- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
From Solar Design to Psychology of Music, to Language and Sociopolitical Dynamics
Faculty presentations on solar design, psychology of music, and language and sociopolitical dynamics will highlight the Leonardo Art, Science, Evening Rendezvous (LASER) event, set from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 16 in Room 115 of the UC Davis Music Building.
The event, free and open to the public, begins with networking at 6; and speaker presentations at 6:30. At 7:15, the program includes conversations and rapid fire community sharing.
The speakers are Beth Ferguson, UC Davis assistant professor of design, who will discuss "The Electric Driver Solar Kiosk"; Petr Janata, professor, UC Davis Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, who will cover "Musical Neurobiographies"; and Michael Arcega, assistant professor, San Francisco State University Department of Art, whose topic is "WORDSWORDS."
Janata, in his research on how the human brain engages with music, has examined expectation, imagery, sensorimotor coupling, memory, and emotion in relation to tonality, rhythm, and timbre. His work also emphasizes the use of models of musical structure to analyze behavioral and brain data. "I am particularly interested in musical situations that elicit strong emotional experiences, such as music-evoked remembering or being in the groove," he says. Janata, who holds a doctorate from the University of Oregon, received a Fulbright Fellowship in 2010 to do research in Prague, and in the same year, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to further his investigations of what music-evoked autobiographical memories can tell us about the functional organization of the human brain.
Arcega is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture and installation. His research-based work revolves around language and sociopolitical dynamics. His subject matter, embedded with historic narratives, material significance, and geography, deals with circumstances where power relations are unbalanced. A naturalized American, he says he "investigates cultural markers that are embedded in objects, food, architecture, visual lexicons, and vernacular languages." His work has been exhibited at the Asian Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Orange County Museum of Art, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Cue Arts Foundation, and the Asia Society in New York, among others.
Although the LASER event is open to the public, reservations are encouraged at http://ucdlaser04.eventbrite.com. The Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/laser.ucd
LASER is sponsored by the Humanities, Art and Cultural Studies, College of Letters and Sciences; the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and LASER/ISAST (The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology). Entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, UC Davis professor of entomology, is a co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, which spearheaded the formation of LASER events at UC Davis.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
One of the names proposed is the Da Vinci Institute.
To discuss the concept, a colloquium will take place from 1 to 5 p.m., Monday, March 16 in Room 3001 of the Plant Environmental Sciences Building. A reception will follow the discussions from 5 to 6 p.m.
"The program for the afternoon is designed to engage the scholars, scientists, and artists of the UC Davis community," said entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, professor of entomology in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. "What is the potential for a Da Vinci Institute on our campus? What kinds of program could such an institute generate?"
The keynote speaker will be Roger Malina, distinguished professor of art and technology, and professor of physics at the University of Texas (UT), Dallas. Since 1982, he has served as executive editor of the Leonardo Publications at MIT Press. He founded, and serves on the board of two nonprofits, Leonardo/ISAST in San Francisco and OLATS in Paris, which advocate and document the work of artists involved in contemporary science and technology.
Leonardo/ISAST is an acronym for the Leonardo/International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. OLATS is an acronym for Observatoire Leonardo pour les Arts et les Techno-Sciences.
Malina founded the ArtSciLab in the ATEC Program at UT Dallas in the fall of 2013. This transdisciplinary research lab hosts projects which involve in-depth collaboration between artists and scientists; the aim of the lab is to carry out research which results in art works, scientific data analysis tools, a technology testbed. In addition, the lab develops education activities involving the integration of the arts, design and humanities in science, technology, education and mathematics (STEAM).
The program agenda:
1:00-1:15 Introduction and Goals (Diane Ullman)
1:15-2:15 Keynote Address and Q&A (Roger Malina)
2:15-2:30 BREAK
2:30-3:00 Discussion Breakout Sessions Facilitated By Organizers
3:00-3:30 Large Group Summary Facilitated by Roger Malina and Diane Ullman
3:30-4:00 Discussion Breakout Sessions Facilitated By Organizers
4:00-4:30 Large Group Summary Facilitated by Roger Malina and Diane Ullman
4:30-5:00 Final Thoughts from Roger Malina and Next Steps (Organizers)
5:00-6:00 Reception
Those involved in the formation of the UC Davis based-project include
- Diane Ullman, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, who co-founded and co-directed the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program
- Terry Nathan, professor of atmospheric science, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources
- Wendy Silk, professor emerita of the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, and distinguished art scientist
- Colin Milburn, Gary Snyder Chair in Science and the Humanities; and professor of English, Science and Technology, and Cinema and Technocultural Studies, Department of English
- Petr Janata, professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain.
- Youngsuk Suh, co-chair of the Department of Art and Art History and associate professor of art
- Robin Hill, professor, Art Studio, Department of Art and Art History
- Timothy Hyde, assistant professor of art, Art Studio, Department of Art and Art History
- James Housefield. assistant professor of design, Department of Art and Art History
Those planning to attend should RSVP Diane Ullman at deullman@ucdavis.edu by March 14.
About Leonardo da Vinci: Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination." According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote."--Wikipedia.