ArtSci Chicago

Inner Cartography - this week!

2010-09-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

INNER CARTOGRAPHY

A dance show choreographed by Megan Rhyme in collaboration with neuroscientist Miriam Sach, PhD

Produced by the Chicago Fringe Festival

Scientifically curious choreographer Megan Rhyme collaborates with neuroscientist Miriam Sach of University California-San Diego to present an evening length dance work about body mapping, a term used to describe the patterns of nerve cells in the brain’s motor cortex. The piece investigates how body mapping connects to the learning process, particularly through the concept of plasticity – the brain’s ability to change and adapt itself to new circumstances. Dancers become neurons and molecules, the stage transforms into the space inside the brain, and the process of learning becomes illuminated from the inside and out. Neuroscience is re-conceptualized as something that happens not just in a lab but exists inside us and is happening every moment.

Thursday September 2nd, 8:30pm

Saturday September 4th, 4pm

Sunday September 5th, 2:30pm

Chicago Arts District: Adelaide Stage, 1832 S Halsted

Suggested Donation $10

Tickets go on sale August 2nd. For tickets and further information, please visit:

http://www.rhymedance.com/

http://www.chicagofringe.org/

Artists at Work Forum: Studio as Lab on Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV)

2010-08-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Artists at Work Forum:
Studio as Lab
Chicago Access Network Television
(CAN TV)

Sunday, August 15th, 12:00 PM, Channel 21
Tuesday, August 17th, 8:00 AM, Channel 19
Tuesday, August 24th, 12:00 PM, Channel 21

If you missed seeing Studio as Lab in person, you now have the opportunity to watch it on television. Artists Hunter Cole, Vesna Jovanovic, Peter N. Gray, and Josh Kurutz discuss the reinterpretation of science as art. With solid backgrounds in the scientific disciplines, the four artists offer their unique and challenging perspectives on the application of their science to create provocative and intriguing art.

For more information:
http://artscichicago.blogspot.com/2010/06/artists-at-work-forum-studio-as-lab-at.html

Posted by Hunter Cole
Hunter Cole is an artist and scientist that creates living art with bioluminescent bacteria, abstractions, digital art, and installations confronting issues related to biotechnology in our culture. She teaches biology and art at Loyola University Chicago.
http://www.huntercole.org/

HARD SCIENCE at Chicago Art Department on Friday, Aug 13, 2010, 6pm – 10pm

2010-08-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Chicago Art Department

1837 South Halsted

Chicago, IL 60608

Hard Science is a gallery experience meant to showcase artistic interpretations of scientific concepts and theories. Although we live in an era of high technology - actual scientific principles, research, and theories seldom cross over into the realm of art. Many concepts that are being proven often times can be compared with contemporary conceptual art. Conversely much of the imaging and data created in research can function as contemporary art - as it proves concepts that may be disassociated from the actual representation, such as images of particles appearing as spiral streaks and years of research represented by the addition of a number on a scale.

Curators Chuck Przybyl and Edyta Stepien have invited artists from multiple disciplines to create work that will specifically illustrate or relate to understanding scientific concepts. Working closely with Teppei Katori of MIT and FermiLab they have created a unique scientific experience in the realm of art.

Partial List of Participating Artists:
Edyta Stepien

Margaret Noble

Cleveland Dean

Reidar Hahn

Teppei Katori

Dandee Petr

Mark Salach

Todd Frugia

Marta Sasinowska

Nat Soti

Amie Sell

Pei and Nathan Peck

Stacy Peterson

Chuck Przybyl

http://www.chicagoartdepartment.org/2010/08/hard-science-aug-13-6-10pm/

Posted by Hunter Cole

Hunter Cole is an artist and scientist that creates living art, abstractions, digital art, and installations confronting issues related to biotechnology in our culture. She teaches biology and art at Loyola University Chicago.

http://www.huntercole.org/

Artists at Work Forum: Studio as Lab at Chicago Cultural Center on June 17, 2010 at 6pm

2010-06-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Thurs., June 17, 2010
6:00pm-7:30pm
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St., 5th Floor Washington Room
Chicago, IL

(This is a free event.)

Artists Hunter Cole, Vesna Jovanovic, Peter N. Gray, and Josh Kurutz discuss the reinterpretation of science as art. With solid backgrounds in the scientific disciplines, the four artists offer their unique and challenging perspectives on the application of their science to create provocative and intriguing art.

With a Ph.D. in Genetics, Hunter Cole created and teaches innovative bioart courses at Loyola University Chicago. She also co-authored a paper on “Art and Genetics” with Joe Davis, Dana Boyd, and Marek Wieczorek, published in the Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS). Her "Living Drawings" have been exhibited throughout the U.S, and include a solo exhibition at the Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago.

Vesna Jovanovic has degrees in both art and chemistry. Since 2003, her art has been included in more than 50 exhibitions, most recently in a solo exhibition at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago.

Peter N. Gray was the principal investigator for a biochemistry laboratory for more than 20 years. His large-scale public sculptures are in collections of sculpture parks throughout the Midwest. His most recent installation includes multiple works in the Blue Line Chicago stop subway station.

Josh Kurutz is a senior scientist and instructor at Northwestern University, and was a Featured Artist for Chicago Artists' Month 2008. He has shown his artwork at the Science and Art exhibits at the Gordon Center for Integrative Science at the University of Chicago, Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his audio work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio.

At Work Forums bring artists and experts to discuss best practices for Chicago's creatives in music, dance, theater, visual art, and more.

Facebook Event Page: Please Come and Invite Others

More information for Artists at Work Forum: Studio as Lab at the Chicago Cultural Center

"Hands," photograph by the light of bioluminescent bacteria,

Hunter Cole, 2010.

Hunter Cole - Short Biography
Both an internationally shown artist and also experienced geneticist, Hunter Cole reinterprets science as art through living art, abstractions, digital art, and installations. She holds a Ph.D. and Master's degree in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of California-Berkeley. She teaches biology and art at Loyola University Chicago. She created a course, Biology Through Art, where students have the opportunity to create innovative artworks in a biology laboratory.

Hunter Cole - Presentation
Hunter Cole will discuss her art created with living bioluminescent bacteria. In her “Living Drawings” series she creates controlled line drawings using bioluminescent bacteria. The bacteria grow, first appearing with bright light, then dim and gradually die off as available nutrients are depleted. Bacteria are photographed using a time-lapse technique over a two-week period. Bacteria become collaborators in the art as it grows and dies. She has also created a movie of bioluminescent bacteria growing and dying with music based on protein sequences found in the bacteria. Recently Hunter Cole has created a new series, “Living Light,” where people and objects are photographed by the light of bioluminescent bacteria. The only light source in the photographs comes from living bioluminescent bacteria.
http://www.HunterCole.org

"New Mitosis," ink, graphite, and white pencil (26 x 40 in.)

Vesna Jovanovic, 2008.

Vesna Jovanovic - Short Biography
Vesna Jovanovic is a visual artist based out of Chicago, IL. She holds a BA in Fine Arts and a BS in Chemistry from Loyola University Chicago, where she received First Place at the graduating senior exhibition. She also received a BFA in Studio Art from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was granted a Merit Scholarship of Recognition. Her MFA degree in Photography is from The Ohio State University. Jovanovic is a recipient of several awards and grants, and was recently featured in several magazines and blogs such as: Time Out Chicago, Newcity, Seed, Art:21, and Discover. Her artwork has been included in over fifty exhibitions since 2003, including solo exhibitions at the University of Chicago Gordon Center for Integrative Science, and the International Museum of Surgical Science.

Vesna Jovanovic - Presentation
Vesna Jovanovic will discuss the ways in which her art process has been informed by her background in science, and the parallels that she draws between her experiences with science and art. Her ink drawings, sculptural ceramic vessels, and pinhole photographs all depend on experimentation, inquiry, risk, and the struggle between chance and intentionality. She often incorporates scientific themes into her work, and her current studio practice has, in some sense, become a fulfillment of the same needs that were once fulfilled by science: those of curiosity, inquiry, and discovery. The difference for her lies in how she perceives the outcomes of these two fields; while science primarily seeks explanations, art aims to reveal open-ended questions.
http://www.vesnaonline.com/

"Point Mutation," steel and African Red Granite (l9H x 4W x 3D feet) Peter N. Gray, 2007.

Peter N. Gray - Short Biography
Peter N. Gray is an artist and biomedical scientist using steel and bronze sculptures to awaken our inner scientist as he expresses the inherent softer organic sculptural aesthetics of genetics and biotechnology. His large-scale public sculptures are in permanent collections of sculpture parks and a Chicago public school and he has had long-term exhibits in the Koehnline Museum of Art, Lincoln Park, the Chicago campus of DePaul University and the Johnson, Vermont Sculpture Park. A recent installation includes multiple works in a CTA subway station. Gray earned a doctorate in biomedicine and is a full time practicing artist.

Peter N. Gray - Presentation
Gray will present the melding of science in art over the years and then discuss how he personally weaves together science and art. He will discuss his recent works that abstractly address the complexities of the Central Dogma from DNA structure to protein synthesis. Motivated by a passion for science, he tries to express the innate beauty of biotechnology of these disciplines to stimulate the public’s interest in science. His newest installation at the Koehnline Museum of Art is recognizable as a lyrical statement while depicting how DNA works.
http://www.metal-i-genics.com/

Josh Kurutz

Josh Kurutz - Short Biography
Josh Kurutz is a senior scientist and instructor at Northwestern University, and was a Featured Artist for Chicago Artists' Month 2008. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry at Caltech, his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and did postdoctoral work in the Medicine and Chemistry departments at the University of Chicago. He has shown his artwork at the Science and Art exhibits at the Gordon Center for Integrative Science at the University of Chicago, Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science meeting, and the Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance meeting, and his audio work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio.

Josh Kurutz - Presentation
Josh explores the hypothesis that scientists look at raw data like artists look at art. His art re-presents scientific data in aesthetic audible, visual, and sculptural forms to elicit the emotional resonance that scientists and artists share. Taking signals generated by different molecules in nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, he records sounds that give voices to chemicals and makes compositions using those sounds. We will listen to the genetic code by hearing the amino acids and DNA bases tell their own story, delve into synesthesia by listening to fragrances, and experience sexual dichotomy by listening to estrogen and testosterone in stereo. He also re-creates NMR spectra as collages of pressed flowers on paper, thus making objects whose primary function is visual beauty, but which bear all the same chemical information found in the original raw data printouts. He is currently working on an interdisciplinary project called "Is Your Science Beautiful?"
http://www.joshkurutz.com

Posted by Hunter Cole.

Contact Hunter Cole for more information.

Seminar: Art, Technology, and Living Systems by Brittany Ransom, April 8, 2010

2010-04-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

Investigating the Convergence Between
Art, Technology, and Living Systems

A Presentation of Artwork & Robotic Prototypes
by Brittany Ransom

Thurs., April 8, 2010
10:00-10:50am

Loyola University Chicago

Lake Shore Campus
Mundelein Center
Room 603

Free and Open to the Public

Brittany Ransom creates interactive sculptures, sound devices, and wearable recording units that incorporate the participation of humans and animals to examine the co-evolution between the living and our always evolving techno-culture.

http://brittanyransom.com/

Loyola University Chicago
Lake Shore Campus Map
http://www.luc.edu/about/pdfs/lsc_may09.pdf

You can get off at the Red Line Loyola "L" stop.

Hunter Cole is an artist and scientist that creates living art, abstractions, digital art, and installations confronting issues related to biotechnology in our culture. She teaches biology and art at Loyola University Chicago.
http://www.huntercole.org/

The DNA Trail at the Silk Road Theatre Project in Chicago through April 4, 2010

2010-03-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

"The DNA Trail: A Genealogy of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity, and Utter Confusion" is playing at the Silk Road Theatre Project through April 4, 2010 in downtown Chicago. I took my students from my Bioart course at Loyola University Chicago to see the plays. The students were impressed with how entertaining the plays are. The students also personally related to several of the themes in the plays such as wanting to turn genes on to make yourself taller or make other changes to appearance, and people making assumptions about your identity based on your appearance and name. There are seven short plays ranging from the very serious and dramatic to the very humorous. Each playwright took a genealogical DNA test and related the results to self, family, community, and ethnicity.

