LASER Series Merges Art and Science
A series at UC Davis that brings together art and science restarts with a new format, location, time and leadership. The Leonardo Art, Science, Evening Rendezvous (LASER) will be re-launched Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. in the Art Annex room 107.
Free and open to the pubic, LASER at UC Davis is being co-directed by Timothy Hyde, assistant professor, Department of Art and Art History, and Jiayi Young, assistant professor, Department of Design.
“Tim Hyde and I envision LASER taking on a modality beyond just presentations,” Young said. “Adding a conversation component designed to engage the public in conversations with artists, designers, scientists and technologists, we will provide opportunities for unexpected juxtapositions that occur at the intersection of seemingly unrelated research and projects.”
The first event will feature:
“Machines for Absurd Living” by Manuelita Antonio Rangel-Sosa, a Venezuelan-American architect, designer and artist. Rangel-Sosa is co-founder of the interdisciplinary San Francisco design studio SUPERWORKS and the collective The Absurdist. The “machines” are interactive tools that “confront the audience with speculations of existential origin,” according to Rangel-Sosa.
“What Makes Us Human?” by Megan Dennis, assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Biochemistry, associated with the Molecular Medicine Genome Center and MIND Institute. She researches the genetic underpinnings that distinguish humans from closely related primates.
“Revolutions of the Very Small” by Matthias Hess, assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Animal Science. He leads a research and teaching program in systems microbiology.
Additional LASERs are scheduled for Feb. 9 and May 11. Check with UC Davis LASER Facebook for information.
The series at UC Davis was founded and organized by Anna Davidson, artist and scientist, while earning her Master of Fine Arts from the Department of Art and Art History from 2014 to 2016, with the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology is a nonprofit organization that serves the global network of scholars, artists, scientists, researchers and thinkers through programs focused on interdisciplinary work, creative output and innovation. http://www.leonardo.info/isast/laser.html
— Jeffrey Day, content strategist in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science