- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
LASER, an acronym for Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous, engages the public with artists, designers, scientists and technologists who are making significant contributions to their fields.
The event, free and open to the public, begins at 6 with networking, followed by speaker presentations at 6:30 p.m., and conversations at 7:15, followed by “Rapid Fire Community Sharing” when audience members share some of the projects they're working on. Registration is recommended: access http://ucdlaser02.eventbrite.com.
The speakers are:
- Fiamma Montezemolo, an associate professor in the UC Davis Department of Cinema and Digital Media and a scholar in border studies who works with installation and video.
- Lillian Cruz-Orengo, an assistant professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine-Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology whose research focuses on the impact of environmental exposure and sexual dimorphisms on blood-brain barrier function and neuroimmune interaction, particularly the central nervous system autoimmunity
- Cy Keener, a lecturer at Stanford University and an interdisciplinary artist focused on creating field recordings of natural phenomena and experiential representations of these recordings
UC Davis LASER is funded by a UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES) Programmatic Initiative that Ullman wrote. Faculty and graduate students from CA&ES, Humanities Arts and Cultural Studies and College of Biological Sciences are working to support LASER. This year the directors are Jiayi Young, UC Davis Department of Design faculty; Timothy Hyde, Art Studio faculty; and Breanne Sparta, doctoral candidate, UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
LASER is described as the “only speaker series on campus that is truly interdisciplinary across multiple colleges” and “is designed to encourage unexpected juxtapositions between seemingly unrelated projects, facilitating interdisciplinary conversations that engage the challenges of the 21st century.”
Montezemolo, who works mainly with installation and video, will discuss her work in art and anthropology with a special emphasis on border-related methodologies. She is both an artist (master's degree at the San Francisco Art Institute) and a cultural anthropologist (doctorate at the Universita' degli Studi Orientali di Napoli). She exhibits her work nationally and internationally; she is represented by the Magazzino Gallery in Rome. Montezemolo has authored or co-authored several articles and books, including “Tijuana Dreaming: Life and Art at the Global Border” (Duke University Press), and “Here Is Tijuana” (Black Dog Publishing).
Keener will share reflections on the role of data collection in art through the context of recent projects. He is an affiliate resident at Autodesk's Pier 9 workshop, where he creates buoys to capture wave dynamics and sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean. He holds a master's degree in art practice from Stanford University and a master's degree in architecture from UC Berkeley. “My installations coax strings of numbers into immersive environments of light, space and sound,” he says. Keener completed commissioned installations for Stanford University, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at the University of Texas, El Paso.
Cruz-Orengo said she will share “some provocative glimpses about the triad of sexual dimorphism, autoimmunity, and multiple sclerosis.” In her research, she asks: “Do sexual dimorphisms matter to human health? For centuries, biomedical research was ‘androcentric.' The extensive focus on women's health, which roughly began in 1990, brought forward new scientific questions and ideas for research in the field.”
“We expect a range of efforts to emerge from LASER that will include innovations in instruction and research building on the synergy from connecting art and science,” Ullman wrote in the proposal.
LASER is the public outreach component of Leonardo International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo ISAST), an international organization that represents innovative discoveries at the cross section of art, design, science, and technology. MIT Press publishes its peer-reviewed journal, book series, and online presence. The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion program, that Ullman has directed with Donna Billick, is the official Leonardo-Affiliated Program that brings LASER to the UC Davis campus.
For directions to the Art Annex Building, see http://ucdlaser02.eventbrite.com. The Art Annex is located south of the Art Building and about halfway between the Memorial Union and Mrak Hall on the UC Davis campus. The building was formerly known as the TCS Building.
The UC Davis LASER Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/laser.ucd.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
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:
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.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The event, free and open to the public, will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and will begin with socializing and networking from 6:30 to 7 p.m. It is affiliated with the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, co-founded by Diane Ullman, professor of entomology at UC Davis and artist Donna Billick.