For more information and to buy tickets:

http://www.srtp.org/productions.html

Peter N. Gray, a Chicago artist and scientist, was the scientific consultant for the playwrights.

http://www.metal-i-genics.com/

http://www.huntercole.org/

MCA Symposium: Art/Science/Spectacle 9/12

2009-07-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

How do immersive artworks, such as those created by Olafur Eliasson, play upon our attraction to the spectacular and a fascination with the mechanics of how things work? This afternoon program at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art features presentations by three internationally renowned speakers who will trace the history of this phenomenon in art and science, and relate it to wide-ranging developments in consumer culture, optics, psychology, philosophy, and technology. Madeleine Grynsztejn, MCA Pritzker Director and curator of Take your time: Olafur Eliasson, introduces the program.

MCA Symposium: Art/Science/Spectacle
Saturday, September 12, 2009, 2 pm
Museum of Contemporary Art Theater, 220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL
$10 general admission, $8 MCA members, $6 students

Speakers:

Anthony McCall has a cross-disciplinary practice in which film, sculpture, installation, drawing and performance overlap. McCall was a key figure in the avant-garde London Film-makers Co-operative in the 1970s and his earliest films are documents of outdoor performances that were notable for their minimal use of the elements, most notably fire.

McCall provides the keynote address, discussing the shifts and relationships between the work produced in the 70s by artists of his generation, including his own early works, and that produced by a newer generation, including Eliasson's, contextualizing these shifts within the massive changes that have taken place over the last 15 years in the production, consumption and presentation of culture.

Barbara Stafford, the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor, Emerita, at the University of Chicago, has consistently explored the intersections between the visual arts and the physical and biological sciences from the early modern to the contemporary era. Stafford's most recent book is Echo Objects: The Cognitive Work of Images, (University of Chicago Press, 2007). In her presentation, she discusses how recent discoveries in the brain sciences are upending our assumptions about how we see, imagine, feel and sense the realities of our world.

Paola Bertucci, Assistant Professor of History of Science and Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, researches, lectures and publishes on the history of electricity, natural catastrophes in the age of Enlightenment, the utility of spectacle, and the material culture of science in 18th-century Italy. She has organized several museum exhibitions, including two new permanent installations from the 18th-century collections of the Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy (opening in Fall 2009): The Spectacle of Science and Domestic Science. Her talk contextualizes our contemporary fascination with electricity and spectacular phenomena, and elucidate the role that spectacle plays in the presentation and popularization of science.

VISUALIZING MEDICAL PROGRESS, 8/7 ->

2009-07-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

by Vesna Jovanovic

Two new shows at the International Museum of Surgical Science!

“Redefining the Medical Artist” a group exhibition of work by members of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Biomedical Visualization program

“Pareidolia” a solo show of drawings and other works on paper by Chicago artist Vesna Jovanovic, as part of its ongoing “Anatomy in the Gallery” contemporary art program.

WHEN
opening Friday, August 7, 2009,5:00 to 8:00pm, free!
Through October 17.

WHERE
1524 N. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, IL 60610 USA
312.642.6502
fax 312.642.9516
info@imss.org

“Redefining the Medical Artist” features state-of-the-art scientifically accurate representations of the body in various media by students, alumni, and faculty of UIC’s Biomedical Visualization graduate program. Their work stems from the tradition of medical illustration founded by the 16th-century physician Vesalius, who first sought to communicate anatomical knowledge through visual means; however, these contemporary medical artists have grown far beyond drawing from dissection. They now create animations, digital renderings, and three-dimensional models to depict biomedical procedures, processes, and phenomena—illustrating the progress of medicine as well as that of visual technology. The Biomedical Visualization program at UIC program is among the largest in the nation and the only one to have a Virtual Reality in Medicine Laboratory.

Jovanovic’s exhibition highlights her series of ink spill drawings that explore the psychological phenomenon of pareidolia, in which a vague and random stimulus, often an image, is perceived as being significant—for example, when people imagine that they see animals or faces in clouds. Originally trained in chemistry, Jovanovic now uses art as an alternate avenue of inquiry, one that reveals open-ended questions rather than reductive formulae. She received her MFA in Photography from Ohio State University and currently teaches ceramics at Loyola University in Chicago. The “Pareidolia” exhibition will be open to the press for preview beginning Friday, July 31. Further details about Jovanovic and her work can be found at: www.vesnaonline.com.

Housed in a landmark turn-of-the-century mansion, the International Museum of Surgical Science is located at 1524 North Lake Shore Drive, one-half block south of North Avenue, in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood.

It is open to visitors Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission costs $10 for adults and $6 for students with ID and seniors age 60 and older. On Tuesdays admission is free. For more information about the Museum, call 312.642.6502.

Slightly Off Science - Reception 7/30

2009-07-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

Slightly Off Science is evidence of a 6 week program in which Chicago teens collaborate with artist Alberto Aguilar and chemist Allan Wilson. Participants utilize various media to explore the inexact parallels of art and science, seeking a middle ground between the studio and the lab. Participants include: Justine Adeboyejo, Patrick Easley, Destiny Johnson, Ashley Klauck, Abigail Larraide, Sean Lyles, Jazmine McDonald, Christina Morris, Jessica Obrochta, Carlos Ortega, Monica Pizano, Jeremy Porter, Alexandria Ramirez, Omar Reyes, and Nancy Sanchez. In the first ten days of this exhibition the gallery will be treated as a open lab as group members test out the best way to present their findings, gaining curatorial experience.

Slightly Off Science Exhibition
Harold Washington College
30 E. Lake St, Chicago
President's Gallery: 11th Floor
July 21 – August 14, 2009
artists’ reception Thursday, July 30, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Ars Sciencia: Animals, Autism & Design (5/4)

2009-04-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

In 1995, noted scientist and engineer Dr. Temple Grandin, and artist Wendy Jacob, met to discuss the engineering and benefits of deep pressure. The result of their conversations was the Squeeze Chair Project, an evolving experiment in art, design, and therapeutic function. Inspired by Grandin's "hug machine," a deep pressure device that Grandin designed to calm her own hypersensitive nervous system, Jacob designed a series of chairs that squeeze or 'hug" the user.

Grandin and Jacob will discuss the results of their collaboration, as well as their independent projects. This conversation will touch on the parallels between autism and animal cognition, and the role of design in identifying and ameliorating conditions.

Monday May 4, 6:00 pm
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington -- Preston Bradley Hall
312-744-6630
info@ars-scientia.org

Admission FREE - space is limited.
Please arrive early to insure a seat.

Cinema, Nature, Ecology Film Series at UChicago (3/13)

2009-03-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

This Friday, the University of Chicago's Film Center hosts a program featuring films by three Chicago filmmakers, Bill Brown, Thomas Comerford, and Deborah Stratman, who collectively investigate the varied relationships of urban spaces and rural landscapes to historical narratives of power and control. In works ranging from experimental shorts to documentaries, these screenings highlight a significant thread within Chicago’s underground film community: the reinvestigation of familiar locations and landmarks. The screenings will be followed by a roundtable discussion with the artists.

Friday, March 13, 2009, 6pm
University of Chicago
Film Studies Center
Cobb Hall, 5811 S. Ellis
More Information (and campus map) HERE

The Physics of Music (3/23)

2009-03-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

We've been delinquent in reporting on them thus far, but we're nonetheless rather excited about the Chicago Cultural Center's new ARS/SCIENTIA lecture series, which focuses specifically on collaborations between artists and scientists.

In this unique program, the public can hear from pioneering visual artists, dancers, musicians and culinary artists, and the biologists, chemists, mathematicians and engineers who have partnered with them on unusual projects.Conversations feature presentations and discussions between actual collaborators, while Salons offer more intimate opportunities for artists and scientists to meet, discuss and interact around specific topics.

Coming up next:
Salon: Waves, Beats and Grooves: The Physics of Music

Physicist and musician Dr. Cristian Huepe [labo_labs] collaborates with hip hop and electronic music producer Lional “Brother El” Freeman as the Makers of Sense. Together with percussionist Doug Brush, they will discuss how the scientific perspective and the artistic sensitivity naturally entangle in music and enhance their creative work. From a basic wave or beat to the subtle principles behind an engaging groove or a quantum description, music has always been linked to its underlying physics and to an almost mathematical abstraction. Join them in this conversation to explore the similarities and differences between the approaches, tools, communities, inspirations, and realities of physicists and musicians.

Chicago Cultural Center
Monday, March 23, 6 pm
Monday, March 9, 23, 6 pm
Chicago Cultual Center, Cassidy Theater
78 E. Washington St.
FREE and open to the public!
1st Floor Garland Room

C.E.B. Reas lecture at Gallery 400 (2/17)

2009-02-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, February 17, Los Angeles-based artist C.E.B. Reas will speak about his work as part of Gallery 400's Spring 2009 Voices Lecture Series + Design Lecture Series: “Sustainability Spurs Innovation in Everything."

Media artist Reas makes both conceptually and perceptually driven works that explore process and abstraction. His installations, photographs, video and interactive works are informed by systems theory, biology, artificial life, and information patterns. In 2001, Reas and designer Ben Fry initiated Processing.org, an open source programming language and environment for creating images, animation, and interaction. This ongoing project is documented in Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists (MIT Press).

Reas has exhibited and screened his work internationally in galleries and museums including P.S.1, New York; Institute for Contemporary Art, London; Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston; Laboral, Gijon, Spain; Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York; the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; and the National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo. He is associate professor and chair of Design | Media Arts at UCLA. His lecture is presented in collaboration with Interactive Arts & Media at Columbia College.

The Voices Lecture Series hosts artists, designers, architects, critics, curators and art historians at the leading edge of artistic discourse.

All lectures are on Tuesday at 5pm inside the Gallery 400 lecture room at 400 S. Peoria Street.

Admission is Free

Design and Sustainability Lecture (2/24)

2009-02-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, February 24, Jonathan Shaun, 3.Zero and Elizabeth Redmond, Independent Sustainability Consultant present “Design, Business and Sustainability” as part of the Gallery 400 Spring 2009 Voices Lecture Series + Design Lecture Series: “Sustainability Spurs Innovation in Everything”

Jonathan Shaun and Elizabeth Redmond discuss the goals and challenges of creating a sustainable Chicago. Shaun is one of Chicago’s foremost designers and retailers of cutting edge, sustainable apparel, accessories, and furniture. His most recent project is Connect, a retail showroom and conscious event space in Wicker Park. Redmond, since spring 2007, has worked with a start-up company called Ecolect that helps professionals in design-influenced fields learn about and source sustainable materials.

The Voices Lecture Series hosts artists, designers, architects, critics, curators and art historians at the leading edge of artistic discourse.

All lectures are on Tuesday at 5pm
inside the Gallery 400 lecture room at 400 S. Peoria Street.

Admission is Free

X-102 Rediscovers The Rings Of Saturn (1/16)

2009-01-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

X-102 Rediscovers The Rings Of Saturn

"A visual and sound graphic exposé of one of the universe's most beautiful and mysterious planets"

Friday, January 16, 7 pm

Claudia Cassidy Theater
Chicago Cultural Center
77 E. Randolph St.

::::Free admission:::::

Saturn In 1992, X-102 (Experimental 102), otherwise known as Underground Resistance – the Detroit-based electronic musical trio of Mike Banks, Jeff Mills and Robert Hood – set out to create a musical project about the planet Saturn and its rings in a full-length LP entitled X-102 discovers the Rings Of Saturn (Tresor). X-102 attempted to musically describe the physical make-up and content of the never-before seen planet and each of its significant rings known as A, B, C, E and F. Fifteen years later, Banks and Mills have produced a brand new musical soundtrack, featuring re-mastered original compositions paired with a visual version of the project and breathtaking images from the NASA Cassini/Huygen exploratory mission, which visited and documented Saturn and its moons. Musician and director Jeff Mills will discuss the project after the screening. The approximate running time is 1 hour and 15 minutes. This Ohm Multimedia Series program is supported by Axis Records and GammaPlayer.com.

