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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Opera of the Future

'Operabots' hold Opera of the Future

Saturday, March 19, 2011

DNA of Creativity


We had our annual brainstorming meeting for SDVAN future projects and this one on a combined Art and Science promotion took off like a rocket. Kaz Maslanka stepped forward to construct our DNA of Creativity blog website where all the member of this group can share ideas and get to know each other. The result of all of this is that we have a bumper crop of new links to share and a special blog site for you to visit to see them.

Synergy is the optimum word for this blog and that is no surprise when Naomi Nussbaum (Synergy Art Foundation) suggested we connect with UCSD, which has a developed interdisciplinary program with Art and Science in one building. With the help of Portia la Touche, we had an invitation for a special guided tour of Calit2 at UCSD.

First stop for me was the lecture by Maurizio Seracini (also know as the DiVinci Detective), which was part of the UCSD 50th Celebration and held at the Price Center. Seracini is obviously passionate and sincere about his wish to bring the scientific process to the conservation of art works. He is also creative about his investigations. The story I like the best revealed his Eureka moment while trying to discover if there were hidden murals behind white washed walls in an old Italian building. Nothing was revealed using all his special equipment until he remembered one machine was designed especially to work well though liquid. . A quick spray of the walls with a water mist and all was revealed. Seracini is Adjt Professor, Director, UCSD Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) which is part of the Jacobs School of Engineering. He has a vision to put UCSD on the international map and has arranged a10 year collaboration at the Italian home of Amerigo Vespucci for student to do oversea studies.

Back to the tour of Calit2 and the exhibition
Synthesis: Processing and Collaboration including Virtual Reality installation for the StarCAVE with special guest Tom DeFanti, Director of Visualization and Senior Research Scientist at Calit2. Trish Stone was our tour Director and is the Gallery Coordinator at Atchinson Hall. Kira Carrillo Corser (pictures above) and Kay Colvin (View Album) both took photos to share. Tom showed us not only the StarCave, a space with motion detecting interaction programs, but also his mobile communication system where multiple computer screens are visible and uploaded wirelessly. Expensive equipment was on view, but we thought less aesthetics than one would have wished.

We hope to invent some way to have a collaboration with UCSD which does not involve visiting the campus. They realize they have a parking problem and their maps are outdated and thus confusing. Even the entrance to the building from the street was through a dark tunnel with no signage. It will be interesting to see if we can help shine some light on them outside of the confines of academia. Time will tell.

I attended the Full Steam Ahead meeting pulled together by Jessica McKimmie of Sneaker Academy at Art Expression Gallery quite soon after that. One of discussion points was the definition of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math). We now see this term more clearly as a placeholder for the idea of interdisciplinary combinations of art and science. There is no STEAM organization but STEAM with the added “A” for arts re-enforced the idea that the arts are essential part of recovering our economy. John Eger tackles this subject in his article for the Huffington Post. (Remember his book Arts Education and the Innovation Economy: Ensuring America's Success in the 21st Century now available at Amazon)


Edward Abeyta, director of Student and Client Services at UCSD has a team working to compile a resource called Steam Manifesto similar and complimentary to DNA of Creativity and it is worth checking it out as well.

Now for some interesting statistics on how the Arts in STEM (no “A”) contribute to the economy. Dr. Francis X. Kane is quoted, "Of the two million U.S. Arts jobs requiring significant technology proficiency 10% are architects; 11% are fine artists, art directors and animators, 7% are producers and directors; and 7% are photographers. The products of these disciplines represent 6.4% of the U.S. economy and over $126 billion annually in revenue from foreign trade." In this same article he mentions TEAM-STEM. Read the whole article on the SteamManifesto site:

Our next DNA of creativity meeting is Tuesday April 12 from 10 am to noon. We have just learned of a very promising potential funder for this project, so please let us know if you want to attend.

PATRICIA FRISCHER, author of "The Artist and the Art of Marketing" has lectured extensively on marketing for artists. She is a trainer of artists’ agents, art dealers, consultant and collectors. Frischer has taken on the roles of gallerist, curator, writer, teacher, website coordinator and artist. Her many metamorphoses make her difficult to fit into any of the usual art world categories. She is a founding member and coordinator of the San Diego Visual Arts Network, (www.SDVAN.net ) which funds the SD Art Prize, directory and events calendar and SmART Collector features. Her own artwork (www.DrawsCrowd.com ) has been shown internationally.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Real Time Travel?


This post has nothing to do with art, however, it has such a "cool factor" I just couldn't resist. Check out real time travel here

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

A New View Of Gravity



View the article here

Extremely heady stuff but the bottom line of this article says “In other words, information might be a more profound physical entity than matter or field.”

