Week 9: Space + Art, A Race to the Beginning?

I would like to explain my title.

Thinking about space to me, is like thinking about the supernatural. There’s things that we know and things that we do not. Then you have the things that we want to know, and that’s where the imagination comes in.

I remember watching the episodes of The Jetsons Meet the Flinstones. Having to watch a bit of it again, and seeing the way the characters of the past (The Flinstones) act with futuristic technology (e.g. hitting the time machine with a club to make it work) of the Jetsons, makes me think about not only how far we as humans have come, but also how we have came to the point that we now and how the past enables our future. (Binary oppositions- one cannot exist without the other-past/future-primitive/civilized). 

Definitely, innovation is sparked by imagining the otherwise "impossible" becoming "possible; thinking out side of the box (#Heatherwick). I mean, before it was even possible to just make it into the atmosphere and even the moon, man has been looking up at the stars, imagining a world(s)
beyond our own. Examples of this in recent could be seen as the popular TV shows like Star Trek and Star Wars.  Thanks to technology and great imaginators, space travel is possible and soon living on the moon might be humanities next step.

So as to "how the past enables the future" and binary oppositions,with all of the advancements man has made to space, one can imagine what it would be like to live on the moon; however, when on the moon, people are not going to have access to everything that they had on earth. So humanity, even though technological advances has made us to live on the moon in outer space, it’s a new beginning and earth will be the old. So then what would be the binary opposition to civilized? Extra civilized? Pre-futuristic to futuristic? 

Space really is the final frontier, and if it's possible to live on the moon, imagine all of the other possibilities beyond it. Societies will be continuously starting over and reinventing itself to an age at people like us couldn't even begin to imagine. BUT, someone will, and someone after that...I mean that's how the past became what it is today, right?


It’s just something to think about I guess.

Works Cited

Holmes, Brian. "CODED UTOPIA." Continental Drift. Wordpress, 27 Mar. 2007. Web. 31 May 2015.

"Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot." YouTube. YouTube, 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 31 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Space Pt6." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 31 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Space Pt5." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 31 May 2015.

Event #2: Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan Sundaram

This weekend I was given the chance to see the works of India born and bred artist Vivan Sundaram at Fowler Museum located on UCLA's campus.

At first I was a little taken back by his pieces, especially the the display of different parts of the body, but after watching the small clip about his inspiration that went into his art, I was able to understand is concept on a greater level.

The combination of the Gagawaka and postmortem made me relate it the medicine and art unit because of his incorporation of medical supplies into his pieces.

[FUN FACT: The "Gaga" part of the name comes from "Lady Gaga" and the "Waka" Pat comes from Shakira's Jam for the Fifa World cup in South Africa, "Waka Waka". I over heard the tour lady telling a group. ]

I think one the most influential comments that Sundaram made was in his small video feature for the project. It concerned bringing his art pieces to life, something of which the mannequin itself can never become. It is when you put the clothes on the manniquen that a whole different set of questions comes into perspective about life and death.

To me, I think his pieces moved me to think about attire as well and the invisible realities we emit once we put on a piece of clothing. Like, it is not just fashion, but we are displaying a piece of ourselves to the world.

(My Favorite Piece! It's called Diva R E D. It's made entirely from bras!!)

Works Cited

Fowler Museum at UCLA. "Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan

          Sundaram." YouTube.YouTube, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 25 May 2015. 

"Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan Sundaram | Fowler Museum at

          UCLA." Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan Sundaram |

          Fowler Museum at UCLA. The Fowler Museum at UCLA, n.d. Web. 25 May

          2015. 

Event #1: Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio

Out of all the events I went to, I believe that this was my favorite exhibit. 

Thomas Heatherwick is a British designer who is recognized for, “…his highly inventive work, which combines novel engineering with new materials and innovative design.” (Hammer). It’s through his designs and concepts that I am able to see the blends of two cultures as a structure.

What fascinates me about Heatherwick’s work is how many of his projects asks a question, which to the average person, the answer would be, “You can’t. It’s impossible.” For instance the 1991 piece called, “The Vessel”. The question asked is, “How can you hold something together without glue?”  The answer calls for one to think outside of the realm of what is common and logical. I have to admit, I myself was like…how? The answer is, “…he slid three identical pieces into each other, the interleaving of the cuts formed subtle corner details, and the way the elements gripped each other made it possible to bend their surface to create a kind of vessel, (Hammer).”

His inventions, where art, science, and technology becomes a structure that allows people to become one with an object is out of this world crazy and is an inspiration to people to be creative and different just like Heatherwork’s creations are. Below are some of his famous works. 

