Event 4 | Hammer Museum (Extra Credit)

This weekend, I went to UCLA’s Hammer Museum to attend Jeanine Oleson’s Conduct Matters exhibit. In my opinion, both Oleson’s exhibit and the Hammer Museum itself heavily tied science and art together while expressing a message about society. 

The first artwork I saw upon entering the Hammer Museum - Hanging ribbons with various messages 
The theme of integrating the Third Culture was found in Conduct Matters – the main exhibit I came for. In the center of the room was a giant woven fabric with a Burberry-like print, based on the “grid” found in 3D imaging software used to orient virtual objects – a visual item symbolizing the artist’s perspective. This reference to 3D imaging software reminded me of virtual reality, where users can self-orient computer simulations. Furthermore, the linear design reminded me of Robert Lang’s mathematical origami from Week 2 which also utilized geometry, inspiring my future final DESMA essay. 

Woven textile with geometric design, similar to the 3D grid found in computer simulation software
This fabric was then connected to a clay speaker by copper wires. This speaker signified the artist’s continuing problems with vocalizing her perspectives and opinions. 

The clay speaker; notice the copper wire running through the back, towards the right

This object was then also linked by copper wires to a broken screen while three TVs played Oleson’s film “Crossed Wires”, which addresses oppression in art-production. The use of science through conductive copper wires, in my opinion, represents how interconnected each symbol is because copper transmits information very quickly. 

Broken monitor with a copper wire going directly into it
Overall, I highly recommend this exhibit as an event to wrap up the class. The exhibits at the Hammer Museum, not just Oleson’s, constantly related to technology from multiple lectures (ex: Heatherwick’s Provocations exhibit integrating mathematical symmetry). Furthermore, the message I took away was powerful- words seem to mean more than actions today, yet artist’s words are continuously being suppressed. The exhibit is quite abstract though, so what I took away may be completely different from yours! Nonetheless, the exhibit is very thought-provoking.

However, staff were able to sign off
as proof!
A picture of me at Hammer.
Staff were prohibited from taking pictures with visitors. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 6 | BioTech + Art

Image
This week, I learned about BioArt and how extremely controversial its projects are in regards to ethics. However, I found everything particularly interesting because I currently work in a Synthetic Biology lab on campus. The controversies of Synthetic Biology work overlap with BioArt immensely – Is it right to transfer a gene from a jellyfish into mice to make it glow in a way that nature never intended? (Vesna). Transgenic mice glowing due to "foreign" GFP gene (Herper) In my lab, I encounter these ethical issues at a milder level because I work with “mindless” bacteria (E.Coli) genomes instead of mice when inserting genes. While my perspective may be controversial, I believe that genome editing and lab-grown life/tissue (Atala) are relatively harmless and can even be applied to human gene therapy in the future when regulated carefully . However, I definitely agree that for BioTech + Art to continue advancing, it must have one of the strictest ethics and regulation bo
Read more

Week 4 | Art + MedTech

Image
In 3 rd grade, my class went on a field trip to the Body Worlds Exhibit (Vesna) at the California Science Center. Initially, I remember we had to sign parent permission forms at first. The “art” was going to be controversial, disturbing, and maybe even a little inappropriate according to the form. Nonetheless, I eagerly attended this exhibit and found it disgusting... at first. Body Worlds Exhibit: Human body during Basketball (Phys.org) I was excited to see the Body Worlds exhibit mentioned in lecture, because I didn’t realize how famous it was until now (Wong). I googled more about how the Body Worlds Exhibit has evolved since I attended years ago, and began to see the exhibit from a more artistic and anatomical standpoint, unlike my 3 rd grade self. The body itself is a work of art, though not in the stereotypical aesthetically-pleasing manner. Rather, I believe that the human body is a work of art because of how complex it is, like robots (Week 3). Surgeries, for example
Read more

Week 8 | Nanotech + Art

Image
This week in lecture I learned about Nano-tech + Art. This form of art differs from the past eight weeks' in that nano-tech seems to go against the common phrase, "seeing is believing" (Gimzewski and Vesna). Through the emergence of nano-tech exhibitions such as the John Curtin Gallery (specifically, the Phillips eye exhibition), it’s clear to say that nano-tech's impact on human society through medicine and art is certainly immense (Curtin). Sunflower Nano-art, taken with a Scanning Electron Microscope (Ho)  I found this week's lecture exciting because, as I said in my last blog post, I currently work in a synthetic biology lab working with things I cannot see like DNA. DNA, it turns out, has been the basis of many nanotech art projects! Paul Rothemund, for example, has been folding DNA along with the help of synthetic biologists and molecular programmers. This DNA “origami” creates beautiful structures that also help us learn more about DNA’s pattern b
Read more