Once an artist takes on the challenge of making invisible visible or inaudible audible, they are almost immediately thrown into the realm of energy at the edge of art and science. Established art world– largely based on visual culture–finds it difficult to place this kind of work; and the scientific community–used to working in this realm in a reductionist way–finds it hard to comprehend. Yet the public seems to be drawn to media artwork residing in between, and there seems to be a universal need for connection to the spiritual realm beyond what established religions offer. As many speculative ideas in the West circulate around those of energetic approach to matter in general, particularly body and mind, alternative medicine and other Eastern philosophies are thriving. Exploration and creation of sound art projects that utilize vibrations, noise, and audible and inaudible realms. Sound artists and scientists who work with sound will be visiting the class to share their experiences and involve students in hands-on exercises.
Vibrations Matter
Instructor
Victoria Vesna, Ph.D., is an Artist and Professor at the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci Center. Although she was trained early on as a painter (Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Belgrade, 1984), her curious mind took her on an exploratory path that resulted in work that can be defined as experimental creative research residing between disciplines and technologies. With her installations, she investigates how communication technologies affect collective behavior and perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation (PhD, CAiiA-STAR, University of Wales, 2000). Her work involves long-term collaborations with composers, nano-scientists, neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists, and she brings this experience to students. Victoria exhibits her work in numerous international exhibitions, has been published in 20+ papers, and gave 100+ invited talks in the last decade. She is the North American editor of the AI & Society journal (Springer Verlag, UK) and in 2007 published an edited volume – Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow (Minnesota Press) and another in 2011 — Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. (co-edited with Christiane Paul and Margot Lovejoy) Intellect Ltd, 2011.