B I O T E C H + A R T  :  H O N O R S   1 7 7

It was great to see all the unique projects featured in the Town Hall Exhibition by the MFA students. The one artwork that struck me the most was Maya Man’s project integrating her expertise in computer science with art. All of the artworks resemble a part of a digital trend in art. The various artworks contained digital components, including AI and VR technology.

During our class meeting last week, we attended the “Town Hall” exhibition hosted by the 2023 UCLA Design Media Arts MFA cohort. I’ve been to a few museums here and there, but I’ve never had the chance to experience anything like this type of gallery showing. It was really fascinating to see all the different pieces in the gallery! I felt like all the pieces that were featured there were discussing topics that I hadn’t seen in museums before, and doing so by using really innovative methods and techniques.

This past we went and saw the installations of several graduate students at an art gallery in Broad. I thought overall the show was very impressive and the works were engaging. I think my main critique would be some of the projects appeared to be rather cryptic in what the piece was trying to say or what they were about. Below are pictures of the installations that spoke to me the most.

I am so glad our class got to see the design media arts students’ thesis exhibition and I was super impressed with all of the pieces. It was so interesting to see how each artist used different mediums to exemplify the theme of material forms and immaterial pixels, such as using quilts, websites, films, video games, virtual reality, and much more (DMA).

I really enjoyed attending the Design Media Arts FMA final exhibition this week! It was really amazing seeing all of the artists' creations, and it was apparent how hard they had worked (creating video games, writing down family history in a book... their work was extraordinary!). I loved listening to the artists describing their journeys and reasons for creating the work that they had. Here are some pictures from the exhibition:

This week, our class had a great experience visiting the MFA gallery. Maya’s presentation about social media and how it affects our idea 0f beauty was outstanding. I found it interesting because it made me realize how much social media and online platforms can influence how we think about beauty. This made me think of a class I took about deaf studies.

Art Exhibit

The MFA town hall exhibition was an eye opening experience because it really challenged my understanding of art and what design media studies entails. Prior to class I had no formal understanding of what design media entailed, but upon further research I now understand that it synthesized media, in various forms, in a stylized or aesthetical manner.

There were a few fun things that happened in class this week. First, with th news about Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, then with the visit to th art installation. Since my friend visited LLNL  few days prior with another class (the food one) and told me about it, I found it surprising and a big coincidence that Prof Vesna was in chare of both the classes. It suddenly made sense why both th classes were called "science" art.

I thought this week's art installation was so informative and diverse. The piece that touched me the most was one I nearly missed altogether. I was admiring an installation resembling blinds made of crystalized zucchini. As I made my way out of that portion of the exhibit I noticed an innocuous fridge-like structure. I am usually not a person to physically explore a piece of art but I was curious so I opened the door to the fridge. To my delight, I found a small metal book within, frigid to the touch. I took out the book, forged in metal, and bound with metal circles.

I thought this week's art installation was so informative and diverse. The piece that touched me the most was one I nearly missed altogether. I was admiring an installation resembling blinds made of crystalized zucchini. As I made my way out of that portion of the exhibit I noticed an innocuous fridge-like structure. I am usually not a person to physically explore a piece of art but I was curious so I opened the door to the fridge. To my delight, I found a small metal book within, frigid to the touch. I took out the book, forged in metal, and bound with metal circles.

(Town Hall Exhibition. Image Source: Roberto Cardenas)

Town Hall Exhibition Review and Reflection

Lecture Reflection:

During this week's trip to the MFA gallery, I was most interested by Maya's discussion of social media, especially her comment that everyone's persona on social media is a "performance." I could not agree more.

This week was engaging, and the first gallery we visited had a lot to unpack and interpret in your own way. The first projects presented in the gallery struck my interest. What I took away was the influence and impact of social media and media platforms on human standards of beauty.

I recently went to the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, which had a beautiful and diverse expanse of gardens as well as a number of museums. An exhibit that particularly caught my attention in the American Art museum was “Borderlands,” which provides an account of American history through art from Native American voices who are often not heard or recognized.