Watch the film trailer here.

Re: Production (1/9 -2/13)

2009-01-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

Re: Production - recent work by Christa Donner

At Three Walls
January 9th - February 13th

artist's talk: Thursday, January 29th, 6pm

Donner’s project Re:Production, is an exhibition that “re-imagines reproduction” through a wall installation, large scale drawings, a small-press zine and an animation made in collaboration with biologist and fellow artist Andrew Yang. What role does the notion of birth play in our diverse conceptions of femininity? What feelings or fears arise out of it? How might pregnancy conflict with or alter our priorities? What sort of agency do we even have in directing our bodies, and to what lengths are we willing to go? Drawing on both the personal narratives of a diverse group of women and from the reproductive models of other organisms -- the Peach Aphid, Surinam Toad, Adactylidium Mite, Hydra, and the Mollusk Crepidula --Donner creates new visions of human reproduction during a time when fertility drugs and genetic modification seem to make all sorts of impossible things viable.

Chicago Reader review

ARS SCIENTIA series (Part II - Salon Series)

2008-12-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

ARS SCIENTIA Salon Series

First Floor Garland Room

An opportunity for artists and scientists to meet, discuss and interact
around specific topics.

Exploring Environmentalism
January 26

Artists Tiffany Holmes and Frances Whitehead and choreographer Carrie
Hanson tackle major environmental issues with surprising and concrete
results. Whitehead is working with plant scientists, meterologists, and
urban planners to use city parks as climate change laboratories.
Hanson's company, The Seldoms, recently premiered an entire performance
based on consumption, waste and landfills. Holmes coined the term
"eco-visualisation" to describe an emerging art movement that is devoted
to using information visualization techniques to get the general public
interested in ecological issues. The artists will be joined by
environmental scientist Liam Heneghan, co director of the Institute for
Arts and Culture at DePaul University.

Pushing the Boundaries of Biology
February 23

Artist Eduardo Kac captured the world's imagination with a glowing
fluorescent bunny and introduced the concept of "bio-art", while Alison
Ruttan's drawings and films of bonabo monkeys led to surprising
recognition that the creation of "hairstyles" may be as much a marker of
intelligence as are signs of tool-making. The artists will be joined by
behavioural biologist Dr. Dario Maestripieri (University of Chicago) and
plant biologist Dr. Neil Olsziewski (University of Minnesota).

March 23
Artists + scientists tbd.

For more information on film programs presented by the Chicago
Department of Cultural Affairs, call 312-744-6630 or visit
www.chicagoculturalcenter.org. For more information on Science Chicago
visit www.sciencechicago.com

Programs presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs are
partially supported by grants from the Chicago Cultural Center
Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Science Chicago is a collaboration led by the Museum of Science and
Industry and the MacArthur Foundation to showcase the local talent and
resources that make our region a uniquely "science-focused" center.
Leading scientists, educators and civic leaders are supporting this
effort by creating programs that show how science works and why it is so
important. Their goal is to inspire awe, foster civic pride and
encourage broad interest in science. Our goal is to add art to the
equation.

ARS SCIENTIA series (Part I - Conversations Series)

2008-12-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

ARS SCIENTIA debuts at the Chicago Cultural Center JANUARY 12

Exciting new series, part of Science Chicago, combines art & science

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs presents Ars Scientia, a
series of conversations and salons which explores the fascinating
intersection of art and science, and professional collaborations that
have sprung from it. The public is invited to learn about the work of
pioneering artists, dancers, musicians and culinary artists, and the
biologists, neuroscientists, mathematicians and engineers who have
partnered with them. The series is held bimonthly on Monday evenings
from 6:00 - 7:30 pm, beginning on January 12, 2009.

Ars Scientia is part of the year long Science Chicago festival, and
will be held at The Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St.

Admission is free.

location: Claudia Cassidy Theater:

The Chemistry of Cooking
January 12

Chef Homaro Cantu is well known for making food that snaps, crackles,
freezes and evaporates into thin air. Science, nature and technology
have inspired Chef Cantu's culinary creations at Moto Restaurant and
the unique inventions at his company, Cantu Designs. Learn how Chef
Cantu and his partner at Cantu Designs, scientist Dr. Linda Kawano,
collaborate, share ideas and meld science, art and business.

Structuring Change
February 9

Artist Inigo Manglano-Ovalle's technically sophisticated and formally
elegant investigations employ forms and systems found in nature -- like
clouds, icebergs and DNA -- to address issues ranging from immigration
to cloning to gun violence and climate change He will converse with
computational scientist Mark Hereld, Senior Fellow in the Computation
Institute (Argonne National Laboratory and University of Chicago) and
artist Siebren Versteeg.

The Magic of Perception
March 9

Magician Apollo Robbins and neuroscientist Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde of
Martinez-Conde Laboratory of Neural Science in Arizona collaborated on a
study of perception -- how do we know what is really happening?
Robbins, a "professional thief," once pick-pocketed President Carter's
Secret Service escort -- keys, IDs and wallets -- in a demonstration of
the vulnerability of our perception.

The series title, Ars Scientia, is based on a Latin
phrase, ars sine scientia nihil est, loosely translated as Art without
Knowledge is Nothing, which the late artist Leon Golub had painted on
his studio wall.

The Emergence Project (til 12/30)

2008-11-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

The Emergence Project
work by Daniel Sauter and Mark Hereld

Oct. 11–Dec. 30, 2008
Opening Reception: October 26, 3–5 pm

Hyde Park Art Center
5020 S. Cornell Avenue
Chicago, IL 60615

Artists Daniel Sauter and Mark Hereld work together to create a digital artwork driven by the ideas produced during the 2008 Chicago Humanities Festival. The contents of the day’s presentations, performances and panel discussions will be captured, analyzed and processed into a dynamic visualization that evolves from minute to minute to express “big ideas”, in resonance with the Festival's theme of Thinking Big. The Emergence Project is an innovative, real-time art installation that explores how complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of simple interactions, a phenomenon known as emergence. At first focusing on the actual discourse emanating from the Chicago Humanities Festival’s October 11 day of programs hosted in several venues in the Hyde Park area, the contents of the presentations, performances, and panel discussions are captured, analyzed, and processed into a multidimensional image that continually evolves. The piece uses simple morphological rules to excavate emerging word clusters and expressed big ideas, representing them on the Hyde Park Art Center’s digital façade.

The Leaf and the Page

2008-11-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

The Leaf and the Page

Eleven Illinois artists explore plants as conduits between humanity and the natural world. This exhibit considers the connection between the historic canon of botanical images, the plant as specimen, and contemporary practices that imbue the subject with emotive and narrative qualities. Artists in the exhibition are Judith Brotman, Melissa Jay Craig, Stephen Eichhorn, Winifred Godfrey, Dennis Lee Mitchell, Carolyn Ottmers, Olivia Petrides, Rebecca Shore, Eric West, Scott Wolniak, and Andrew Young. Curated by Douglas Stapleton. The Leaf and the Page is part of the 2008 Chicago Artists Month, an annual citywide celebration of Chicago's vibrant visual arts.

Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery
James R. Thompson Center, Suite 2-100
100 W. Randolph Street Chicago, IL 60601

How Does your Garden Grow? (til1 11/14)

2008-11-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

How does your Garden Grow?

October 9 – November 14, 2008

Kemper Room Gallery, Galvin Library
Galvin Library 35 W. 33rd Street
Chicago, IL 60616
Phone: 312.567.3616

Experience the secret life of plants as captured by artists and scientists using x-ray and microscopic photography, time-lapse video and robot monitors.

Whether it is the delicate structures of flowers revealed in Steven Meyer's x-ray photography, nature's silent rhythms seen in Roger Hangarter's Plants in Motion videos, fluorescent plant cells in microscopic images by Michael Davidson, Peter Osler's photo essay, or David Bowen's growth charting robot, How Does Your Garden Grow? provides a new way of seeing and appreciating the plant life around us.

for more information go to:
Art@IIT

Bio-Art Panel Discussion 11/05

2008-10-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

What issues of agency arise when science enters the art world? UIC's BioCultures hosts a panel discussion discussing art that engages directly with the biological, the ecological, and the medical. Panelists include Lori Andrews (Chicago Kent College of Law, IIT); Lennard Davis (UIC Project Bio-cultures and Professor of English, Disability Studies and Medical Education) and Andrew Yang (SAIC, Biologist and Co-curator of the exhibition Biological Agents). Moderated by Jennifer Ashton (UIC English Department).

This event is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Biological Agents, on view at Gallery 400 through November 22.

Biological Agents Panel Discussion
Wednesday, November 5th
3:30 - 5:30pm
UIC Humanities Institute
701 S. Morgan St. (Lower Level, Stevenson Hall)

Sculpture as Medicine & CORPoreal (10/31 - )

2008-10-23T23:02:00.000-07:00

“Sculpture as Medicine” constitutes a group exhibition of works in various media, including a performance to take place during the opening reception, created by students in a class of the same name at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is curated by their instructor Gabriel Bizen Akagawa, who designed the course, which he has taught for the last two years, “to investigate how studio art changes when it has a medicinal function.”

It was Akagawa’s goal to nurture students’ work through “a practice of medicinal attention and action lacking in many realms of career-driven society.“ Moreover, he says, “Medicine is an unstable phenomenon in contemporary society. Health (care) is not necessarily a human right. This exhibition is supported in part by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For more information about the Sculpture as Medicine class, please visit http://holistic-structures.wikispaces.com.

“CORPOreal” comprises documentation of the medical protocols—postmortem examination, dissection, cross-sectional imaging, and full-body scanning—that Jason Ferguson has performed on everyday household objects, such as a shoe and a La-Z-Boy recliner. The exhibition includes both the physical remains of these objects, selected based on their socio-cultural associations, as well as video footage of their deconstruction through procedures generally reserved for the bodies of living organisms. Ferguson learned these actual procedures from medical practitioners and professionals in other scientific disciplines; “Collaborating with practitioners in various branches of study gives my work a level of authenticity that I could not provide on my own,” he says.

This authenticity provokes a visceral reaction from viewers, making them aware of their status as mortal objects: “The human condition has been defined as the paradoxical state of having awareness of one’s limitations and mortality while lacking the ability to alter fate. My work utilizes scientific protocol and the collection and analysis of empirical data in order to explore the minute details of human experience more thoroughly.” Ferguson currently teaches at the University of Idaho, and his work has recently been exhibited in solo shows on the East Coast and also in group exhibitions in Germany and the Netherlands.

The International Museum of Surgical Science
1524 North Lake Shore Drive,
Admission costs $10 for adults and $6 for students
On Tuesdays admission is free.
The entire Museum will be open for viewing during the free reception on October 31. 312.642.6502

Science Adventures in Creativity, Innovation and Learning (10/16)

2008-10-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

Science Adventures in Creativity, Innovation and Learning
a talk by Todd Siler

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 pm

COLLINS AUDITORIUM
Columbia College Chicago ROOM 602
624 South Michigan Avenue

This colorful, lively slide lecture will feature the work of visual artist *Dr. Todd Siler, whose adventures in the arts and sciences over the past three decades have produced a diverse body of original artwork that aims to transform and transcend all forms of compartmentalized knowledge. He refers to this integrative work as “ArtScience” as it fully melds various experimental approaches to creative inquiry, discovery and learning. In addition to showing some vivid examples of his artwork, Todd will end his lecture with a glimpse of his company’s new Think Like A Genius 2.0 software, which is a 3D authoring tool that enables everyone to discover and explore one’s creativity in exciting, playful and productive ways. As Todd will relate, the collaborative creation of this versatile creativity and communication tool marks a milestone in the evolution of ArtScience concepts and their applications to everyday life. *Dr, Todd Siler is the first recipient of a PhD in Visualization from M.I.T. Dr. Siler is a visual artist, writer, inventor, educator, consultant, and director of PSI-PHI COMMUNICATIONS: a company that specializes in consulting and developing processes for fostering creativity and innovation in business and education. He has published many articles and books including BREAKING THE MIND BARRIER (1992) and THINK LIKE A GENIUS (1997). Dr. Siler has lectured throughout the world on topics such as the historical interaction of the arts with science and technology. His artwork is exhibited in major museums and galleries around the world.

