Event 3: Art + Brain and MORPHO Nano Catalogue Launch

EVENT 3: Art + Brain and MORPHO Nano Catalogue Launch

For my third and final DESMA event, I attended the Art + Brain and MORPHO Nano Catalogue Launch on campus at the CNSI building. I feel like this event was the perfect representation of the last 10 weeks of this class, which made it the perfect last event. As a bonus, I also got to finally meet Professor Vesna!

This launch party was an amazing gathering of some extremely influential scientists and artists who realized the power of working together. The product of the evening was a book that represents a retrospective look at years of hard work on nanotechnology and art. This was made possible through a relationship formed between Washington St. Louis and UCLA. In its essence this book, put together by hand, is an intersection of art and science.  

Patricia gave a nice speech about her perspective on the brain. One line that stood out to me was how she described the brain as a structure of stories, narratives and neuroscience. Prior to this class, that sentence would have been extremely conflicting, but now I agree that they are all interconnected.

Jim and Professor Vesna described how this new catalogue is not just a surface level analysis of the brain but goes much deeper by using an artistic emphasis. When working alongside artists, science can become eye opening and easily interpreted by those who once were unable to see the true power of scientific structures like the human brain. Artists can communicate differently and in so many different forms that we are now able to present and understand the brain in ways scientists never had thought of before, pushing the boundaries of scientific understanding. The speakers of the evening also promoted collaboration; especially among artists and scientists. Science, and other fields, has gotten to the point where traditional methods no longer suffice in advancement so by using different ideologies from artists they are able to continue their advancement. I think this is exactly what DESMA 9 is all about and really enjoyed this presentation.