Event 3: Weak or No Signal (MFA Design Media Arts Thesis Show)

Event 3: Weak or No Signal (MFA Design Media Arts Thesis Show)

Before I paid a visit to this thesis show, I did not read up on what it would entail or have on display. Therefore, I was very confused and felt lost when I first walked into the New Wight Gallery at UCLA's Broad Art Center. What also made it tough to figure out what was happening in the gallery was the fact that none of the individual exhibits had written descriptions of what was displayed. However, as I continued to stroll through the gallery, I began to make some apparent connections with some of the topics and concepts we covered in this class. I will be talking specifically about three exhibits I saw that connected with three of the units we have explored thus far. 

The first piece of art that I encountered as I walked in was a suit with a variety of technological advancements on it, yet sported quite a very ancient, aged feel to it. It almost seemed like a suit one would see in a movie where soldiers from the past, perhaps around the 16th-17th century with technology of this age. This mix of cultures distinctly brought back the unit from week one about two cultures and how this blend can lead to forms of art. Specifically, although Snow talks about the mix of the sciences and humanities, the same overlap of cultures is seen in this suit (Snow, 1959).

 (A selfie with a random contemporary suit that had an ancient feel to it)

The next exhibit I got to experience was more difficult to analyze and sort through. As seen in the image below, the encasing seemed to have a treatment table, heartrate monitor, and a bunch of rocks on a conveyor belt looking thing. What really caught my eye was the treatment table and heartrate monitor because it reminded me of the week four unit covered in this class. I was reminded of how oftentimes medical technology will serve as mediums of art. Similarly, there is a robot named Aramique that actually draws pictures based off the installation visitor's heartbeat (Pangburn, 2014). Just like how MRI images are essentially seen as pieces of art, the way the heartrate monitor and treatment table are incorporated in this piece of art display the unification between medical technology and art. 

 (An encasing with what looked like a treatment table, heartrate monitor, and conveyor belt with rocks coming out of it)

In this last piece of art that I was able to analyze, the artwork seems to be half of a unit circle on display with a couple of sea urchin looking items evenly spread out on the floor. This reminded me of the second unit we covered in this class about how mathematics and art are connected. Specifically, the exhibit connected with the mathematical art of M.C. Escher, as he made an effort to incorporate various geometric properties (Smith, 2014). What I could take away from this particular piece of artwork is the apparent inclusion of certain geometric concepts, especially the part that somewhat looks like a fan. 

(An exhibit that seems to display random geometric models)

As mentioned before, what made this event tough to analyze and connect with the class was the lack of written explanations and general theme to the thesis show. However, it became apparent that this is exactly what art is: a free-flow of themes, emotions, and concepts and in order to create artistic beauty. Ultimately, it is cool to see how so many different concepts and aspects in everyday life can connect directly to art. 

References

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.

Pangburn, DJ. “Heart Bot Turns Heartbeats Into Personalized Illustrations.” Creators, Creators, 29 Aug. 2014, creators.vice.com/en_us/article/wnpdk5/heart-bot-turns-human-heartbeats-into-personalized-illustrations.

Smith, B. Sidney. "The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher." Platonic Realms Minitexts. Platonic Realms, 13 Mar 2014. Web. 13 Mar 2014. <http://platonicrealms.com/>

Vesna, Victoria. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg&feature=player_embedded>

Vesna, Victoria. Medicine Body Lecture. Video. 26 Oct 2012.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.