Espace Vert (10/29-)

2008-10-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Espace Vert
an exhibition by Michele Brody

October 30 - December 19, 2008

Opening: Thursday, October 30 from 5-9 pm

FLATFILEgalleries
217 North Carpenter
Chicago, IL 60607
Gallery Phone: 312.491.1190
Email: info@flatfilegalleries.com

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11-6

Known for challenging the growth of native plants in such materials as lace fabric, hand made paper, plastic tubes and glass medicine bottles, the essence of Ms. Brody's work is to understand how we live with the constant flux of our environment. She wishes to plant within her audience the desire to be more aware of the tenuous relationship between ourselves and nature within the urban and industrial landscape.

Environmentally based artist Michele Brody will be giving a presentation about her art work in conjunction with the opening of her installation *Garden Sentinels* in the project space of the FlatFile Galleries. *Garden Sentinels* is part of the group show Espace Vert, which opens Thursday, October 30 from 5-9 pm. Students in Hunter O'Reilly's freshmen BioArt Seminar Course at Loyola University Chicago collaborated on this artwork by choosing some of the plants to be grown for the exhibit. Each student gave their reason for the plant they chose.

Ms Brody received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1994, and since then has spent the past 14 years utilizing a strong background in the liberal arts to create site-specific, mixed media installations, and works of public art that are generated by the history, culture, environment, and architecture of a wide range of venues. While living and working in such places as France, Costa Rica, California, the Midwest, Germany, and her home of New York City, her art career has developed into a proc ess of working in collaboration with each new community as a means towards developing an interpretation of the sense of a place as an outsider looking in.

Her exhibition record includes one-person shows at The Temple Judea Museum, Elkins Park, PA; Littlejohn Contemporary, NYC; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN; Dina4 Projekte, Munich, Germany; Karpio + Facchini Gallery, Miami, Fl; the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporaneo, San Jose, Costa Rica; and at Le Quai de la Batterie, Atelier-galerie d’Art Contemporain; Arras, France.

She was the recipient of a Pollock/Krasner Foundation Grant in 2003, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in 2000. She has installed permanent works of public art in NYC for the MTA Arts for Transit, Public Art for Public Schools, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Exposing Time - Michele Brody (10/29)

2008-10-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

Seminar: Exposing Time

by Michele Brody, Environmentally Based Artist

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008 (4-5pm)

Loyola University Chicago

Flanner Hall Rm. 133

1068 W. Sheridan Rd., Chicago, IL 60626

Red Line: Loyola (above ground stop)

Campus Map

Free and Open to the Public

Contact: Hunter O'Reilly at goreil1@luc.edu

Biological Agents at Gallery 400

2008-10-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

The complexities of our contemporary life fundamentally challenge the way we understand ourselves as biological entities within larger ecosystems. Biological Agents: Artistic engagements in our growing bioculture is an exhibition focusing on the work of Brandon Ballengee, Caitlin Berrigan, and Natalie Jeremijenko: three artists who engage the intimate participation of organisms and the public alike, examining what it means to be human, to be animal, and to have personal and social agency.

The show also features the Knowledge Virus Research Station, offering resources and information on biological topics from a variety of creative perspectives, as well as a Biological Agents events series.

The exhibition is curated by Christa Donner (Studio Arts, the University of Illinois at Chicago/UIC, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago/SAIC) and Andrew Yang (Biology & Liberal Arts, SAIC). It is co-organized with Lennard Davis (UIC Project Bio-cultures and Professor of English, Disability Studies and Medical Education, UIC).

Opening reception & performance:
Wednesday, October 15, from 5-8pm
The exhibition is on view from October 14 - November 22

Gallery 400
400 S. Peoria (UIC-Halsted Blue Line stop)
Chicago, IL 60617
312-996-6114
The exhibition & opening reception are FREE and open to the public.

Science in Art at the U of Chicago 10/10/08

2008-09-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Pick up a copy of this year's Chicago Artists Month catalogue to read up on Josh Kurutz, PhD. Kurutz is a scientist and featured artist in the brochure, included for his involvement in the upcoming Science in Art exhibition at the University of Chicago this October.

Science in Art is a juried exhibition highlighting the visual work of scientists from the U of Chicago, Argonne and Fermi Labs, and work by Chicago artists whose subject is science. The exhibition was developed to help educate and engage the public in the processes, challenges, and benefits of science and technology, and as a vehicle for connecting scientists and non-scientists.

Science in Art
October 10 & 17, 2008
3rd Floor Atrium
Ellen & Melvin Gordon Center for Integrative Science
The University of Chicago
929 E. 57th Street

Mountain: force of Faketure (9/13 opening)

2008-09-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

The next Faketure exhibition is entitled Mountain: a force of Faketure.

September 13th - opening reception will be held with a Faketure film festival from 6pm-9pm.

Select non-gallery installation works continuing into October from September 21-October 26.

Beverly Arts Center
Beverly Arts Center
2407 W. 111th St.
Chicago, IL 60655
773.445.3838

The Faketure Consortium of Artists is a group of creators and thinkers who are involved in the investigation of our multifaceted interactions with the so-called "natural" world through various creative endeavors.

The Hall of Natural + Despicable Wonders: 9/6 - 10/4

2008-09-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

"The Hall of Natural and Despicable Wonders," an American history
museum of changing exhibits of natural history, historical history,
and American dreams. From Sept. 6 to Oct. 4, temporary exhibits
organized by Kari Percival and Greg Cook include a model of the path
the sun takes through the sky throughout the year and woodcuts
elucidating mammal ecology. Other displays explore colonial New
England witchcraft scares and their little-known but important ties to
the time's Indian wars; FBI accounts of American interrogations at
Guantanamo Bay; and the American victory in Iraq.

An edifying reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.
Green Lantern Gallery
1511 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622

The Printer's Ball - (Small Science Collective &) (8/22)

2008-08-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

THE PRINTERS' BALL

Friday, August 22
5:30 PM to 10:00 PM

Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago
Free Admission
21+

Catch The Small Science Collective and many wonderful events and publications at this year's ball.

The Printers' Ball is an annual celebration of print literature in Chicago, hosted by Poetry, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Newcity. Over one hundred arts and literary organizations gather under one roof to present a diverse showcase of print publications including free magazines, journals, books, weeklies, posters, music, video, performance, and more.

Latest exhibits at the IMSS (now to October)

2008-08-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

“Fingerprint DNA: A Portrait of an Arab-American Family” &
"Myth Symbol Image"

Concurrent exhibitions by:

Laura Kurtenbach, anatomical stained glass images
Geraldine Ondrizek, fabric installation about DNA fingerprinting

August 1–October 17, 2008

International Museum of Surgical Sciences
1524 N. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, IL 60610 USA
312.642.6502
info@imss.org

The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago is pleased to present “Myth Symbol Image,” an exhibition of digital montages by Laura Kurtenbach, and “Fingerprint DNA: A Portrait of an Arab-American Family,” a fiber installation by Geraldine Ondrizek, as part of its ongoing “Anatomy in the Gallery” contemporary art program. The exhibitions will run concurrently, opening on Friday, August 1, 2008, with a free, public reception for the artists from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., and remaining on view through October 17. Both of these artists employ translucent layers to juxtapose cultural tradition and craft with medical science.

“Myth Symbol Image” consists of digital montages that Kurtenbach creates by superimposing anatomical illustrations on top of Christian iconography from stained glass windows. Her compositions are printed using the Ultrachrome giclée process on plexiglass sheets that evoke the church windows from which the images are derived, at the same time subverting their intended purpose by revealing the “bare bones” of human life—the body’s mortality. She says, “The use of multiple layers creates a world in which the semi-transparent layers of scientific materials obstruct, overlap, and combine with the religious images to create a dichotomy between the two.”

Kurtenbach also adds a layer of handmade marks to the prints, rendering the computer-generated images intimate and personal. Making these marks also serves as a form of catharsis, a process she perceives as “not unlike that of a surgeon, in the sense that a surgeon must cut and potentially scar a patient to heal and restore health to the individual.” Kurtenbach received her MFA in photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2007 and has since lived in Chicago, where her self-portraits will be exhibited in a show opening in mid-August at Morpho Gallery. For more information about the artist and her work, visit www.lkimages.com.

“Fingerprint DNA” comprises the actual DNA fingerprints of four members of Ondrizek’s husband’s Arab-American family, the Qamars, each printed by dye sublimation on a panel of Ultra Sheer fabric. The printed panels are mounted on a loom-like metal structure, which calls to mind the Middle Eastern tradition of rug-making. Ondrizek says, “The art of rug-making has been practiced for centuries in the Arab world, and, like those of genetic material, the patterns are handed down through the generations.” Viewed from the front, the familial identity markers on each panel overlap; from the side, threads connecting each panel are visible, representing literally the characteristics that are shared by members of a family.

"Energy Plans" - FutureFarmers at the Nature Museum (7/21 & 22)

2008-07-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

ENERGY PLANS (click for full schedule)

July 21 & 22
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
(on the front lawn near Fullerton & Cannon)

During 3 days Futurefarmers in collaboration with the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum will host two building workshops and 4 discussion sessions led by scientists from the University of Chicago. The general public will be invited to participate in discussions with the guests in the Energy Tent. The outcome of these discussions will be a series of questions relative to the issue of "Energy" and the upcoming 2008 elections.

The questions produced in small discussion groups will be posed to larger groups in the form of a Continuum. . Each morning, Futurefarmers will conduct special workshops with Chicago area teenagers from the Chicago Park District TRACE (Teens Re-Imagining Art/Community/Environment) program and the Nature Museum CPS summer interns.

OLD GOLD animation screening (7/18)

2008-07-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Join us in the backyard of Old Gold Exhibitions for a small festival of short works by Norman McClaren, Jesse McManus, Huong Ngo, Wladyslaw Starewicz (!), Siebren Versteeg + Deborah Johnson, Eric Fleishchauer, Todd Simeone, George Monteleone, Alexander Stewart + Peter Miller, and Andy Yang + Christa Donner - all viewable from the comfort of a lawn chair. Curated by Kat Parker.

Re:Production -- Suggestions from the Animal Kingdom will enjoy an outdoor screening this Friday as part of a the show.

Old Gold is located at 2022 N. Humboldt Blvd.

Chicago, IL 60647, just a few blocks from the Blue Line's California stop.

Show starts at 9:30pm, Cocktails provided by Philip von Zweck ($5 suggested donation)

Seed Science Writing Contest (8/1 deadline)

2008-07-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

Seed magazine has a call for submissions for its Third Annual Seed Science Writing Contest

"For science to achieve its transformative potential across society, it is essential that we understand both what catalyzes science and what inhibits it. Last year we sought ideas to catalyze science literacy. This year, we ask:

What is the most significant force acting against science in society today? How can it be overcome?"

> Submission Deadline: August 1, 2008
> Maximum Word Count: 1,200

"Science in Art" - call for submissions (8/22)

2008-07-15T08:30:00.001-07:00

Science in Art is a juried exhibit taking place this October at the University of Chicago.

There is an open call for submissions of work to the show is open until August 22nd, applications are available for download here, as well as from their website.

Continental Drift w/ Midwest Radical Cultural Corridor (6/06 - 08)

2008-06-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

::: Midwest Radical Cultural Corridor /Continental Drift :::
[ June 6-8 ]

::::::::FRIDAY, June 6::::::::

Screening: Break bread together while consuming a double feature of films on radical food control!
Mess Hall
6932 N Glenwood, Chicago just across from the Morse stop on the Red Line

*6:30 PM - Our Daily Bread, 1934, directed by King Vidor! (Hollywood Socialism!) In the midst of the great Depression, middle class couple leaves NY to start a farm. They don't know what they are doing and the farm starts failing. People, displaced by the Depression and the dust bowl start showing up at the farm and offering their skills. The farm collectivizes organically and they succeed - they make bread!

