Event 1: LASER

One of the speakers who was an artist

For my first event, I attended the LASER lecture on UCLA's campus. The event included about 7 speakers, each of whom spoke for about 5-7 minutes regarding their research/ artwork. What I found to be most interesting was the mixture of artists and scientists present. Scientists showcased their works about solar panel technology and robotics, and many of the artists there utilized technology (mostly lights, video recordings, sound, and simple robotics) to create their works.

Dr. Vesna introducing one of the speakers

Specifically, I want to focus on one of the lectures I saw concerning solar panels titled "The Future of our Energy Landscape: Could Plastic Solar Cells Meet our Energy Needs?". I am choosing to focus on this lecture as I understood its scientific implications the best and could see how heavily this product could influence the artistic world, as well as the general public. This heavily relates to the robotics/technology and art lectures we have studied so far.The lecture, as its title says, focused on creating plastic solar cells. The lecturer briefly described how electricity is generated through solar cells, then delved into plastic solar cells, specifically.

When she began describing the implications for this technology in the future, I became very excited. The genius behind plastic solar cells are that they are flexible and can be rolled out. What does this mean? Imagine every surface, sidewalks, bus stations, traffic lights, and buildings covered in solar panels. With an artistic eye, these solar panels can decorate our streets and make them truly beautiful while providing us with an endless supply of energy. The technology also has implications for wearable electronics, electronic clothing. and can push the boundaries of kinetic/electronic art. Artists can utilize this technology to power their robotics artworks and in collaboration with scientists can create designs that beautify the world we live in.

Overall, the lecture series was very interesting. However, to be honest, I did not enjoy most of the works of art I saw from the artists who presented. The majority of their art was too abstract and random for my taste, and seemed to simply pile a bunch of technology onto each other (videos, lighting in a room) and call it 'art.' It's important to note, however, that everyone has different tastes in art.

Me taking a horrible quality selfie outside the gallery

Link to the event, and link to Art|Sci Gallery at UCLA: http://artsci.ucla.edu/?q=laser-leonardo-art-science-evening-rendezvous

References:

 Pupols, Melody. "UCLA Chemists Devise Technology That Could Transform Solar Energy Storage." UCLA Newsroom. 18 June 2015. Web. 03 May 2016. 

<http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-chemists-devise-technology-that-could-transform-solar-energy-storage>

 "Polymer Solar Cells." Polymer Solar Cells. Web. 03 May 2016.

<http://plasticphotovoltaics.org/lc/lc-polymersolarcells.html>

"UCLA Art|Sci Center: LASER (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous)." YouTube. Computing Technologies Research Lab Streaming, 21 Apr. 2016. Web. 03 May 2016.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCJcAFGckQg>

Merchant, Brian. "We're One Panel Closer to Printing Cheap, Plastic Solar Like Newspapers." Motherboard. 7 July 2014. Web. 03 May 2016.

Akst, Daniel. "Could Japanese Paper Art Help Solar Cells Follow the Sun?" WSJ. 18 Sept. 2015. Web. 03 May 2016.