Leonardo Art/Science Evening Rendezvous of October 11, 2014

Exploring the Frontiers of Knowledge and Imagination, Fostering Interdisciplinary Networking
San Mateo, October 11, 2014
c/o Silicon Valley Art Fair
Chaired by Piero Scaruffi and Tracy Freedman

The LASERs are a national program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversation with an audience. See the program for the whole series.

Leonardo ISAST and USF invite you to a meeting of the Leonardo Art/Science community. The event is free and open to everybody. Like previous evenings, the agenda includes some presentations of art/science projects, news from the audience, and time for casual socializing/networking.
See below for location and agenda.
Email me if you want to be added to the mailing list for the LASERs.
See also...


Program:
  • 3:30-3:40: Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian): Introduction to the national LASER program
  • 3:40-4:00: Robert Buelteman (Photographer) on "Photography Without the Camera" The application of high-voltage electrical currents and hand-delivered fiber optic light can create fine-art photographs of living plants through a creative process inspired by Japanese ink-brush painting and improvisational jazz
  • 4:00-4:20: Kal Spelletich (Kinetic Artist) on "Interactive art as a catalyst towards an engaged life" Interactive work inspired by political activism, volunteerism and getting people involved in life
  • 4:20-4:40: Lia Cook (Visual Artist) on "Woven Faces and Neuro Nets" Abstract?
  • 4:40-5:00: Alan Rath (Digital Video Sculptor) on "Irrational Exuberance" "Irrational" kinetic sculptures vs "Rational" digital videos
  • 5:00pm-: Discussions, networking You can mingle with the speakers and the audience

Bios:
  • Robert Buelteman has published 4 books of photographs and fifteen limited-edition portfolios of his work. He has been honored with six residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the subject of his monograph Eighteen Days in June (2000), as well as a three year residency at the Santa Fe Institute. He recently completed a new collection of images as a guest of Stanford's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. His work is found in the permanent collections of he Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Santa Fe Institute, Yale University Art Museum, Stanford University and numerous corporate and private collections as well.
  • Lia Cook, Visual Artist, Professor of Art, California College of the Arts works in a variety of media combining weaving with painting, photography and digital technology. Her current practice explores the sensuality of the woven image and embodied memories of touch and cloth. Working together with neuroscientists she investigates the nature of the emotional response to the tactile quality of woven faces and uses the laboratory experience with both process and tools to stimulate new work. Lia Cook exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include: "Neuro Nets + Net Works" Perimeter Gallery, Chicago "Icones Jacquards" Les Drapiers , Liege, Belgium and "Weaving and Innovation: Digital Fibers Converse with Neural Networks" at University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her works are in the permanent collection of the MOMA, NY; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Cooper Hewitt; Museum of Arts and Design, NY; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Cleveland Museum of Art; Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC; The National Collection, France; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Musee Bellerive, Switzerland; National Gallery of Australia; Zhejiang Art Museum and the National Silk Museum, Hangzhou China
  • Alan Rath, a pioneer in the field of electronic art, received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1982. His contributions to the field of contemporary sculpture and new media have received significant acknowledgement worldwide. His work is in such major collections as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Hara Museum (Tokyo). Rath lives in San Francisco, CA.
  • Piero Scaruffi is a cognitive scientist who has lectured in three continents and published several books on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, the latest one being "The Nature of Consciousness" (2006). He pioneered Internet applications in the early 1980s and the use of the World-Wide Web for cultural purposes in the mid 1990s. His poetry has been awarded several national prizes in Italy and the USA. His latest book of poems and meditations is "Synthesis" (2009). As a music historian, he has published ten books, the latest ones being "A History of Rock and Dance Music" (2009) and "A History of Jazz Music" (2007). His latest book of history is "A History of Silicon Valley" (2011). The first volume of his free ebook "A Visual History of the Visual Arts" appeared in 2012. His latest book is "Demystifying Machine Intelligence" (2013). He has also written extensively about cinema and literature.
  • Kal Spelletich was the founder of Seemen, an interactive machine art performance collective, has collaborated with Survival Research Labs and countless others from rock bands to scientists, politicians, NASA, Hollywood television and filmmakers. For 28 years he has been experimenting with interfacing humans and technology to put people in touch with intense real life experiences and to empower them. Kal's work is always interactive, requiring a participant to enter or operate the piece, often against their instincts of self-preservation. He works on the waterfront of San Francisco scouring junkyards and dumpsters for industrial items whose technology can be reapplied. He curates art exhibits and is involved in political activism.

Address and directions:


San Mateo County Event Center
Expo Hall
1346 Saratoga Drive
San Mateo, CA 94403




The audience

The audience

Julia the organizer

Robert Buelteman and Piero Scaruffi