Art meets engineering in new exhibitions at UCSD
By
Lonnie Burstein Hewitt
An
engineering building may seem an odd venue for art exhibitions, until you
realize that UC San Diego’s Structural and Materials Engineering Building (SME)
is affectionately called “Bauhaus West.”
The
Bauhaus was a German school that flourished in the 1920s, combining art and
technology and setting the course for modernist architecture and design. That
collaborative spirit is now in evidence at SME, where art studios, galleries and
performance spaces co- exist with engineering research labs, and a new faculty
exhibit, “Corpus,” which shows off some of the intriguing possibilities that can
occur when art and science intersect.
Most
eye-catching is VisArts professor emeritus Eleanor Antin’s large-scale 2008
video installation “Classical Frieze,” a behind-the-scenes look at Antin’s
restaging of ancient Rome in modern- day La Jolla that combines a Fellini-esque
use of color and costume with chuckle- worthy anachronisms.
But
other pieces are equally attention-grabbing, if you stop to examine them —
especially the work of Maurizio Seracini, adjunct professor of structural
engineering at UCSD and director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for
Art, Architecture and Archeology in Florence. Seracini uses a copy of a painting
by Leonardo da Vinci to demonstrate an amazing application he has in
development, which allows viewers to discover what lies underneath an antique
work of art.
By
zooming in on a section of the painting on an iPad, and rubbing the pad gently
with your finger, there’s a magical reveal of beautifully-drawn faces that
Leonardo decided to cover over, faces that have been unseen for centuries.
“It
is like magic,” Seracini said at the exhibit’s Feb. 21 opening. “There is magic
in any work of art, and we want to take back that magic, so that viewers will be
not just passive, but curious and excited by what they see.”
For
developing the app itself, Seracini credits grad student David Vanoni, on his
way to a Ph.D. in Engineering Studies for Cultural Heritage.
“You
won’t find a university department like this anywhere else in the world,”
Seracini said. “We’re creating human beings, not specialists; we’re training
engineers to work with works of art. Now people will be able to interact with
artworks, and make their own discoveries.”
By
the end of the year, they hope to present the app to the city of Florence. And
you can say you saw it first at SME.
Other
notable pieces: A small but attractive depiction of the fighting power of
neutrophils (aka white blood cells, dyed red for better visibility) by Klaus
Ley, head of the Division of Inflammation of La Jolla Institute of Allergy &
Immunology. And the dance photos and videos of Babette Mangolte.
“Corpus”
is an insightful and delightful body of work in SME’s first floor gallery, and
there’s more to see on the fourth floor — “The Practice Series,” a student group
show in Room 406.For
even more art and a chance to interact with the next generation of artists,
don’t miss Open Studio Day at the Visual Arts Facility, a stone’s throw from
SME, on March 9, and be sure to visit the gallery there for “Metaphysics,” a
nine-channel video installation by Adrienne Garbini.
If
you go
■ What:
‘Corpus,’ on view through May 17
■
Where: Structural and Materials Engineering Building, UC San Diego, Voight Drive
and Matthews Lane
■
Gallery Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday-Friday; closed March 16-April 1
■
Open Studio Day: 3-8 p.m. Saturday, March 9, Visual Arts Facility, UC San Diego,
Russell Lane, next to Gilman parking structure, visit studios of 37 grad student
artists, 5-6 p.m. social hour/refreshments, 6-8 p.m. performances/screenings.
Free weekend parking.
■ Contact:
VisArts Chair Jordan Crandall, (858) 534-0418
First published in the La Jolla Light http://www.lajollalight.com/2013/03/08/art-meets-engineering-in-new-exhibitions-at-ucsd/
Lonnie Hewitt
Author/Arts & Lifestyle Writer
858-523-0223
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