Patricelli, a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology, will present her talk on “Tools of the Pornithologists” from 7 to 7:25 p.m. Patricelli studies bioacoustics, breeding behaviors and the impacts of noise pollution on birds. Much of the research in the Patricelli lab addresses sexual selection and breeding ecology of greater sage-grouse. This has included detailed studies of courtship behaviors using robotic females and microphone arrays, as well as remote telemetry to address how foraging ecology relates to lekking behaviors. The Patricelli lab has also examined the impacts of noise from vehicle traffic and energy development on greater sage-grouse lek attendance, stress levels, and behaviors.
Other speakers are
Jeff Mayry, a master of fine arts candidate in the Art Studio, UC Davis Department of Art and Art History, who will speak on “Dream House” from 7:25 to 7:50 p.m. He received his master's and bachelor of science degrees from Sacramento State University.
Sharon Bladholm, who fuses art with science on scientific expeditions to the Amazon, will speak on “The Interface Between Art, Science and Conservation” from 8:35-9:00. “My work is profoundly influenced by my participation as an artist, on scientific expeditions to remote and biologically diverse ecosystems of the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon on expeditions with the Field Museum, Conservation International and Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program,” she says. She explores the interfaces of art, science, conservation and nature in her many series of artworks in numerous mediums, including sculptural works in glass, bronze and ceramic. In February she will return to Peru with Project Amazonas.
In between speakers, networking and socializing will take place from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m., and “anyone can have 30 seconds to share their work, announce an exhibitor or a show or an idea,” said moderator and organizer Anna Davidson. She holds a doctorate in plant ecophysiology from the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences and is currently a master of fine arts candidate in Art Studio, UC Davis Department of Art and Art History.
More information is available on Facebook at! https://www.facebook.com/events/854193051353509/
Related Links:
LASER:
http://www.leonardo.info/isast/laser.html
http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/
Map:
http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/plantsciences/visitors/map.htm
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The site is a change from the usual meeting place. (See Asmundson Hall on campus map)
The event, free and open to the public, will begin with socializing and networking from 6:30 to 7.
The lineup of speakers:
7 to 7:25: John Albeck, UC Davis assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology, will speak on "The Deep Thoughts and Inner Lives of Cells." He will discuss living cell cinemotography.
7:25 to 8:10: Elia Vargas, an Oakland-based artist, will cover "Signal Flow: Bodies, Boundaries and the Phenomenology of Information." Vargas investigates new technologies of human identity, and is interested in culture, code, cities and cells as new landscapes and new organisms--or the narrative byproduct.
8:10 to 8:35: Danielle Tullman-Ercek, UC Berkeley professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering will discuss "Synthetic Biology: The Challenge and Potential of Engineering Living Systems."
8:35 to 9 p.m.: Rhonda Holberton, Oakland-based artist, will cover "From the Other Side of the Screen." She will discuss the complex relationships that arise when technologies developed for combat are integrated into civilian applications.
The LASERS are an international program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversation with an audience.
The UC Davis LASER is affiliated with the UC Davis Art Science Fusion Program, which was co-founded and co-directed by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman and artist Donna Billick. Ullman is a professor of entomology with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Mosaic-ceramic artist Billick of Davis, a self-described "rock artist," holds a master's degree in genetics from UC Davis.
For more information:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/450142691817307/
Leonardo:
http://www.leonardo.info/isast/laser.html
http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
DAVIS--"Anatomy of Angels," "Alba, the Fluorescent Bunny," "The Beauty of Disease and Why We Have Trees" and "Art as a Social Practice" will be the topics at the UC Davis L.A.S.E.R. (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) session, set April 9 in the Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) Building, UC Davis campus.
The event, free and open to the public, will take place from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Room 3001 of PES. It will be moderated by organizer Anna Davidson.
LASER is affiliated with the UC Davis Art Science Fusion Program, which was co-founded and co-directed by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman and artist Donna Billick. Ullman is a professor of entomology with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Billick, who has a master's degree in genetics, describes herself as a "rock artist," creating mosaic ceramic art.
The schedule:
6:30-7 p.m. Socializing/Networking
Abstract:
Matt Gilbert's current body of work includes small, kinetic, motor-driven sculptures of filament and wire that explore a contemporary understanding of living things as complex systems.
