Event 5

The S.A.D. event was my favorite event so far. It inspired me so much! I think I want to be a DESMA major now. Students were so creative with their projects. I really enjoyed walking around the exhibit, and looking at all of the projects. There were so many interesting ones but my favorite one was about the Desperate Housewives. 

Ari Govan was the artist I chose to study at the exhibit. She is friends with my teammates on my volleyball team, and one of them is actually featured in her artwork holding a knife pointed at a pie. I thought her project was absolutely amazing and super creative. She made a title sequence for a TV show. She used a combination of footage from the 1950's and her own footage to create it. The show Dexter was her inspiration. 

She used a combination of art and science to create her title sequence. She used technology (her computer) to splice together different clips. She used art to sequence them in a specific order, and pose scenes to film. Her project was very successful and entertaining. 

Besides her title sequence, Ari also created posters. She was inspired by the TV shows Desperate Housewives, and Masters of Sex. She posed people (my teammate!) in a bed and with a pie and a knife. The pictures turned out really well. 

After looking at Ari's display, it made me think that a career involving DESMA would be amazing. DESMA is a really great subject because it uses both art and science. I enjoy both of these subject matters immensely. All of the projects displayed had a mixture of science and art. This exhibit showed me how amazingly talented UCLA students are, and how important DESMA is to our culture flourishing. 

Event 4

Maria Antonia Gonzalez Valerio's main idea in her speech is that art and science are intertwined. She leads an art and science group at the University of Mexico and does a lot of influential work in Mexico. She said, "science, art,  and philosophy are producing interpretations of the world, and these interpretations let us see the real world." 

The first biotech was produced in Mexico. Biotechnology is when you produce a mutant of a plant, vegetable, animal,etc. Maria produced mutant blue flowers; one was a super flower that only had petals. The other was transgenic. Maria and her colleagues created a gallery so people could see their GMO flowers. They tricked audience into thinking that GMO’s were toxic. Showed that the general public does not know what GMO’s are. 

Corn is a very important food in Mexico because it is a staple in Mexican's diets and their national identity. Scientists want to grow transgenic corn, but Maria is fighting this. Transgenic corn is illegal to consume in Mexico but is legal to test on. However, animals are being fed transgenic corn and transgenic corn is toxic. The problem of transgenic corn is becoming huge because we don’t know if the corn is transgenic or not because it is not labeled.  

Maria decided to work with  pigs. She went to an international conference and went into a field to look at pig's living conditions. She created a small exhibition, a theatrical production, and ate a dinner with pigs. She decided to clean pig bones for her exhibition but it was way harder than she thought. She wanted to show that pigs are living in horrible conditions such as being in cages so they cannot move. This problem is very close to my heart. I am a big animal lover, and hate the conditions animals are put in before they are slaughtered. We should create cages that are more humane for animals to live in. We should use science to create these cages, and art to make them look nicer so that animals can live in peace before they die. 

Event 3

(excuse my face in this picture)

Angela Washko is a feminist who works in the world of warcraft video game to try and get rid of sexist language and actions in the game. She works at Carnegie Melon college. She makes performances and videos, within video games as a type of protest art.She publishes writing, hosts a feminist radio show, and creates exhibitions. She has played the game world of warcraft for 10 years. World of warcraft is a very popular game and has 8 million players right now. That is why her work in the game is so important because it reaches so many people.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PmBznxpqDVU/hqdefault.jpg

Angela founded a counsel to get rid of sexism and racism. She talked to people live in the game to get rid of the derogatory language she has heard so much of in the ten years she has played the game. Women who play World of War Craft are commonly asked to do sexual favors in the game. She took videos of these conversations and other ones that were sexist. She originally wanted to change the bad language used in the game, but realized this was unrealistic so she tried to understand it and create a safe space for players to react to culture.

One of the many concepts that Angela explored in World of Warcraft is why in most recent years males have started playing female avatars? 55% of female avatars are played by men. Less than 1 % of females play male avatars. Angela found that men choose women characters because they wanted to follow around and sexualize their own characters. She found this out through a number of conversations with avatars. These conversations were usually extremely sexist however they improved over the years when she stopped using her own opinions and telling people that she was a researcher. 

Banged is a project that Angela has been working on. The project is centered on one of the internets most misogynist people  (Roosh V). He has traveled around the world to teach men how to have sex with as many girl as possible and wrote “rape books.” He and his followers are known as a certified hate group. Roosh wants to make rape legal on public property. He founded the site reaxxion that is safe space for “manly” internet men. Angela wanted to interview Roosh for her project. She emailed him a question per day because thats the only way he would even communicate with her. She eventually faceTimed him in a  2 hour long faceTime interview. She later wanted to find women who have slept with Roosh and listen to their side because people of the internet only hear Roosh's side. She was eventually contacted by women who have been with him. However, because she has been threatened, she does not know how to move forward with this information. 