*8:30 PM - The World According to Monsanto, 2008, Marie-Monique Robin (French Socialism!) Enlightening update on the corporate war against the living: destruction of cultural and agricultural biodiversity and hostile takeover of world seed supply. Critical background for understanding today's food price crisis.

Bring bread-- homemade or lovingly bought--along with good things to eat and drink with it.

::::::::SATURDAY, June 7::::::::

* Release Party for AREA Chicago #6: City As Lab
Saturday 2pm-4pm @ Paseo Prairie Garden, adjacent to the south exit of the Logan Square 'el' exit
This issue of AREA Chicago looks at Chicago as a policy laboratory in which experimental public policy in the areas of housing, labor and education are tested on the residents of Chicago.

* Gerald Raunig in dialogue with Dan Wang (and you)
7 pm @ InCUBATE
2129 North Rockwell (around the corner from Congress Theatre on Milwaukee Ave)
Vienna-based philosopher and author of Art and Revolution (2007) visits Chicago for the first time, breaks down the latest in art/social action theory.

::::::::SUNDAY, June 8::::::::

* Tour the C/CURE-Raising Spirits! initiative with Martha Boyd in the Riverdale neighborhood. 1pm - 5pm meet @ Resource Center
222 East 135th Pl.
byo-picnic The Raising Spirits! initiative is a local proposal for rebuilding healthy, self-sustaining human communities in the context of climate change and pervasive ecological and economic dysfunction. The project commits to creative problem-solving out of the challenges and opportunities in a particular community and place: in this case, Chicago's Riverdale community along the Little Calumet River - in our own lower 9th ward. Martha Boyd will describe the project and activities through the Chicago/Calumet Underground Railroad Effort (C/CURE) to link cultural and ecological tourism with community health and wealth. Environment, enterprise, history, policy, education, infrastructure -and ultimately: survival. Dan Wang

Martha Boyd is Program Director of Angelic Organics Learning Center's Urban Initiative in Chicago.

* Screening of The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973), Ivan Dixon appearance by the author of the book (1966) Sam Greenlee 7 pm @ Backstory Cafe 6100 South Blackstone (inside the Experimental Station)
potluck dinner
"…the story of Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook), the first African American to enter the CIA's elite espionage program. After putting up with racist supervisors and co-workers for five years, he resigns his post, returns home to Chicago and begins training urban street gangs in guerrilla warfare tactics. Freeman's goal: to launch a revolutionary war against the white power structure in every major U.S. city." (Lewis Beale, LA Times, 2/28/2005) This event is co-sponsored by the upcoming AREA 1968/2008 issue 1968.areachicago.org

Contact Claire Pentecost for more information 773.383.9771 cpente(at)saic.edu

Call for biology zines, comics, etc!

2008-05-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION makers of biologically-related, distributable projects!
Artist/Zinestress Christa Donner and Biologist Andrew Yang are curating an art exhibition called "Biological Agents" at Chicago's Gallery 400 for Fall 2008.

Personal and social agency is as much a matter of access to information and resources as it is about decision-making. For this reason, one important component to the Biological Agents exhibition is the Knowledge Virus Research Station, an area in the gallery designed to seed a positive epidemic of information through artist-made resources made available for public dissemination. This will include comfortable seating around shelves for zines, minicomics, and brochures, DVDs, and an internet kiosk linked to sites focusing on various biological and educational initiatives as well as information on biological topics from a variety of perspectives.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR:
Our call for entries includes Small-press zines, Brochures, Minicomics, Audio CDs, DVDs, Podcasts, View Master Reels, Maps, Interactive Web Projects, Guides, and any other medium that is small, reproducible, and easily distributable. We seek projects that do any (or all) of the following:

• share biological knowledge with non-specialist audiences (i.e. the general public) in interesting, accessible ways.

• engage directly with public communities, environments, and/or other species, giving them a way to exercise their agency as active biological participants.

• creatively disseminate information about biological issues from a range of perspectives, both factual and fictionalized.

We welcome single or multiple copies of publications and other physical media relating to this theme. Multiples will be distributed FREE of charge to visitors. No publications or information will be for sale during the exhibition, though you may include information about how visitors can purchase work elsewhere.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: is August 1st, 2008

Physical submissions may be mailed to:
C. Donner Attn: Knowledge Virus PO Box 6571 Chicago, IL 60680-6571
Please include contact information and self-addressed, stamped packaging for any materials you wish to have returned to you.

Digital or web-based materials may be e-mailed to ayang (at) saic.edu and/or cdonne1 (at) uic.edu.

ALSO: zines in single-page foldable formats or PDF form may also be considered for ongoing publication/dissemination through the Small Science Collective. (If you're interested, please mention this in your e-mail or in a note attached to your zine). Please describe your project in the body of your e-mail.

"Lawn Nation" at the Nature Museum (5/22 on)

2008-05-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

Lawn Nation art exhibition and events series at the Notebaert Nature Museum

For the summer of 2008, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum brings photographs, art installations, films, furniture made from turf grass, reimagined croquet games, altered garden gnomes, pink flamingos, and audio narratives together in an exhibition that explores American's most ubiquitous landscape. Outdoors on Museum grounds, futuristic lawns are brought to life by Foresight Design Initiative and the landscape design firms of Christy Webber, JFNew, and Tallgrass Restoration.

When ::::::

Opening Reception: Thursday, Nay 22, 5:30 - 8:30pm

runs through September 7th with a summer worth of programming

Where::::::

Notebaert Nature Museum
2430 N Cannon Dr, Chicago, IL 60614
773.755.5100

"Small Science" at MCA's Hip Lit (5/17)

2008-05-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

The zine project the Small Science Collective will be at this year's Hip Lit Fair at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art and co-sponsored by Quimby's.

SSC was featured last week in the media and culture blog Is Greater Than.

Come by and pick up some free zines, talk science and browse all the other comics and going on now in the city, including Christa Donner's latest zine "Re: Productive"

When:::::

Saturday May 17th, noon - 4pm.

Where:::::

Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
312.397.4010

eMotion Pictues: Orthopeadics in Art (till 7/20)

2008-05-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

'eMotion Pictures: An Exhibition of Orthopeadics in Art'

artwork of Elaine Silets and Susan Etcoff

from the Cultural Center website:

Sponsored by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, eMotion Pictures is a juried exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculpture and photography by artists who have experienced an orthopaedic condition, and by orthopaedic surgeons who treat them. Both adult artists and children were asked to share artwork that illustrated some aspect of their relationship to this orthopaedic condition: fear, healing, anger, self-image, mobility, frustration, strength, pain, weakness, hope, independence.

When:::::::

through July 20
FREE!

Where:::::::

the Chicago Cultural Center
77 E. Randolph St.
Chicago
(312) 744-6630

Darwin + Design Exhibition and Symposium

2008-05-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

Design in the Age of Darwin: From William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright

May 9–August 24, 2008
Frances and Leigh Block Museum of Art
40 Arts Circle Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
phone: 847-491-4000

This from the Block Museum Website:
With the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859, Charles Darwin challenged the foundations of both science and culture. His ideas about the transmutation of species and the mutability of nature provoked strong reactions among naturalists and theologians and continue to stir debate today. It is less well known that the influence of Darwinian and other modes of evolutionary thought extended into the realms of architecture, the decorative arts, and design, as well, where biological terms like “adaptation,” “fitness,” “functionalism,” and “type” were used by theorists and practitioners alike. During the fifty or so years following the publication of The Origin of Species, biologists and designers wrestled with the question of whether the evolution of plants and animals, and the decorative forms derived from them, was the result of an internal dynamic presided over by a divine creator or external factors governed by mere contingency. The dispute, which may be called the "formalism/functionalism debate," was engaged by the English designers William Morris, Christopher Dresser, C. F. A. Voysey, and C. R. Ashbee, as well as the American architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, whose works are included in the exhibition.

This exhibition is guest curated by Northwestern University art history professor Stephen F. Eisenman. A full color illustrated catalogue ($36.95) published by the Block Museum and Northwestern University Press accompanies the exhibition.

In Conjunction with this exhibition:
“Darwin and Design” Symposium
9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday, May 17
Frances and Leigh Block Museum of Art
40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL

An international panel of scholars will gather to discuss the impact of the theory of evolution on British and American architecture, design and decorative arts. Caroline Arscott, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London; David Brett, University of Ulster, Belfast; Stuart Durant, independent author and scholar; Jonathan Smith, University of Michigan-Dearborn; and Northwestern’s Sarah Teasley, assistant professor of art history, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, will participate. Admission is free.

Schedule, Panelists, and more information can be found HERE (scroll to event).

Christa Donner and Timea Tihanyi at IMSS

2008-04-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

Chicago artist Christa Donner creates new models for the human body based on sensation and imagination. On Friday, May 2nd, the International Museum of Surgical Science presents "ExtraSensory," an exhibition of Donner's drawing-based installation, zines, photography, and works on paper from a body of work created in collaboration with rural teens. The resulting images present a complex, surreal look at teenage body image and the things we can feel but can't see.

The museum also debuts "Two Spaces, One Body," a new site-specific work by Seattle artist Timea Tihanyi , who recreates historic medical images through fiber-based installation. Both exhibitions are part of the Anatomy in the Gallery series, and open with a free reception amidst the giant kidney stones and antique forceps of the museum's collection.

Free public reception for the artists on Friday, May 2nd from 5 - 8 pm
The exhibition remains on view through April 18, 2008 with museum admission

Christa Donner: ExtraSensory and Timea Tihanyi: Two Spaces, One Body
The International Museum of Surgical Science
1524 N. Lake Shore Dr. (inner drive)
Chicago, IL 60610
312.642.6502

Steve Kurtz Update - "Bioterrorism" charge finally dropped?

2008-04-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

After the interminable time the government takes to deal with the messes it chooses to create, it seems like the one surrounding the charges against Steve Kurtz for bioterrorism activities may be coming to an end.

Look to Critical Art Ensemble's Defense Fund site for more details - what was preparation for an art exhibit on biotechnology led to four hard years of nonsense - let's hope this recent ruling closes the case.

The Hysterical Alphabet

2008-04-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

The Hysterical Alphabet
Chopin Theater
1543 W. Division Street, Chicago
7:00 pm
Sundays April 13th, 20th, and 27th

Theater Oobleck presents the full version of The Hysterical Alphabet, "disproving the theory that time heals all wombs." This remarkable performance by writer Terri Kapsalis features live sound by John Corbett and projected video by Danny Thompson, merging the aural and the visual to poetically explore misunderstandings of womens' bodies and minds through the history of hysteria. The performance coincides with the release of Kapsalis' book by the same name, featuring illustrations by Gina Litherland and published by WhiteWalls press.

Reservations are highly recommended: 773-347-1041
$10 suggested donation

World Offset - part of the EcoAesthetics Exhibit

2008-03-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

WORLD OFFSET is a new artwork by SAIC faculty Tiffany Holmes that just opened this last week for the <>TAG exhibition, EcoAesthetics. The interactive website allows individuals in the Hague and beyond to pledge a small carbon offset that alters the visuals in the eco-visualization. An eco-visualization is a creative animation that makes hidden or numeric environmental data visible and comprehensible.

Both the full-screen and web-based animation begins with no carbon offsets. All of the spinning disks are filled with devices that consume energy: hairdryers, toasters, cars, and airplanes. When the first 100 pounds of carbon are promised, a change occurs in the animation: trees replace hairdryers. The goal of the animation is to offset at minimum 15,000 pounds of carbon, the amount that the average American consumes per year. The fact that so many real promises are required to offset the impact of one individual is in itself a demonstration of the enormous challenge of modifying human behavior to slow climate change.

Every thirty seconds the name of the most recent offset contributor is displayed in the animation. The website dynamically archives all carbon promises and contributor information.

