This was a testament on how fast things move and respond in China! The day before I went to the Academy to see the excellent exhibition that was curated by Yao Dajuin and we went with students for drinks after. The next day I was already giving a talk with my daughter Gia translating!
Here we are with her East “mom” (who brought flowers!), “sister” Annie and her friend.
I love this city! Had to come here while in Asia and touch base with Central, Sai Kung and SCM. Scott Hessels was the host with the most — we had so much fun! Lecture was in a large hall and really well attended with many students (required to be there 🙂
Context providers: : negotiating meaning in media arts, edited by Margot Lovejoy, Christiane Paul and myself is being published by Intellect press in the UK. It’s been almost 10 years since we first sat and talked about this
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First week of the Nano Lab summer institute is over and it is exciting to see the students changing their minds. The artist/scientist duo teams are very effective and I believe it is an important experience for them too! This weekend students are going to the Getty (hopefully the fire from a few days ago does not stand in the way) and Venice beach. We skipped the museum of Jurassic technologies this year — were told that there are too many of us and it gets disruptive. See: artsci.ucla.edu/summer
The Influence of Roy Ascott at the Plymouth Art Centre
REMOTE presentation: The Magic of Roy Ascott
My presentation will be in the form of a series of anecdotes starting with the way I first met Roy Ascott at the Venice Biennale in 1986. He became a trusted mentor who I turned to many times while navigating the strange world of academia. Many call him a pioneer in cybernetics and art, but to me, he is a brave soul bringing spirituality into the materialistic environment of Universities, changing the face of education for artists and creative thinkers throughout his career, leading to the Planetary Collegium. Truly a step ahead of the crowd, he is actively changing the paradigm we live in by employing magic that is supported by facts.
This morning the Sound + Science symposium opened — organized by Tyler Adams and wholeheartedly sponsored by the Art | Sci center.
For the opening introduction, after a very brief introduction of self and the center, I simply read out the names / disciplines of people participating. What else is there to say? This is such an inspiring mix — I plan to park myself here for the entire time and listen!
– UCLA – Department of Physiological Science and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
– UCLA – Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
– UC San Diego – Department of Visual Arts
– UC Berkeley – Space Physics Research Group
– UC San Diego – Department of Music
– UC Santa Barbara – Department of Media Art and Technology
– UC San Diego – Department of Psychology
– UCLA – Department of Physics
– UC Santa Barbara – Department of Geography
– UC Davis – Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain
– University of New Mexico – College of Fine Art and School of Engineering
– UC Davis Department of Physics and Director of The Complexity Science Center
– Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles
– UC Davis – Technocultural Studies
– University of Texas at Austin – Butler School of Music
– UC Riverside – Department of Music
– UC Riverside – Department of Music
Leonardo Education Forum meeting at UCLA Art | Sci center. We packed into two cars (Roger Malina and I drove), and a van (Stefanie drove). Somehow we all managed to arrive at the same time — first at the Broad Arts for some food and drinks and then to California Nanosystems Institute.
forumlefnet.org
Thinking Gender is a public conference highlighting graduate student research on women, sexuality and gender across all disciplines and historical periods. I was so impressed by the number of young scholars who gathered, the level and diversity of research in this area. The panel I moderated was “Cyberlicious with a Byte” – a bit of a blast into the past. Not only because of the title that was so 90’s but also the James Hixon’s paper on Information bodies / Bodies without organs from Deleuze andJennifer Kavertsy’s paper on avatars and the gaze in Warcraft. I was disappoined that Suepattra May from UC SF, Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, was not able to show. Danielle Hidalgo and Tracy Royce gave a paper on Online Queer Pornography using Crash Pad as an example. Haven’t seen this before and found it quite intriguing, although I have to say, once again it was a flash from the past with the sociology department at UCSB that seems to focus on edgy, sexual issues. It did make me think about the NanoBod game we are conceptualizing in relation to female identity and science. Morphing bodies and moving inside to genetically engineer and shape shift…….
This NSF workshop took place at my old stomping grounds — UCSB. 15 years later we are still talking about virtual and physical, interface design, digital technologies… Giving a talk about the future of media arts and education in a place where I saw so many people from the past was interesting to me. It was great to see Manjunath and Ramesh Jain, Joanne Kuchera-Morin, Curtis Roads… Pamela Jennings who is at Banff now was presenting her research… Loved checking out the Alosphere which was just an idea when I was there… Lots of people from ASU with some really nice projects. George Legrady showed his Stardust piece which was exhibited quite nicely in the gorgeous studio of his. We chatted a bit about the next upcoming satellite exhibition at UCSB and the news we just received from Simon Penny saying he was canceling (last minute). This did not make Christiane Paul too happy…