I thought this event was super interesting. Angela was a great speaker and kept me enraptured throughout her entire speech. I love the work that she is doing and think that it is extremely beneficial to the gaming sphere. I think her demonstrations in the game world of war craft brought together the scientific gaming world and the artistic feminist movement. 

Pictures:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PmBznxpqDVU/hqdefault.jpg

unit 9

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Copernican_heliocentrism_diagram-2.jpg

Copernicus was a mathematician and astronomer. He created the Heliocentric model for astronomy. This model had the sun in the middle of the solar system. This was the first mathematical diagram where the sun is in the middle of solar system. The diagram included epicycles. He was scared he would get in trouble with the church so he delayed publishing his study. Science flourished in the European Renaissance. During this time period, the telescope was created which started a whole new era of astronomy. 

http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photos/bombnag.jpg

On July 16 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated at Trinity. The motivation to do this was wanting to end world war 3. The Soviet union soon after detonated an atomic bomb starting the cold war and the arms race. Any major attack from soviets, America would retaliate with an atomic bomb. In October 1957 the Soviet Union launched first satellite into space. Launch of sputnik created paranoia in Americans. 

https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/laika.jpeg?quality=75&strip=color&w=1100

Laika the dog was the first being to go into space from Russia. She did not live beyond 6 days into the trip. Sputnik number 2 held her. This caused even more hysteria for Americans because the rocket that held the dog can also send a hydrogen bomb to America. Laika became very famous and was talked about more than any celebrity. 

http://s.inyourpocket.com/gallery/7137.jpg

First person in space was Yuri Gargarin and was Russian. Alan shepard was first american in space a month later. First man that landed on the moon was on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon for three hours and collected moon rocks. 

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2007/11/12/giving/12xprize600.1.jpg

May 19, 1996 x prize foundation created competition that offered 10 million dollars for a non governmental person to create a spacecraft that would launch into space two times and was reusable. The prize was won in 2004. The foundation wanted to create cheap space travel design. Virgin america founder is trying to commercialize space travel. It will cost around 200,000 dollars to travel to space commercially.  

http://www.presidiacreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/space-12.jpg

Many artists take inspiration from space. Space inspires paintings, sculptures, pictures and more. Art about space encompasses realism and imagination. Many artists want to show how beautiful and vast space is through their work. 

Pictures:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Copernican_heliocentrism_diagram-2.jpg

http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photos/bombnag.jpg

http://s.inyourpocket.com/gallery/7137.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2007/11/12/giving/12xprize600.1.jpg

https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/laika.jpeg?quality=75&strip=color&w=1100

http://www.presidiacreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/space-12.jpg

Sources:

Uconlineprogram. "Space Pt1." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 25 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Space Pt2." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 25 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Space Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 25 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Space Pt4." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 25 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Space Pt5." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 25 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Space Pt6." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 25 May 2016.

NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.

Unit 8

Nanotechnology can be defined as the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. Jim Gimzewski is a professor at UCLA who has 35 years of experience in the field. Today there are thousands of nano tech technologies in the world. Nanoparticles have existed for a long time. Lycurgus cup from Rome used nano sized gold particles to create the color. In the 15th and 16th century Pottery in Europe and stained glass used nanoparticles.

https://antiquitynow.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/lycurguscup1.jpg

The Scanning Tunneling Microscope was a huge development in the world of nanotechnology. Prior to this, we had never been able to truly see individual atoms. Another important discovery was the Bucky Ball. Bucky balls have carbon atoms that are linked to three other carbon atoms by covalent bonds. This used to be unknown by scientists.

 

http://72.10.54.125/images/made/images/uploads/BuckyBall_450_338_c1.jpg

Water is hydrophobic on the lotus leaf. This inspired many companies to create self cleaning fabrics. This allows you to put dirty things on material and it would just fall of. There is also self cleaning glass. It contains nanoparticles that react with the sunlight then they break down the greases and oil on the window. The surface is hydrophobic. BMW also uses it in their car windows. 

https://arch3150.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/self-cleaning-glass.jpg

Nanotechnology is something that is beyond everything we have ever known. It causes the need to reinvent science. Dr. Gimzewski believes that it has the potential to change the world as we know it. As we have previously discussed, artists are often fascinated by science and they try to implement it into their work. It is also implemented in the medical field. Nano medicine can be used in new medicines and treatments.  Nano particles can target specific tumors. They can also reduce the toxicity of the chemo treatment. This offers great benefits for the people of the future. 

http://www.is.mpg.de/155556/fept_1.jpg

Picture:

https://antiquitynow.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/lycurguscup1.jpg

http://72.10.54.125/images/made/images/uploads/BuckyBall_450_338_c1.jpg

https://arch3150.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/self-cleaning-glass.jpg

http://www.is.mpg.de/155556/fept_1.jpg

Sources:

Uconlineprogram. "Nanotech Jim Pt4." YouTube. YouTube, 21 May 2012. Web. 22 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Nanotech Jim Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 21 May 2012. Web. 22 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Nanotech Jim Pt5." YouTube. YouTube, 21 May 2012. Web. 22 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Nanotech Jim Pt2." YouTube. YouTube, 21 May 2012. Web. 22 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Nanotech Jim Pt1." YouTube. YouTube, 21 May 2012. Web. 22 May 2016.

event 2

I first went into the gallery before the presentation. There were so many amazing things to look at! There were multiple intricate paintings and sculptures.