Please check out the site and make a carbon promise. No cheating, pick something you are not doing already.

Radio Ephemera - call for Submissions

2008-03-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

Radio Emphemera is this his years audio challenge from the Third Coast Festival in collaboration with the Prelinger Library

HEAR a description of the project and an interview with the Prelingers

Yes, you have until August 3rd to come up with a 3 minute story using a stranger's voice that connects at least two out of five books from the library. Nicely, three of the five books in the pool are old biology texts, so the possiblities abound...

"Heating Up" Exhibit - Call to Artists

2008-03-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

The Evanston Art Center, a non-profit, community based visual arts organization is hosting an exhibition, "Heating Up" scheduled for October 5- November 9, 2008.

This is an exhibition of artists who are creating a cultural discourse around the topics of climate change and ecosystem degradation. We are currently looking for submissions from artists until August 15, 2008. The artists may use a range of methods and media-including installations, drawings, sculpture, photography and/or projects that involve the community. The artists in "Heating Up" will challenge viewers to initiate dialogues and engage in actions that can help heal our planet's fragile ecosystems.

For more information: www.evanstonartcenter.org/exhibitions or Contact: pdanoff@evanstonartcenter.org Evanston Art Center 2603 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL 60201
847.475.5300

Autism + The Republics of Cognition 3/18

2008-03-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

Autism & the Many Republics of Cognition
presented by Ralph Savarese, Associate Professor of English, Grinnell College

Tuesday, March 18
Noon-1:30 PM
The University of Illinois at Chicago
Westside Research Office Bldg., Room 561
1747 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago

The Institute for Health Research and Policy, The Chancellor's Committee on Disability, and Project Biocultures present this seminar as part of the University of Illinois at Chicago's ongoing Biocultures Seminar series.

Ralph Savarese, PhD, is an associate professor of American literature, creative writing, and disability studies at Grinnell College. He is the author of Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption (Other Press, 2007), hailed by Newsweek as “real life love story and an urgent manifesto for the rights of people with neurological disabilities.”

Leap (Year) Screening at Golden Age (2/29)

2008-02-27T05:10:00.000-08:00

The Leap (Year) Show
Friday, Feb 29th, 7:30 PM
GOLDEN AGE
1500 W 17th Street, Chicago, IL

In celebration of Greeks who won't get hitched in intercalary years,
of the "Ladies' Privilege", of the Gregorian calendar that extends our
collective lives by one day for every 1460 lived, and of all
birthday leaplings, Ben Russell and the folks at artist-book/small item shop GOLDEN AGE present an evening of Experimental Films Featuring Things That Leap. FROGS and TOADS, that is. Hop over to Pilsen and check out their "kino-swamp of frame-fluttering frogs,
animatronic amphibians, pixellated pipas, and truly terrifying toads.
Don't miss out - this is the sort of batrachian magic that only occurs
once every four years..."

FEATURING: Frogland by Ladislaw Starewicz (8:00, 35mm on video, 1922);
A Frog on the Swing by Robert Breer (5:00, 16mm, 1989); Habitat
Batrachian by Rose Lowder (8:30, 16mm, 2006); Cane Toads by Mark Lewis
(65:00, video, 1988)
TRT 86:30

Climate Clock - call for artists

2008-02-26T22:38:00.000-08:00

The Climate Clock Global Initiative is seeking ideas from artist-led teams to create a major artwork entitled Climate Clock, which will measure changes in greenhouse gas levels, and be the first in a series of global projects calling attention to climate change.

Climate Clock will be an instrument of long-term measurement and will collect data for 100 years. The artwork will be located in downtown San Jose, California, Silicon Valley's city center, and will be a collaboration between an artist-led team composed of artists, international and Silicon Valley engineers and other creative professionals who are working with climate measurement and data visualization. It is anticipated that the budget for the construction of Climate Clock will be between $5 and $15 million, depending upon the scope of the final proposal.

To view the call visit http://cadre.sjsu.edu/fuse/strategem.html, for a PDF of the call, please visit http://www.sanjoseculture.org/?pid=4500 and to apply, go to www.callforentry.org, register a username and password, navigate to "Apply to Calls", and search for "San Jose Climate Clock". If you have questions please write climateclock@sanjoseca.gov

The Climate Clock Initiative is a collaboration between FUSE: cadre/montalvo artist research residency initiative and the City of San Jose Public Art program in cooperation with ZERO1.

-- Kuniko Vroman, Coordinator FUSE: _ CADRE/Montalvo Artist Research Residency Initiative CADRE Laboratory, School of Art and Design San Jose State University One Washington Square San Jose, CA 95192-0089 USA ( p ) 408. 924.4368 ( f ) 408.924.4326

Fluids, Sparks, and Spirits in Antebellum America (2/13)

2008-02-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

Fluids, Sparks, and Spirits in Antebellum America
Justine Murison, UIUC Monticello Fellow
Wednesday, February 13, 3:30 pm

Newberry Library
2nd Floor, Towner Fellows' Lounge
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, IL 60610-7324

What are the politics and physiology of anxiety? Is nervousness subject to historical change?
Does a literary work represent, exploit, or contain cultural anxiety? Or all three? By turning to the antebellum era, a period that popularized physiological conceptions of nervous interiority, this talk explores the relationship between theories of the electrical body popular in antebellum physiology and its widespread (and sometimes paradoxical) uses in cultural, political, and theological thinking.

All are welcome!
Refreshments are served at 3:30 p.m.
presentation begins at 4:00 p.m.

Landscape Art at the Notebaert

2008-02-09T08:13:00.000-08:00

Imperfect Recall
January 19 - March 30, 2008
Notebaert Nature Museum
2430 North Cannon Drive

Chicago artist Tom Denlinger presents his photographic series, Imperfect Recall, in an exhibition on the lower level of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum this month.

From the Museum's Press Release: "Denlinger selects transparencies of landscape art from museum collections and then gathers leaves, plants and debris from outside museums. Back in the studio, he uses the accumulation of objects to assemble dioramas under plexiglass meant to look as if the small patch of landscape is under water.The transparencies are projected onto the dioramas. Both the artificial landscape presented by the museum on its indoor walls and the artificial landscape the artist has created himself are then photographed together as a single composition. The projected images address the artist’s relationship to imaging media as well as to urban and cultural landscapes. "

Admission to this exhibition is free with general museum admission ($9 general adult admission; free on Thursdays).

Patterns, Pixels, and Process: Discussing the History of the Computer Print (2/16)

2008-02-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

Patterns, Pixels, and Process: Discussing the History of the Computer Print

February 16, 2008
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM

Block Museum of Art
40 Arts Circle Drive
Evanston, IL
60208-2410

Description: This symposium brings together artists and scholars to map out a history of the computer print, from its pioneering stages, through the so-called paintbox era, and to its diverse contemporary environment. Participants will speak in the following order:

Debora Wood (Block Museum senior curator)
Edward Shanken (Art and Science Center, UCLA)
Charles Jeffries and Colette Stuebe Bangert (artists)
Frieder Nake (University of Bremen, Germany)
David Em (artist)
Roman Verostko (artist)
Sonya Rapoport (artist)
C.E.B. Reas (artist)
Moderated by Paul Hertz (artist and co-curator, Imaging by Numbers)

This program is FREE. Reservations are not required. Sponsored by Flashpoint, The Academy of Media Arts and Sciences. Additional support is provided by American Airlines and the Myers Foundations.

Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of the Computer Print

2008-02-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of the Computer Print
January 18–April 6, 2008

Block Museum of Art
40 Arts Circle Drive Evanston, IL 60208-2410
Phone: 847-491-4000 F

Bioculture Seminar: Donor Offspring and DNA testing

2008-02-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, Feb 6, 11:30-1pm

As Part of UIC's ongoing Biocultures Seminar Series, Filmmaker Barry Stevens will show selections from his CBC film "Offspring" about donor offspring and DNA testing, based on Stevens' own experience seeking information on his donor from artificial insemination. The session will explore the relationship between culture and science through this lens. UIC Professor Lennard Davis will also talk about his book on donor offspring and DNA testing. Q and A discussion will follow.

The event takes place at UIC's Humanities Institute, in the lower level of Stevenson Hall (701 S. Morgan Street). Light lunch will be available.

American Apartheid: Tracing the Art, Science and Ethics of Medical Racism (2/7)

2008-01-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

"American Apartheid: Tracing the Art, Science and Ethics of Medical Racism"
a talk by Harriet Washington

Thursday, February 7th, 4:30-6 pm

Ferguson Auditorium
600 S. Michigan Ave.
Columbia College Chicago

For several hundred years, U.S. bias against black Americans in the medical sphere has reflected the political, social and economic realities of the larger culture. In addition, medical beliefs have both reflected and been fed by artistic trends, mores and practices and have been reinforced by literary movements and semantic strategies. This talk will trace some of these and indicate how this history affects today's medical-research practices.

Ms. Washington is a Visiting Scholar at DePaul University, medical ethicist, and author of Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.

The talk is a Critical Encounters: Poverty and Privilege event and is co-sponsored by the Liberal Education Department.

The event is preceded by a brief, light food reception beginning at 4 PM.

Also, a complete list of the spring series can be found online at http://www.colum.edu/Academics/Science_and_Mathematics/colloquium.php

"Warsong" and "Marked" at the IMSS (Feb.1 - April 18)

2008-01-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

“Warsong: Iliad Cenotaphs,” an exhibition of sculptures by Jonathan Gabel, and “Marked,” a mixed-media installation by Joseph Kohnke, as part of its ongoing “Anatomy in the Gallery” contemporary art program at the IMSS

opening on February 1, 2008, with a free, public reception for the artists from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.,and remaining on view through April 18, 2008.

Museum of Surgical Sciences
1524 N. Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, IL 60610 USA
312.642.6502
fax 312.642.9516
info@imss.org

“Warsong: Iliad Cenotaphs” comprises painted wood sculptures representing the negative space of fatal wounds suffered by warriors in Homer’s Iliad. Throughout the ancient Greek epic poem, more than 250 warriors are introduced by name only to be slaughtered on the battleground, the description of their injuries so precise that Gabel has been able to create detailed anatomical models of the flesh displaced by spears and arrows. He says, “Through the cartography of the body, the medical view of the world illuminates not only the physical properties of life, but also the intangible value of it.”

In sculpting what is literally lost during these soldiers’ deaths, Gabel asks viewers to consider what else war takes from humanity. According to the artist, “against the horror and literal disembodiment that is modern warfare, these ancient warriors offers an almost eerily serene entry-point for the contemplation of life and its violent cessation.” Gabel currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, and received his MFA from Rutgers University. For further details about Gabel and his art, please visit www.jonathangabel.com.

“Marked” consists of a faux medical device that continuously scans a conveyer belt of skin images from which Kohnke has excised every marking. Upon registering a void in the stream of images, the pneumatic mechanism triggers a light on one of two bodies, representing the marking’s original location. The pair of bodies that Kohnke employs—a human form and that of a fawn—illustrates the contrasting functions of external markings, which can signal a life-threatening illness in the one and serve as life-preserving camouflage in the other. “In nature, markings and spots on the body’s surface are used to increase the chances of survival, whereas on humans they are looked upon as flaws or the markings of death,” Kohnke says.

Inspired by a good friend’s death from melanoma, “Marked” reflects Kohnke’s meditation on the fragility of all life, whose fate can be determined by a seemingly insignificant mark. He says, “The idea that something so small and overlooked on the skin can consume your entire body both frightens and intrigues me.” A former resident of Evanston and MFA graduate of the Art and Technology program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Kohnke recently relocated to Pasadena, California. More information about Kohnke and his work is available at www.josephkohnke.com.

COSMIC CARTOGRAPHY JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE (12/5)

2007-12-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

COSMIC CARTOGRAPHY JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE

Join University of Chicago Cosmologists Rocky Kolb and Michael Turner for a cosmic magical mystery tour from Chicago to the edge of the visible universe. Visit observatories around the globe (virtually) and meet people who are mapping the Dark Matter that holds galaxies together and discovering the nature of the Dark Energy, which pulls space apart.

