North | South Mixer (Nov 2010)
North | South Mixer (Nov 2010)
Location: CNSI, UCLA, Los Angeles
An afternoon of innovative work showcasing art|science collaborations at UCLA, presented to the International Fulbright Science & Technology Conference scholars.
Introduction by: Victoria Vesna, artist | James Gimzewski, scientist | Paul Weiss, CNSI Director
Featuring presentations of Art|Sci work by: Mattia Casalegno, Romie Littrell, Silvia Rigon, Johanna Reed, Jiacong Yan, and Pinar Yoldas
3 – 5 pm Welcoming
International Fulbright Science & Technology conference attendees
5 – 7 pm Social mixer with molecular cocktails by Johanna Reed and Jiacong Yan, music by Odo
Co-sponsored by The Center for Society and Genetics
Presenters’ Bios:
Victoria Vesna
Art Director, Art|Sci Center, UCLA
Victoria Vesna is a media artist and Professor at the UCLA Department of Design | Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci center at the School of the Arts and California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI). She is currently a Visiting Professor and Director of Research at Parsons Art, Media + Technology, the New School for Design in New York and a senior researcher at IMéRA – Institut Méditerranéen de Recherches Avancées in Marseille, France and Artist in Residence at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Bristol. Her work can be defined as experimental creative research that resides between disciplines and technologies. With her installations she explores how communication technologies affect collective behavior and how perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation. Victoria has exhibited her work in over twenty solo exhibitions, more than seventy group shows, has been published in excess of twenty papers and gave 100+ invited talks in the last decade. She is the North American editor of AI & Society and in 2007 published an edited volume, Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow, Minnesota Press. In Press is Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. Edited with Christiane Paul and Margot Lovejoy. Intellect Press, 2011.
James Gimzewski
Science Director, Art|Sci Center, UCLA
Dr. Gimzewski is a professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles and member of the California NanoSystems Institute. Prior 2001, he was a group leader at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in nanoscale science and technology for more than 18 years. He pioneered research on mechano-electrical contacts imaging with single atoms and molecules using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM. His accomplishments include the STM-tip fabrication of molecular superstructures, the discovery of single molecule rotors and development of micro-nanomechanical sensors to convert biochemical recognition into Nanomechanics. His current interests are in the nanomechanics and elasticity of cells and bacteria in collaboration with the UCLA Medical and Dental Schools. His projects range from miniature nuclear fusion devices using pyroelectric crystals to single molecule DNA profiling. He is involved with Victoria Vesna in many art-science installations exhibited in museums worldwide. As scientific-director of the UCLA Art|Sci Center, Dr. Gimzewski promulgates the fusion of artistic creation and scientific innovation.
Mattia Casalegno
Artist
Department of Design Media Arts, Art|Sci Center, UCLA
He’s a multidsciplinary artist born in Naples, Italy, and currently based in Los Angeles, CA. He often collaborates with designers, architects, neurologists, and musicians producing works that span architectural video-installations, immersive environments, live media performances and interactive systems. His works and performances have been shown in events such as RomaEuropa Festival, Netmage and Sant’Arcangelo dei Teatri in Italy, Mutek in Canada, Optronica in UK, OFFF in Spain, Cimatics Belgium, AVIT in Germany.
mattiacasalegno.net
Romie Littrell
Scientist
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Art|Sci Center, UCLA Romie Littrell is a graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering Dept. at UCLA. He received his BA in Molecular and Cell Biology in 2003 from UC Berkeley. Since then he has engaged in a wide array of biological research including maize genetics, cornea tissue engineering, microfluidic bioreactors, and cell-chip interfaces. His current research focuses on creating hybrid electronic/microfluidic tools for abstracting biological techniques to facilitate education and empower those in unrelated fields to perform advanced biology. Romie is also very interested in synthetic biology, is a member of DIY bio, and was a grad advisor to the 2007 MIT iGEM team. He currently collaborates with UCLA's Department of Design Media Arts and MIT's Media Lab for the former.
Silvia Rigon
Artist
Alumni, Department of Design Media Arts, Art|Sci Center, UCLA, Disney
Silvia Rigon is an Italian visual artist and designer. She has a background in Painting from the Venezia Academy of Fine Arts, and an MFA from the Department of Design Media Arts at UCLA. Silvia’s artistic investigation in the field of digital media concerns sensorial design in the context of an interactive experience of art. The content of her pieces often refers to the notion of “monstrosity,” especially manifested in historical iconography and myths, as a way of unveiling the ambivalence and paradoxes underling our perception of the time in which we live.
silviarigon.com
Johanna Reed
Artist
Alumni, Department of Design Media Arts, Art|Sci Center, UCLA
Johanna Reed is an artist in Los Angeles. She’s written plays, made a wearable head extension to test the hypothesis “would you think bigger thoughts if you had a bigger head?”, and started work on a food opera.
johannareed.net
Jiacong Yan
Artist
Alumni, Department of Design Media Arts, Art|Sci Center, UCLA
Jay was born. Thank god.
jay-yan.com
Pinar Yoldas
Artist
Duke University
Alumni, Department of Design Media Arts, Art|Sci Center, UCLA Pinar Yoldas is an LA-based interface designer, artist and educator. She received her BArch from Middle East Technical University with high honors, her MA in Visual Communication Design from Istanbul Bilgi University, her MS in information technologies from Istanbul Bilgi University and (finally) her MFA from UCLA's Design Media Arts department where she was the recipient of Eugene Wurzel Memorial Scholarship and Clifton Webb Scholarship from the School of the Arts and Architecture at UCLA. So far, Pinar has exhibited in Los Angeles, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Bologna. Her work is a reflection of her interests in design, architecture, neuroscience, evolution, gender studies and science fiction. Pinar is currently a visiting artist at Duke University where she teaches studio classes and collaborates with Dr. Kevin LaBar's lab on neuroscience of emotions.
pinaryoldas.info