 (Spun) Rotating chairs

 (Olympic Cauldron)

 (UK Pavillion in Shanghai, China)

(Different photos of various art projects. The one with the double decker bus is a more recent projects of his in London. His task what to redesign the previous double decker bus.)

Works Cited

Economy. "Thomas Heatherwick on Design." YouTube. YouTube, 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 May

            2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrRGkHfNQDc>.

Heatherwick, Thomas. Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio. N.d.

            Exhibition on the works on Thomas Heatherwick. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

Week 7: Neuroscience + Art: The Unconscious and Buddhism

What I took most from this week’s topic of Neuroscience and art is the consciousness and unconscious portion. I believe it is because t deals a lot with upbringing in a Buddhist home. Although my family does not practice Buddhism to the extent of the Dahlia Lama or Buddha himself for that matter, my own practice of the religion derives from my own pursuit of more knowledge on the topic. This all began when I decided to practice Buddhism verses Christianity (my father’s religion).

The Unconscious:

I do agree with Young, that Freud’s interpretation of the topic is negative, and agree with his that it is also a source of creativity. From many dreams that I have encountered in the past, some inspire me so much that I write a story, song, or draw a picture as a reflection on it.

I also agree that his theory does come into light with the involvement of religion and how it is a means of communication between all types of people. Take for instance Buddhist art. Although the photos here are not the one I wish to show, which hangs in my temple, the head monk told me that the art is not a representation of a deity (because Buddhism is an atheist religion), but a representation of a human emotion. People use those photos to meditate on it, so that they may conquer that emotion. So I guess that can be an example of communication through religious art (although art in general is a nonverbal form of communication to me); especially for those practicing Buddhism.

I

 see as consciousness and unconsciousness as binary oppositions. Without the one, the other cannot exist. Meaning in Buddhism, from with I have learned thus, the consciousness portion relates to how one must realize that life is suffering and the unconsciousness portion takes place when one is able to achieve enlightenment; it’s not something that can only be attained through sleep and dreams.

Works Cited

Bateson, Gregory. Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity. New York: Dutton, 1979. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2012. Web. 18 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2012. Web. 18 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience-pt1.mov." YouTube. YouTube, 17 May 2012. Web. 18 May 2015. 

Week 6: Biotechnology + Art, Intentions...

In Jonathan Glover’s, “Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century,” He talks about the holocaust and questions how humans could experiment on other humans. Ellis answers this by summarizing Glover’s words, “…atrocities are accompanied by humiliation and dehumanization: pejorative terminology, degrading conditions, derogative images. People flip a mental switch and reclassify others as “nonpersons,” making it easier to kill them (9).”  So by classifying other beings as nonpersons (dehumanizing them) one can experiment on them.

This leads me to my “uneasy” feelings towards the relationship between biotechnology and art.

To temper with nature as a form of art is…a scary thought, especially if the creations do not come out accurate. Take for instance Marta Dimenezas modifying wings of living butterflies to change their patterns; this resulted with the wings having holes in them. For Edward Katz’ “Alba”, because his approach concluded with his experiment or artwork being successful (the experiment could be used for the good of humanity; as mentioned in Part One with aiding drugs), and treating Alba non-abusively, it leads me to look at it differently. I’m not for biotechnological art, nor am I against it.

What Troubles Me:

For living creatures that are not categorized as humans, we dehumanize them because they are not

human so we can go into experimentation justly, but in retrospect, they are living creatures (rats, bunnies, plants, etc). At the same time that we are dehumanizing them, we are de-fellowizing (a term I created) them as not part of the category of nature or an entity that is living and breathing.  If we can go to these extremes for experimenting on those who are not humans in the name of art, can we deny that a time for art with experimentation on living humans will not come about...and that it would be "just"? That is, if that time has not already come or passed.

I guess in the end, as the Dahlia Lama comments in the novel, “The Quantum and the Lotus,” everything we do is based on intent. I think that is what we have to be attentive to for scientists who wish to categorize biotechnology as a palette and labeling themselves as artists. What are their intentions going into a project? 

Of course...the intentions make the process of going into an experiment or creation as just or unjust;we still have a moral responsibility for intentions that result in an unethical aftermath.

Works Cited

Ellis, Donald G. Transforming Conflict: Communication and Ethnopolitical Conflict. Lanham, MD:

                Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. Print.

Glover, Jonathan. Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 

                2000. Print.

Ricard, Matthieu, and Xuan Thuan. Trinh. The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers 

                Where Science and Buddhism Meet. New York: Crown, 2001. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "5 Bioart Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "5 BioArt Pt2." YouTube. YouTube, 17 May 2012. Web. 11 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "5 BioArt Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 17 May 2012. Web. 11 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "5 BioArt Pt4." YouTube. YouTube, 17 May 2012. Web. 11 May 2015.