Event 1: Professor Victoria Vesna’s Lecture on Art Electronica Festival’s Hybrid Arts and STARTS (Science Technology and the Arts)

When I first showed up to the event I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t know how many people were going to show up. I showed up a little early and it was me and two other of my class mates. Once the event started, professor Vesna showed us several videos that were submitted and presented at the Art Electronica Festival. The videos covered a wide range of topics. Some videos were concerned with animals and the environment, and other videos were more concerned with political issues.

 

(I am in white shirt right end)

One project that made an impression on me was the drone presentation. As a geography, major I get to learn about some researchers studying bird calls and sounds. The drone experiment was similar, but this study recorded different types of drone sounds. Many of the drone sounds were labeled and many of the labels had bird names in them for various reasons. Drones are getting very popular in photography and videography today, and it was interesting to see someone try to develop a system to help people identify drones.

My next favorite video was titled the Rock Print. This project consisted of rocks, string, and wooden slats of wood. The pictures below show the 1, 2, 3 step process of beginning, middle, and end of constructing this sculpture. Then the video shows the deinstallation of the rock print project. This project demonstrates how science can be used to complement art. The process is very interesting and best understood through pictures and videos.

Disinstallment Video (Click Here)

In the end, I was happy I attended this event. I could see many different pieces of original work from the festival. Each piece of work directly related to the topics the DESMA 9 course has covered thus far.

 SOURCES

Cardoso, Gonçalo F. A Study Into 21st Century Drone Acoustics. Droneacoustics.org, Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

"Deinstallation of Rock Print, Architectural Installation at the Inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015." Vimeo. 03 May 2017. Web. 04 May 2017.

"Installation of Rock Print, Architectural Installation at the Inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015." Vimeo.  03 May 2017. Web. 04 May 2017.