Event 3

Austrian Scholar, Claudia Schnugg conducted a pop-up lecture titled, Creating Fertile Ground ArtSci Collaboration, at the CNSI Auditorium. She discussed and presented many unique projects and topics that incorporated arts and science. To being her lecture, Schnugg said that scientists and artists are not usually on the same page with their work, but they are in face very similar and can be used to collaborate and create world changing products. The two contraptions that was most interesting to me was Agent Unicorn by Anouk Wipprecht and the Semantic Machine by Tracy Redhead and Florist Thalmann.

(Proof of attendance. Im in blue t-shirt in back)

            Agent Unicorn by Anouk Wipprecht served as a head device that simulated a unicorn horn. Schnugg played a short video for the class so that we could get a better description of the contraption from the creator Anouk. The video explained that at the tip of the horn there was a camera and sensors. The sensors were little electrodes which were used to turn the camera on and off. The main purpose of this contraption was to study and aid children who suffer from Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder (ADHD). The electrodes help the scientists understand when the children is paying attention and when the child is not. When the sensors experience high concentration and attention, the camera turns on and records what is immediately in front of the child. In contrast, when there is low concentration, the camera shuts off. Schnugg said that the next step to this invention is adding a facial recognition feature. With the implementation of this, scientists will also be able to see if there are cultural factors that influence a person’s attention.

Unicorn- A Fashionable Brain Scan." G.tec. N.p., 18 Apr. 2016. Web.  02 June 2017

(Both left and right are self taken pictures of pop-up lecture)

            Next, Schnugg spoke about the semantic machine. This project involved Tracy working on her computer with other scientist in effort to create a music player and change the music in response to specific emotions. Schnugg interjected her ideas and observation of Tracy’s work and said that she originally thought there should be an artist involved in the project rather than only scientists. But after Schnugg observed the project more, she realized that it was best to have mechanics studies theories, and then figure out how to change the music according to emotions on its own. Lastly, Schnugg argued that there should be an implementation of sensory experience between human and machine. She said without this component the emotional experience will not be as strong as it could be.

            Overall Scholar Claudia Schnugg shared with the class that she learned that it is very important to be open to collaboration, and to be diversified and specialized. It is important to allow two separate field such as art and science to combine research and creativeness.

Sources

Unicorn- A Fashionable Brain Scan." G.tec. N.p., 18 Apr. 2016. Web.  02 June 2017