December 5, 2007 @ 7PM - Enter at 220 South Columbus Ave - Follow the YOU ARE HERE Red Dots

This event is free - No reservations required - First come first serve - Doors OPEN at 6:30PM

For more go here:
http://cosmicmaps.uchicago.edu/public.html

Biocultures Graduate Student Conference

2007-11-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

>science >technology >culture >humanity

Graduate Student Conference

University of Illinois at Chicago,
Friday and Saturday
November 16-17, 2007
- free-

Keynote speakers:
Judith Halberstam, University of Southern California
Lennard J. Davis, University of Illinois at Chicago

Schedule and details:

http://www.uic.edu/depts/engl/biocultures/

Where Art and Science Meet: Conservation Science at the Art Institute of Chicago (11/8)

2007-11-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

Where Art and Science Meet: Conservation Science Activities at the Art Institute of Chicago

a talk by Dr. Francesca Casadio, A.W. Mellon Conservation Scientist, The Art Institute of Chicago

Columbia College Chicago Ferguson Auditorium
600 S. Michigan Ave. 5 pm

Dr. Casadio will describe case studies from the Art Institute of Chicago detailing how analytical chemists work with historians and art conservationists to enhance the understanding, restoration and long-term preservation and storage of works of art.

The Hysterical Alphabet (11/8)

2007-10-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

The Hysterical Alphabet

by Terri Kapsalis
Video by Danny Thompson
Sound by John Corbett

A performance not to be missed, and one night only!
For a preview, click here.

Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 6:00 p.m.
at the Gene Siskel Film Center
164 N. State Street

produced in conjunction with Experimental Sound Studio's Outer Ear Festival of Sound
in partnership with the School of the Art Institute's Conversations at the Edge series

$9 general admission
$7 for students
$5 for Film Center members
and $4 for students and faculty of the School of the Art Institute
November 8. One Night Only!

From Pythagoras to Hendrix: The Development of the Tempered Musical Scale ( 10/25)

2007-10-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

From Pythagoras to Hendrix: The Development of the Tempered Musical Scale for the Guitar
a talk by Dave Dolak (Science and Math Department, Columbia College Chicago)

Columbia College Chicago Ferguson Auditorium
600 S. Michigan Ave. 5 pm

Popular professor for Geology Explored: Dinosaurs and More and Physics of Music, Artist-in-Residence Dave Dolak will describe the evolution of the tempered musical scale through various cultures.

Government Pressure forces Scientist's Plea in the bizarre ongoing Art-Science-"Bioterrorism" case

2007-10-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

October 11, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SICKNESS, “ABSURD” DOJ PROSECUTION FORCE SCIENTIST TO PLEAD IN PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE
Scientist’s Wife and Daughter Comment on Case

Buffalo, NY - Today in Federal District Court, Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, under tremendous pressure, pled guilty to lesser charges rather than facing a prolonged trial for federal charges of “mail fraud” and “wire fraud” in a surreal post-PATRIOT Act legal case that has attracted worldwide attention.

“From the beginning, this has been a persecution, not a prosecution. Although I have not seen the final agreement, the initial versions contained incorrect and irrelevant information,” said Dr. Dianne Raeke Ferrell, Dr. Ferrell’s wife and an Associate Professor of Special Education and Clinical Services at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “Bob is a 27 year survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which has reoccurred numerous times. He has also had malignant melanoma. Since this whole nightmare began, Bob has had two minor strokes and a major stroke which required months of rehabilitation.”

Dr. Ferrell added that her husband was indicted just as he was preparing to undergo a painful and dangerous autologous stem cell transplant, the second in 7 years.

The Ferrells’ daughter, Gentry Chandler Ferrell, added: “Our family has struggled with an intense uncertainty about physical, emotional and financial health for a long time. Agreeing to a plea deal is a small way for dad to try to eliminate one of those uncertainties and hold on a little longer to the career he worked so hard to develop… Sadly, while institutions merely are tarnished from needless litigation, individuals are torn apart. I remain unable to wrap my mind around the absurdity of the government’s pursuit of this case and I am saddened that it has been dragged out to the point where my dad opted to settle from pure exhaustion.” (read Gentry Ferrell’s full statement)

Dr. Ferrell’s colleague Dr. Steven Kurtz, founder of the internationally acclaimed art and theater group Critical Art Ensemble, was illegally detained and accused of “bioterrorism” by the U.S. government in 2004 stemming from his acquisition from Dr. Ferrell of harmless bacteria used in several of Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects. After a costly investigation lasting several months and failing to provide any evidence of “bioterrorism,” the Department of Justice instead brought charges of “mail fraud” and “wire fraud” against Kurtz and Ferrell. Under the
USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum penalty for these charges has increased from 5 years to 20. (For more information about the case, please see “Background to the Case” below or the CAE Defense Fund site)

JURIDICAL ART CRITICISM?

The government is vigorously attempting to prosecute two defendants in a case where no one has been injured, and no one has been defrauded. The materials found in Dr. Kurtz’s house were obtained legally and used safely by the artist. After three and a half years of investigation and prosecution, the case still revolves around $256 worth of common science research materials that were used in art works by a highly visible and respected group of artists. These art works were commissioned and hosted by cultural institutions worldwide where they had been safely displayed in museums and galleries with absolutely no risk to the public.

The Government has consistently framed this case as an issue of public safety, but the materials used by Critical Art Ensemble are widely available, can be purchased by anyone from High School science supply catalogues, and are regularly mailed.

PROFESSORS OF ART & SCIENCE EXPRESS ALARM

“The government’s prosecution is an ill-conceived and misguided attack on the scientific and artistic communities,” said Dr. Richard Gronostajski, Professor of Biochemistry at SUNY Buffalo, where Professor Kurtz also teaches. “It could have a chilling effect on future scientific research collaborations, and harm teaching efforts and interactions between scientists, educators and artists.”

“It’s deeply alarming that the government could pressure someone of Dr. Ferrell’s stature into agreeing to something like this. The case threatens all Americans’ Constitutionally guaranteed right to question the actions of their government,” said Igor Vamos, Professor of Integrated Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

....the full press release continues here

For more information about the case, including extensive documentation, please visit http://caedefensefund.org

CONTACTS:
Email: mailto:media@caedefensefund.org
Claire Pentecost: 773-383-9771
Gregory Sholette: 212-865-3076
Edmund Cardoni: 716-854-1694
Igor Vamos: 917-209-3282
Lucia Sommer: 716-359-3061
Dianne Raeke Ferrell: 412-352-2704

"Narrative Psychiatry" talk at Biocultures (10/16)

2007-10-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Bradley Lewis MD, Ph.D. speaking on "Narrative Psychiatry."

Biocultures Faculty/Grad Seminar

Tuesday, October 16, noon to 1:30PM.

University of Illinois
Westside Research Office Bldg. Room 561
1747 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago

Bradley Lewis has dual training in medicine (psychiatry specialty) and interdisciplinary humanities. He writes and teaches at the interface of medicine, bioscience, humanities, science studies, and cultural studies. He is the author of numerous articles published in academic journals, is the cultural studies editor for The Journal of Medical Humanities, and has a book in progress entitled Postpsychiatry: Theorizing the Modern Clinic.

-------Open to public
-------Lunch will be provided.

“Recovery: Embroidered X-Rays”　& “Under the Looking Glass" （till 10/19)

2007-10-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

Matthew Cox, “Recovery: Embroidered X-Rays”

Maggie Leininger, “Under the Looking Glass: Examining Natural and Constructed Structures”

August 3–October 19, 2007
International Museum of Surgical Sciences
1524 N. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, IL 60610 USA
312.642.6502
fax 312.642.9516
info@imss.org

These artists juxtapose stitching with medical imaging technologies to investigate the human condition.

Matthew Cox, Skull with Earrings

“Recovery,” the title of Cox’s exhibition, is fitting on a number of levels: the works consist of found x-rays that Cox has recovered from hospitals and transformed into artwork by literally re-covering parts of the exposed skeletons with embroidered faces, hair, and clothing, all rendered in a slightly anachronistic Botticelli-esque style. Contrasting the cold, diagnostic quality of the x-rays with the nurturing aspect of hand-stitching, the artist nurses the depicted patients through their recovery from sickness to health. Stitching, says Cox, “acts as care giving or healing to the injured, a socially feminine sort of action, while the x-ray itself can be considered masculine and unemotional.”

Under the Looking Glass,” Leininger’s exhibition, comprises embellished fabric “specimens” that replicate the microscopic patterns created by disease-causing microbes as they grow, reproduce, and form colonies not unlike those found within human civilizations. These works illustrate parallels between two types of “cultural development”: the naturally occurring cellular processes of bacteria in a Petri dish, and the social engineering of communities within an urban environment. Leininger says, “Groups of cells divide and interact with one another the way many of us interact in daily life, navigating paths and creating or breaking barriers for specific purposes. Cultural development, either within a specific neighborhood or larger cultural unit, is represented by the macrocosm of these smaller pieces.“

Kosmolet - Huong Ngo at DEADTECH (10/6)

2007-10-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

October 6-November 10
Deadtech

3321 W. Fullerton Ave.
Opening Oct. 6, 7:00-10:00 pm

This Saturday, October 6, we are opening a new installation by Huong Ngo titled "Kosmolet (Radio Receiver No. 1)" at Deadtech.

Kosmolet is a radio drawing, a functional receiver made out of common household materials, that spans the entire gallery space. Delicate wire lines serve as antennas, bricolaged cardboard and aluminum foil become the frequency tuners, and lowly cardboard tubes are transformed into noble inductor coils.

'Kosmolet' is a celebastardization of the Russian word 'Komsomolet,' or 'little comrade,' the name given to crystal radio kits for little boys during the Stalinist era. Tuning into as many stations as possible in the shortwave to mid-wave range, Kosmolet is also a little world, or the world all at once, a Wunderkammer of sounds. Inspired by anecdotes of handmade radios scraped together under the watchful eyes of oppressive governments, Kosmolet is a declaration of the subversive power of information.

"How do Multicellular Organisms Evolve?" (10/8)

2007-10-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

"How do Multicellular Organisms Evolve?"

a talk by Andy Knoll
Fisher Professor of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, Harvard University

Monday, October 8, 6
Northwestern University
-ENH Abbott Auditorium
Pancoe-ENH Life Sciences Pavilion
2200 Campus Dr. Evanston

This talk is Northwestern University's annual Darwin Lecture Series

Steven Pinker & Richard Dawkins - This Week (10/3 & 4)

2007-10-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

PINKER

International House
1414 E. 59th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Thursday, October 4th 6.00pm

From the dust jacket: "The Stuff of Thought" is a revelation. In this exhilarating new book, Steven Pinker analyzes how our words relate to thoughts and to the world around us and reveals what this tells us about ourselves. How does a mind that evolved to think about rocks and plants and enemies think about love and physics and democracy? Why do we threaten and bribe and seduce in such elaborate, often comical ways? How can a choice of metaphors start a war, impeach a president, or win an election? Why do people impose taboos on topics like sex, excretion, and the divine? Pinker answers all these questions and many, many more. He shows us that language really can tell us unexpected and fascinating things about ourselves.

DAWKINS
International House
1414 E. 59th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Thursday, October 4th 6.00pm

Richard Dawkins will read from and discuss his most recent work, The God Delusion. A renowned evolutionary biologist, Dawkins' books had a profound influence on modern society, influencing and shaping the popular discourse on any number of scientific matters. Of late he has been most closely connected to a strongly atheistic secular humanism. The God Delusion lays out his arguments against organized religion, pulling examples from history as well as our more modern struggles as evidence of religion's oftentimes pernicious influence. An interesting work, this is an event not to be missed. This event is free and open to the public, but the room holds only 80 - so arrive early! No pre-reserved spots. Sponsored by the famous Coop Bookstore chain in Hyde Park.