My favorite piece in the entire gallery was the purple painting with lightning all over it. I think it was super creative and fun to look at!

 There were so many amazing pieces in the gallery. I loved how everything was set up. They had wine and snacks, and everything was very official looking. I have never been to an art gallery before, and I learned that I love them!

Ana Joffre used to be a physicist but wanted to contribute to culture. She defined many important terms for her audience. She taught us that magnetic fields are electric current produced by magnetic field. She also said that electric charges have two types of charges: positive and negative and they attract each other.  An electric field is when electric charges make electric fields. Matter is made of atoms, atoms contain moving charges.
Each atom has magnetic movement and in some materials they align. She showed an experiment of a makeshift motor. It was super interesting!

Megan lindeman is involved with Neuro - chemistry and is interested in black matter.
She talked about mixing molecules (oxytocin) and using them with paint. She makes really cool paintings. She titles all paintings with a description of random things and then "And the richness of darkness." She uses both emotion and reason in her paintings. 

Walter gekelman was another speaker at the event. He talked about how plasma is the fourth state of matter and if you make something hot enough then molecules came out. If you make it even hotter than that, then hotter electrons come out. He discussed how the coldest plasma is 1000 degrees Celsius and how the surface of the sun is 8000 degrees.
I learned that fusion happens in center of sun and that Walter creates experiments that replicate this fusion. He also talked about his project Plasma coy. It is designed like an Infiniti and has a magnet in the bottom. Water is pulled to the magnet. Coy fish are at the bottom. 

Week 7

What is consciousness?  Consciousness is a sense of ones personal or collective identity. 

http://sahebkhabar.ir/hermes/fanavarimag/fanavarimag-yk-hfth-agahanh-bray-hfz-w-artqay-slamt-mghz.jpg

There were many people who have studied the brain and the unconscious in history. Aristotle taught that the brain was just cooling mechanism for blood and that heart did the thinking. The invention of the microscope and electricity made it possible to actually study the brain.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Aristotle_Bust_White_Background_Transparent.png

- Franz joseph gall: shows how brain looks. Phrenology: look at skull shape to show characteristics.Brain was divided into 27 separate organs. Each of these sections led to characteristics. Last eight sections were specific to humans only. Kindness, passion, sensitivity, organ of religion, etc. Lectured in Vienna were popular, but were condemned by austrian governmnet because sacrilegious. Concept of localized sections in the brain were proven. He also was first to discover grey matter and white tissue.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Franz_Josef_Gall3.jpg/220px-Franz_Josef_Gall3.jpg

95 percent of what we dream is forgotten. We have a lot of research about dreams, but know so little. Dreams are amazing for both artists and scientist to study and get inspiration from. The unconscious mind was first seriously studied by Freud.  He divided the conscious mind into two parts: the conscious (ego) and the unconscious (id). Young (another scientist who studied conscious and unconscious) thought that Freud focused too much on sexual aspects of the brain. Young thought religion was a safe place for people to have and study, while Freud did not like religion. 

https://rebeccameyer1.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/dreams-4.jpg

 Two drugs that are now illegal but change the mind and how one sees the world are cocaine and LSD. Freud became addicted to cocaine. It used to be known as cure for depression, fatigue, etc. Freud almost killed a patient with cocaine. LSD used to be completely open and legal to use. It was created in 1938 by chemist. Made images and pictures brighter and crazier and made your pupils dilate. The chemist thought he was going insane. He started selling it as psychiatric cure all. It was also used by students as a teaching tool to understand schizophrenia. 

https://steponerehab.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/8b804f8379d67641620ca6c5661cbc2f.jpg

Pictures:

http://sahebkhabar.ir/hermes/fanavarimag/fanavarimag-yk-hfth-agahanh-bray-hfz-w-artqay-slamt-mghz.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Aristotle_Bust_White_Background_Transparent.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Franz_Josef_Gall3.jpg/220px-Franz_Josef_Gall3.jpg

https://rebeccameyer1.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/dreams-4.jpg

https://steponerehab.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/8b804f8379d67641620ca6c5661cbc2f.jpg

Sources:

Uconlineprogram. "Neuroscience Pt1." YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2012. Web. 16 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Neuroscience Pt2." YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2012. Web. 16 May 2016.

Uconlineprogram. "Neuroscience Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2012. Web. 16 May 2016.

"Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.

"Sigmund Freud." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.