Event 3 - Griffith Observatory

For my last event blog post, I visited the Griffith Observatory with a few friends. I have been there a few times before, and I thought it would be a great place to find a mixture of art and science, particularly art and space science, as discussed in the last lecture.

Figure 1. The entrance to Griffith Observatory.

While there are many amazing exhibits at the Observatory that show the topics of this course, I would like to focus on the pendulum for the purposes of this post. The Foucault Pendulum is one of the first things you see when you walk into the building. It is “one of the largest such devices in the world,” and contains a 240-pound bronze ball suspended by a 40-foot long cable (Griffith). The cable is mounted to the ceiling using a bearing that allows the cable to rotate freely. This means that the pendulum continuously swings in the same direction, while the Earth turns beneath it. To demonstrate this slow rotation of the Earth, the exhibit has several pegs set up along one side, which are sequentially knocked down as the Earth rotates.

Figure 2. The Foucault Pendulum at Griffith.
Photo credit: http://www.griffithobservatory.org/exhibits/centralrotunda_foucaultpendulum.html (because all of the pictures I tried to take of the pendulum did not come out).

To me, this is the COOLEST thing at the Observatory. It is a brilliant way to show something that is normally outside of our usual reference frame (aside from observing the movement of the sun) in a way that we can easily see. It was amazing to look at the pendulum on our way into the building, and then on the way out, see that more pegs have been knocked down. We stood around it and watched for a time, urging the ball to knock down more pegs, even though we knew that it all just depended on time.

Figure 3. Me and my crazy friends looking at the sun dial outside of Griffith.

Works Cited

"Foucault Pendulum." Griffith Observatory. Web. 7 June 2015.

"Foucault Pendulum in the Griffith Observatory Rotunda | Southern California Daily Photo." Southern California Daily Photo. 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 7 June 2015.

"Griffith Observatory." Official Site: Los Angeles, CA. Web. 7 June 2015.

"Griffith Observatory." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 7 June 2015.

"Pendulum." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 7 June 2015.

Event 2 - LACMA

Despite having lived in LA for more than seven years, I have never actually gotten the chance to visit LACMA, so when the museum appeared on the listing of events we could attend for this class, I jumped at the opportunity. As it turns out, LACMA actually has something they call the “Art + Technology Lab,” which “pair[s] artists with technology companies in Southern California” in order to support “artist experiments with emerging technology” (LACMA). Of course, this sounded like a perfect place to go for this event blog, so I made a trip there on May 31, 2015.

There were many inspiring and amazing displays, but given the word limitations for this blog, I will talk about one in particular: Newton Harrison’s Installation for Art and Technology. This display was part of LACMA’s original Art and Technology program from 1967-1971, and today’s display shows images of the installation process of the exhibit, as well as the finished product.

Figure 1. Harrison and Ray Goldstein from JPL work on the exhibit.

  Harrison worked with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a NASA-affiliated research center, to design and build an installation of Plexiglass tubes that show the effects of glow discharge. Glow discharge describes the “light effect that occurs when electrical current passes through gas, causing it to break down into plasma and glow in different colors” (LACMA). Glow discharge is essentially how the ubiquitous glowing neon signs in storefront windows work. This resulted in twelve-foot-high columns of continually fluctuating color and intensity. He also hid all of the supporting infrastructure (wiring, tubing, etc.) either under the floor or behind false walls so as not to distract viewers from the glow discharge columns.

Figure 2. Construction of the exhibit.

I believe that this display is a great example of the combination of art and technology that we have been discussing all quarter, particularly the Space + Art unit. It shows how simple chemical reactions can be made into beautiful and educational works of art.

Figure 3. The completed exhibit.

Works Cited

"Art Technology Lab." Art Technology Lab. Web. 6 June 2015.

"Art and Technology in the Archives at the Balch Art Research Library | Unframed." Art and Technology in the Archives at the Balch Art Research Library | Unframed. 7 July 2014. Web. 6 June 2015.

"Glow Discharge." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 6 June 2015.

Salsac, Lydie, and Thomas Nelis. "Glow Discharges." GlowDischarge.com. Web. 6 June 2015.

Scott, Gail R. "Newton Harrison." Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program. University of California, Santa Barbara. Web. 6 June 2015.

Event 1 - The Getty Center

I went to The Getty Center for UCLA’s College Night at The Getty this year, and took the opportunity to look around for inspiration for an event blog post for this class. First of all, it was a great event (free food—who doesn’t like free food?), and it was the perfect time to visit the Center.

When I arrived, I fully expected to be wandering the rooms looking for a display that I could relate to the class, but instead, I found myself captivated by the area outside of the Center: the gardens and the building architecture. Not only is The Getty a place to display art, it is also a work of art in and of itself.

Architecture is something I mentioned in my very first blog post for this class. To me, it seems to be the perfect representation of the mutually beneficial relationship between art and science. The Getty buildings are a great example of this. They are amazing to look at, and yet are also perfectly suited to their purposes, as buildings and as display spaces.

Figure 1. Some of the amazing architecture at The Getty Center.

I was also fascinated by the gardens outside of the buildings. In my previous visits to the Center, I never had the chance to walk around outside. This time, however, I was able to see the amazing plant sculptures and the waterfall. Again, I see these as more examples of architecture, and the marriage of art and science.

Figure 2. The waterfall in the gardens at The Getty Center.

Take, for example, the sculpture photographed below. This looks to made of welded pieces of rebar covered with plants. Achieving the symmetry of the towers must have taken exacting calculations, and the result is quite stunning.

Figure 3. The bougainvillea arbors at The Getty Center. 

Works Cited

"Architecture, Art or Science?" Architecture, Art or Science? Web. 6 June 2015.

"Gardens | Getty Center." The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. Web. 6 June 2015.

Moore, Charles W. "Architecture: Art and Science." Journal of Architectural Education 19.4 (1965): 53-56. Print.

Panek, Richard. "Art and Science: A Universe Apart?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Feb. 1999. Web. 6 June 2015.

"The Getty." The Getty. Web. 6 June 2015.