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Extra Credit Event 1: Hammer Museum + Judith Hopf Exhibit

Even though I am a second year, I've never got around going to the Hammer Museum. Even though it was admission free, I was not disappointed by the quality of the exhibits. I was particularly drawn to Andrea Bower's flashing LED installation. Having worked with LEDs with IoT software, this exhibit definitely used math calculations in order to program the corresponding flash speeds (Week 2: Math + Art). This work was Bower's contribution and response towards the Dakota Access pipline (DAPL) controversy, as she is advocating with Food & Water Watch and South Central Farm for affordable access to clean water and healthy food.

Bower's LED installation (featuring me)









Infographic showing relationship between pipeline's progress and bank systems


When I went upstairs, I was struck by peaceful ringing bells. I thought at first that they were just recordings playing over speakers. However, I came across Aaron Taylor Kuffner's Gamelatron Sanctuary which was a set of kinetic sculptures that were built to mechanize traditional Indonesian music. He was able to reproduce a slice of the country's culture using concepts of (Week 3 : Robotics + Art), as you needs an understanding of how to organize the sounds together mechanically so that it can play without supervision. However, I now do recognize that this technological reproduction does hinder the "uniqueness and authenticity" of the art, as Walter Benjamin pointed out in his novel.

Kuffner's Gamelatron Sanctuary

The final exhibit I visited was Judith Hopf's Waiting Laptops which addresses the growing presence of technology integrated in our daily lives. Her collages depicts anthropomorphized laptops that possess only a hint of individualistic personalities. The straight edged shapes are intentional, as it uses geometric concepts (Week 2: Math + Art) to portray a sense of lacking (of curves) and uniformity in these figures.
Hopf's Waiting Laptops

The application of technology and science are subtle, but existent with these art exhibits. (Week 1: Two Cultures). They either inspire the creation (Waiting Laptops) or directly utilize concepts of math, physics, and computing for its presence (Gamelatron Sanctuary, Bower's LED installation). I would recommend at least visiting this museum once while you're studying at UCLA, as it is free to the public and conveniently close by.

Pamphlet and receipt from museum


Sources
"Aaron Taylor Kuffner: Gamelatron Sanctuary." Hammer, 2017, https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2017/aaron-taylor-kuffner-gamelatron-sanctuary/. Accessed 4 Jun 2017.

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

"Hammer Projects: Andrea Bowers." Hammer, 2017, https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2017/hammer-projects-andrea-bowers/. Accessed 4 Jun 2017.

"Hammer Projects: Judith Hopf." Hammer, 2017, https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2017/hammer-projects-judith-hopf/.

"Robotics pt1." Online video clip. Youtube, uploaded by Victoria Vesna, 15 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRw9_v6w0ew. Accessed 4 Jun 2017.

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