Biosketch
Matt Gilbert is a master of fine arts candidate in Studio Art at UC Davis. His practice includes programming and the fabrication of electronics and 3D printed parts for kinetic sculpture, sound installations, video and animation. He received his bachelor of fine arts in graphic design from the Art Center College of Design.
7:25-7:50. Alison Van Eenennaam. “Alba: the Fluorescent Bunny.”
Abstract: Eduardo Kac, a professor of art and technology at the Chicago School of Art Institute produced a picture of a green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic bunny called “Alba.” "GFP Bunny" was realized in 2000 and first presented publicly in Avignon, France. The artist proposed that “transgenic art” is a new art form based on the use of genetic engineering to transfer natural or synthetic genes to an organism, to create unique living beings. The artist came under considerable criticism for the picture which some consider to have been fabricated. "The picture itself is a construction," said Reinhard Nestelbacher, a molecular biologist at the University of Salzburg. "The rabbit could never look like that. The main reason is that the GFP gene is expressed, for example, in the skin and cannot be expressed in the hair." Said Stuart Newman, a member of the Council for Responsible Genetics and a cell biologist at New York Medical College: “Art misrepresents reality all the time -- and he's an artist, not a scientist, but I think people are beholden to tell the truth." Are artists beholden to tell the truth about GMOs?"
Biosketch:
Alison Van Eenennaam is a genomics and biotechnology researcher and Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis. She received a bachelor of agricultural science from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and both a master's degree in animal science, and a PhD in genetics from UC Davis. The mission of her extension program is “to provide research and education on the use of animal genomics and biotechnology in livestock production systems.” Her outreach program focuses on the development of science-based educational materials including the controversial biotechnologies of genetic engineering (GE) and cloning. She has served on several national committees, including the USDA National Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture, (2005-2009), and as a temporary voting member of the 2010 FDA Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee meeting on the AquAdvantage salmon, the first GE animal to be evaluated for entry into the food supply. Van Eenennaam received the 2014 Borlaug Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) Communication Award.
7:50-8:10 BREAK. Networking/socializing. During the break anyone can have 30 seconds to share work, announce an exhibition, show, an idea etc.
8:10-8:35 Thomas Gordon. “The Beauty of Disease and Why We Still Have Trees.”
Abstract:
Disease caused by parasitic microorganisms is a universal feature of life on earth. The need for all multi-cellular life forms to co-exist with potentially life-threatening parasites has been a powerful force in shaping the world in which we live.
Biosketch
Thomas Gordon is a UC Davis professor of plant pathology. His responsibilities include maintaining a research program on the biology of fungi that parasitize plants. He teaches a general education course on fungi and how they affect and are exploited by people; an upper division course on fungal ecology: and a graduate course on the principles of plant pathology.
8:35-9 Evan Clayburg & Sally Hensel. “Art as a Social Practice.”
Abstract:
Sally Hensel and Evan Clayburg, two founders of Third Space Art Collective in Davis, will talk about starting an art collective and an ongoing project, which examines authentic connection through artistic co-creation.
Biosketches
Sally Hensel, who was born and grew up in the in the Central Valley, describes herself as a 30-year-old without a bank account or mobile phone. She said she has dropped out of UC Davis twice; the second time with a bachelor of arts degree in film studies. She finds that happiness comes to her when she brings people together.
Evan Clayburg is a multimedia and performance artist. After years of dividing his time between well-lit ad agency boardrooms and poorly-lit DIY experimental / punk music basements in the Chicago area, he relocated to Davis and has been active in art, music and community organizing over the past four years. He received a bachelor's degree in graphic arts from Bradley University in 2003.
Moderator/Organizer:
Anna Davidson is currently a master of fine arts student in Art Studio at UC Davis. She received her Ph.D. in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, studying plant ecophysiology. She studies the biological world using both artistic and scientific approaches.
For more information:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/450142691817307/
http://www.leonardo.info/isast/laser.html
http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/
Map: http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/plantsciences/visitors/map.htm
Anna Davidson: adavidson@ucdavis.edu