The next Leonardo Art, Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) event, to feature three presentations fusing art with science, will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 10 in Room 107 of the Art Annex, UC Davis campus.

Free and open to the public, it will include presentations by Manuelita Antonio Rangel-Sosa (aka MARS) of San Francisco, architect, designer and artist; Megan Dennis, UC Davis biochemist, and Matthias Hess, UC Davis microbiologist.

The LASER presentations are an outgrowth of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, co-founded and co-directed by UC Davis professor of entomology Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, self-described rock artist based in Davis. The new co-directors of the UC Davis LASER programs are Timothy Hyde, assistant professor, Department of Art and Art History, and Jiayi Young, assistant professor, Department of Design.

“Tim Hyde and I envision LASER taking on a modality beyond just presentations,” Young said. “Adding a conversation component designed to engage the public in conversations with artists, designers, scientists and technologists, we will provide opportunities for unexpected juxtapositions that occur at the intersection of seemingly unrelated research and projects.” 

The first event will feature:

“Machines for Absurd Living” by Manuelita Antonio Rangel-Sosa (MARS), a Venezuelan-American architect, designer and artist. Rangel-Sosa is co-founder of the interdisciplinary San Francisco design studio SUPERWORKS and the collective The Absurdist. (See http://www.theabsurdist.is/) The “machines” are interactive tools that “confront the audience with speculations of existential origin,” according to Rangel-Sosa.


“What Makes Us Human?” by Megan Dennis, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Biochemistry, associated with the Molecular Medicine Genome Center and the MIND Institute. She researches the genetic underpinnings that distinguish humans from closely related primates.

“Revolutions of the Very Small” by Matthias Hess, assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Animal Science. He leads a research and teaching program in systems microbiology.

Anna Davidson, artist and scientist and active in the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, founded the UC Davis LASER Program while she was studying for her master of fine arts degree from the Department of Art and Art History from 2014 to 2016.

Additional LASERs are scheduled for Feb. 9 and May 11. (Check with UC Davis LASER Facebook for ongoing information and updates.)

Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology is a nonprofit organization that serves the global network of scholars, artists, scientists, researchers and thinkers through programs focused on interdisciplinary work, creative output and innovation.