the industrial age.

It was a really exciting experience to see our professor for the first time this quarter! The creativity revealed in these exhibitions improved our expectations of the topic in the coming quarter!

Work Cited

"Glow Santa Monica." Glow. Glow.org, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://glowsantamonica.org/>.

"Mathieu Briand." Glow Mathieu Briand Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://glowsantamonica.org/mathieu-briand/>.

"Octopus." Octopus Mandala Glow. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://octopusmandala.org/join-occupy/>.

Painter, Alysia G. "Art on the Beach: Glow Santa Monica." NBC Southern California. NBCUniversal Media, 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nbclosangeles.com/entertainment/the-scene/Art-on-the-Beach-Glow-Santa-Monica-225112972.html>.

Senn, Evan. "Illuminating Santa Monica: GLOW 2013." KCET. KCETLink, 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/los-angeles/glow-2013-santa-monica.html>.

Week 9 Assignment: Space&Art

The last week of the class! And finally, we came to the space chapter, which I have been waiting for the whole quarter! Space is always full of fascination to me. For me, the brilliant star sky and vast dark world above have long been attracting my attention since I was very young and little. For a very long time, it was proud and joyful when people ask me what I want to do when I grow up; and I would say, "An astronomer!" As a matter of fact, the space has not only attracted my attention but also the ancients intellectuals. In Han dynasty China, astronomer Zhang Heng(AD 78-139) has written The Spiritual Constitution of the Universe, which discussed the birth of the universe, the star map and the explanation of sun and moon eclipses. During Renaissance period, Nicolaus Copernicus(1473-1543) proposed that the sun is the center of the universe, which was really a revolutionary idea at that time. Accompanied by the development of the technology, human is able to use tools like telescope and later the space shuttles to explore the outer space. 

Chinese ancient star map

Besides, the rapid development of aerospace was largely due to the thrilling Cold War between two super powers after the World War Two--USSR and USA. Although guided by political confrontation, the propellant impact on scientific field is unquestionable. Human beings are able to send people into the outer space and then come back home safely! The space travel that has long been a topic for science fiction finally comes true. 

Neil Armstrong moon landing in 1969

Moreover, I think apart from the political competition, the imagination of artists and writers is a crucial factor of astronomy. Movies like Star Trek, Star War in the early time, and Gravity recently showed up all reveal the great interest and high expectation people have about the space and our future in it. Artists and writers are eagerly producing great artworks that could go beyond human understandings and power.  The recent movie Gravity also exhibited the highest level of photography and editing of our film makers. It simplified the story line and actors interaction but executed the visual effects in an extraordinary level. 

Trailer of Gravity

Work Cited

Dunbar, Brian. "Neil Armstrong Biography." NASA. NASA, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/neilabio.html>.

"Gravity." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/>.

Redd, Nola T. "Nicolaus Copernicus Biography: Facts & Discoveries." Space.com. TechMedia Network, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. <http://www.space.com/15684-nicolaus-copernicus.html>.

"Star Trek." StarTrek.com. CBS Studios Inc., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.startrek.com/>.

"Zhang Heng." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng#Astronomy_and_mathematics>.