My next question is: If you view art as information then what connection does it have to this view
of science?

Sunday, March 13, 2011

ASCI News



New ASCI (Art and Science Collaborations) newsletter click here


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

ASCI News On Owen Schuh


ASCI Art and Science collaborations latest on Owen Schuh can be viewed here

Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Rhythm of Structure

John Sims the Rhythm of Structure. Great Show John!

John Haber


Here is an interesting perspective from, John Haber a NYC art critic who happens to have an extensive background in physics and mathematics.

Friday, March 4, 2011

The Creators Project


Techno Art by James Powderly - click here for an interview.

Check out the main site for the creators project of new media - here

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This is a new peer review journal - very interesting! click here

Beautiful Science


Here is a slideshow titled Beautiful Science click here

Thursday, March 3, 2011

ESMA Newsletter


The latest ESMA (European Society for Mathematics and Art) newsletter just came out - you can see it here

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Rhythm of Structure


The only reason I am posting this link is because I had a small part in this show when it was put together in NYC. Now it is on the road - I wish there was a place in San Diego that we could bring it.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Dutch Dominate - excerpt taken from delancyplace.com

In today's excerpt - in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Florence led the Renaissance and was at the forefront of European commerce and ideas. But the trial of Galileo, a showpiece of the Counter-Reformation, ended that, and scientists and commercial adventurers knew they had to leave the Italian peninsula for a more tolerant home. That home was the Netherlands - a bastion for freedom in science, commerce and thought. As the best migrated to the Netherlands, that country parlayed its freedom and intellectual energy into global leadership, becoming the wealthiest and most advanced country in the world, replacing Florence and overshadowing England and France. The key engine of its wealth was a domination of world shipping trade, and in particular, its dominance of the spice trade - pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon - the rare east Asian spices which were perhaps the most valuable commodities in the world: "In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the Netherlands was arguably the wealthiest and most scientifically advanced of the European nations. This period, known as the Dutch Golden Age, brought a flourishing of the arts and sciences that reflected the period's unbounded optimism and affluence. Prosperous burghers and merchants became patrons of the arts,including sculpture, poetry and drama, and of public debates. They commissioned architects to design beautiful houses. Paintings and sculptures adorned the interior walls of these impressive homes. Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jacob van Ruisdael and many others revolutionized painting, infusing new life into landscapes, portraiture and still life, as well as portraying contemporary life and society in the flourishing cities that were the most cosmopolitan in Europe. "In science, the list of internationally prominent luminaries included the philosopher Rene Descartes; acclaimed jurist and theorist of international law Hugo Grotius; mathematician, astronomer and inventor of the pendulum clock Christiaan Huygens; and Anton van Leeuwenhoek, ... founder of the study of microbiology. Book publishing flourished in the climate of tolerance and intellectual curiosity; ideas concerning religion, philosophy and science that were considered too controversial in other nations found their way into print in the Netherlands, and the books were secretly shipped abroad."The Dutch Republic, newly freed from Spanish domination and relishing its freedom, was admirably situated to dominate European trade by providing an artery into the interior. Thousands of ships crowded its many harbours. The great city of Amsterdam was the centre of the international trade in the exotic luxuries of the Americas, India and the 'Spice Islands.' The Amsterdam stock exchange, founded in 1602, was the world's first, created by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) for dealing in its own stocks and bonds. The VOC was the first-ever trading company with a permanent share capital. This jointstock company attracted huge wealth in initial capitalization from over 1,800 investors, most of whom were merchants and other wealthy middle-class citizens, and the speculation on the fluctuating value of these shares relied on the success or failure of the company's ships in bringing spices back to Europe from the Far East."The first great global corporation, the VOC was by the late seventeenth century the most powerful and richest company in the world. Its private fleet boasted nearly 150 merchant ships and 40 giant warships. At the height of its power, it employed nearly 50,000 people worldwide - seamen, artisans, stevedores, labourers, clerks and builders. The company was involved in a multitude of commercial activities, such as construction, sugar refining, cloth manufacturing, tobacco curing, weaving, glass making, distilling, brewing and other industries related to its global business enterprises. The payroll also included a 10,000-man private army."The VOC, one of the foundations of Dutch prosperity and with its mighty fleet a key force propelling the young republic to look to the world for commerce, held a virtual monopoly over the global spice supply."

Author: Steven R. Bown
Title: Merchant Kings
Publisher: St. Martin's
PressDate: Copyright 2009
by Steven R. BownPages: 15-16
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