Chicago Science in the City 2007 (10/2-13)

2007-09-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

Chicago Science in the City 2007

Kicking off this Tuesday, October 2nd, this series of science events throughout the city provides a lot of ooportunities to get your geek out.

Running two weeks, take in talks by some of the city's top scientists, tour facilities, and more.

Paul Sereno Talk - “Dinosaur Science” (10/2)

2007-09-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

"Dinosaur Science" - a talk by Paul Sereno

In paleontology I found an irresistible combination of travel, adventure, art biology and geology."

Professor of Organismal Biology & Anatomy, The University of Chicago and scientist at The Field Museum

Chicago Cultural Center (1st floor Garland Room)
76 East Washington
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Part of the Chicago Science in the City 2007 series of events through October

Artist Talk: Tiffany Holmes (10/4)

2007-09-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday October 4th, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Price Auditorium, Art Institute of Chicago

Tiffany Holmes' large-scale installations blend traditional materials and digital technologies. Her talk is part of celebrating Chicago Artists Month at the Art Institute.

Free with museum admission!.

Preposterous Propositions-Artists as Visionary Engineers (9/27)

2007-09-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

Preposterous Propositions - Artists as Visionary Engineers
A talk by Linda Weintraub

the ATS SENSORIUM
Thursday, September 27th • 4:30 PM
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
112 S. Michigan Building
(Sensorium is on the 4th floor)

Linda Weintraub is the author of Avant-Guardians: Texlets in Ecology and Art (2006 - ongoing) and founder of Artnow Publications. The first three volumes are Cycle-Logical Art: Recycling Matters for Eco-Art, Ecocentric Topices: Pioneering Themes for Eco-Art, and EnvironMentalities: Twenty-two Approaches to Eco- Art. She wrote In The Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Artists (2003) and Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art’s Meaning in Contemporary Society (1995). From 1982 - 1993, Weintraub served as the first director of the Edith C. Blum Art Institute located on the Bard College campus where she originated fifty exhibitions and published over twenty catalogues. She is curator and coauthor of Lo and Behold: Visionary Art in the Post-Modern Era, Process and Product: The Making of Eight Contemporary Masterworks, Landmarks: New Site Proposals by Twenty Pioneers of EnvironmentalArt, Art What Thou Eat: Images of Food in American Art. Since leaving Bard, Weintraub curated a nationally touring exhibition, “IS IT ART?”. She cocurated the internationally touring exhibition, Animal. Anima. Animus.(1999) with Marketta Sepalla. Weintraub has taught both contemporary art history and studio art. Weintraub served as Henry R. Luce Professor of Emerging Arts at Oberlin College from 2000- 2003. She holds a MFA degree from Rutgers University.

Part of Art and Technology Sensorium Talk series at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Contact Tiffany Holmes, tholme (at) saic (dot) edu for more information.

Image & Meaning Workshop - Harvard (Oct. 24-25)

2007-09-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Today is the offical deadline to apply for the fourth Image and Meaning workshop, this time being held at Harvard University, IM2.4

Inviting all researchers, asrtists and designers interested in the design and visual communication of science for professional and public audeince alike - this workshop is a great opportunity!

If you need a couple days to get your application in, email them at :

im2[dot]xworkshops[at]gmail[dot]com.

And likely you can get an extension. The application is quite short as it is.

For more about the organization, click here.

ARTificial Life, Robotics, and Emergence (9/20)

2007-09-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

ARTificial Life, Robotics, and Emergence

Ken Rinaldo, Professor of Art and Technology, Ohio State University

Thursday, Sept. 20, 5 PM Ferguson Auditorium, 600. S. Michigan Ave.
Columbia College Chicago

Professor Rinaldo’s interdisciplinary media art installations investigate the intersections between natural and technological systems. He integrates organic and electro-mechanical elements to assert a confluence and co-evolution between living and evolving technological material. His talk, featuring a DVD presentation of his installations, will explore theories on living systems, artificial life, interspecies communication and the underlying beauty and pattern inherent in the nature and organization of matter, energy, and information.

The one-hour conversation begins at 5pm and follows a brief reception.

The full schedule of the Science and Mathematics Dept. Colloquium series: Here.

Co- sponsored by the Interactive Arts and Media Dept. as part of their Visiting Artist Lecture Series.

Int'l Conference on Image Science

2007-08-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

GAZING INTO THE 21st CENTURY : CONFRONTING IMAGE NAIVETÉ

Second international conference on Image Science in Goettweig

Topics include -

NEW IMAGE FORMS AND TECHNIQUES
(New visualization techniques in Nano-, Bio-, Neurosciences, Architecture, Photography, Digital Collections Management, etc.)

NEW STRATEGIES IN VISUAL ARGUMENTATION
(in the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, Politics, Advertising, Comics, Diagrams & Models, Visual Music, etc.)

NEW PRACTICES OF IMAGE TRANSFER
(Global economy, Tagging, Micromovies, Flickr, Second Life, You Tube, Google Earth etc.)

Deadline for proposals: October 21st

a talk about ALVIN and the Deep Ocean - 9/6

2007-08-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday, Sept. 6, 5 PM Ferguson Auditorium, 600. S. Michigan Ave.
Columbia College Chicago

Dr. Janet Voight, the Associate Curator of Invertebrates at the Field Museum, will describe the research conducted aboard the ALVIN submersible on the unusual fauna of the deep Pacific Ocean, including those at the the thermal vents of the East Pacific Rise.

The one-hour conversation begins at 5pm and follows a brief reception.

The full schedule of the Science and Mathematics Dept. Colloquium series: Here.

"Strange Culture" - Art, Bacteria and "Bioterror" (8/24)

2007-08-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

Strange Culture
August 24th through the 30th.
at FACETS

A new movie - Strange Culture - tells the harrowing story of Critical Art Ensemble's Steve Kurtz personal tragedy-turned-major FBI investigation over his possession of of allegedly bioterroristic bacteria that had was using for an art piece.

Tying together the story of his wife, Hope's sudden death with following suspicions by the government he was making WMD's in his house, the film does an excellent job

The case is still ongoing, and will finally come trial this summer 2008.

Steve Kurtz's legal defense fund continues to welcome donations.

How Does Race Matter? Genetics and Race (5/21)

2007-05-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

How Does Race Matter? Genetics and Race
Wednesday, May 23, 6-8pm

The DuSable Museum of African American History,
Illinois Black Legislators Auditorium,
740 E 56th Pl,
Chicago, Illinois 60637-1408
Enter the museum through the 57th Street entrance.

This event is FREE and open to the public.
Pre-Registration is required.
Reservations can be made on-line, via e-mail, or by calling 312.422.5580

New research that aims to identify shared genetic markers challenges some traditional concepts of race and ethnicity, and may reinforce others. Other research raises questions about genetics and health disparities among different population groups. Do the results of this research reduce people to a set of genetic traits, perpetuate old forms of discrimination, and put certain populations at risk for further oppression? How do we ensure that racial and ethnic groups maintain self-definition and self-control as genetic science advances? Join us for a discussion about the sociological ramifications of genetic testing as it relates to race and ethnicity.

Panelists Include:

Troy Duster
Ph.D. Professor of Sociology at New York University;
Director of the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge;
Author, Backdoor to Eugenics

Michele Goodwin, JD, LLM
Wicklander Chair and Director, Health Law Institute;
Director, Center for the Study of Race and Bioethics, DePaul University

Blase N. Polite, M.D.
Instructor, Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, The University of Chicago

Harry Porterfield
Feature News Reporter, ABC 7 News (moderator)

How HIV Infects: Characterization of HIV-1 Virion Fusion and Entry (4/19)

2007-04-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

"How HIV Infects: Characterization of HIV-1 Virion Fusion and Entry" by Dr. Hamani Henderson

Thursday, April 19th , 6 PM preceded by a brief reception. Ferguson Auditorium, 600 S. Michigan Ave. Columbia College Chicago

The Science and Mathematics Colloquium Series continues on when Dr. Hamani Henderson presents a talk entitled "How HIV Infects: Characterization of HIV-1 Virion Fusion and Entry" Dr. Henderson will discuss work that she has done developing and visualizing protocols for examining how HIV attaches to and enters cells, particularly those of mucosal sites. The talk is free and open to the public and ASL-interpretation services are available. This talk is co-sponsored by Columbia's Critical Encounters: HIV/AIDS initiative. For more information, contact Kevin Fuller at 312-344-8505

Inside and Out : A Panel Discussion on the Body Worlds Exhibits (4/24)

2007-04-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

The Art-Science Colloquium at SAIC presents
Inside and Out : A Panel Discussion on the Body Worlds Exhibits

Tuesday, April 24th, 4:10pm

School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Room 1307, Michigan Building
112 S. Michigan Ave.

Is a displayed cadaver art or science? Both or neither? What roles do display, creative intention, and viewer response play in deciding? Join us for a conversation on these topics!

On the occasion of "Body Worlds 2," now at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, SAIC hosts a discussion on the Body Worlds phenomenon. Bringing together a cross-disciplinary panel from sculpture, performance, art history, and museum curation, this forum provides an opportunity to explore the various questions regarding art, science and education raised and embodied by this ongoing exhibit. Please join us.

Panelists include:
Lyle Massey
Northwestern University
Assistant Professor, Art History and curator of the Anatomy of Gender

Laurie Palmer
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Associate Professor, Sculpture

Meghan Strell
Local Infinities Theater
Artistic Director for the performance "Corpus Deliciti"

Patricia Ward
Museum of Science and Industry Chicago
Project Director, organizer for Body Worlds at the museum

moderated by Biologist Andrew Yang, (SAIC)

Teaching Color Theory with Reflectance Curves (4/5)

2007-03-29T10:33:00.002-07:00

The Unquantifiable Measurement – Negotiations Between Science & Art (4/9)

2007-03-29T10:33:00.001-07:00

"The Unquantifiable Measurement – Negotiations Between Science and Art"
a talk by by Jan-Henrik Andersen

Monday April 9th 2007, 4:10pm
the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
112 S. Michigan Building, room 1307

The lecture seeks to identify and discuss how to access the workspace between art and science. Which possibilities lie in this space, which approaches are available to artists and designers, and how to negotiate the very premises that supports both terms? Each aspires to their own version of truth about the human condition – whether we’re talking about ecologies, identities or the space we’re bound to share. The lecture will discuss the possibility of creating connections between the two terms, and how to retain the very premises of each without violating for example the logic and verifiability of science, and the creative freedom of art.

Prior to the “scientific revolution” following the renaissance, there were few factors to distinguish one from the other – the truth was kept by religion. Today we’re faced with quite a different reality, and we’re perhaps more than ever actively engaged in bringing truth to the public. More frequently than just a few decades ago, art and science are bringing forth ethical dilemmas that beg to be processed and find their rightful place in our value driven systems without compromising the quality of neither art nor science.

The lecture will be illustrated with works from a wide variety of art/science projects and artists, as well as works from the author’s own portfolio, including a 3-year collaboration with physicists to create a visual nomenclature and representation of subatomic particle energy and matter, which has been widely published and presented.

Science Idol 2007: Editorial Cartoon Contest

2007-03-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

“Science Idol 2007: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest”

Union of Concerned Scientists launch “Science Idol 2007: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest.” We're inviting all Americans to use their creativity and talent to highlight the effects of political interference in science on our health, safety, and environment.

The entry deadline is May 22.

Last Year’s Contest Winners here

Genes In Waiting

2007-03-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

ArtSci Member Yui Suzuki's novel research on genetic mechanisms of evolution is recently featured in SEED Magazine's frontapage!

Anatomy in the Gallery (ongoing)

2007-02-24T16:20:00.000-08:00

(B. Dettmer)

"Postoperative" by Brian Dettmer
"Wisenheimer's Disease" by James F. Cleary, B.F.A.

February 2–April 20, 2007
at the Museum of Surgical Sciences (IMSS)

AND!

call for exhibition proposals - IMSS Anatomy in Gallery, 2008

BioCultures - Call for Papers

2007-02-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

*A call for papers*

Biocultures Graduate Student Conference

deadline: July 1st

at University of Illinois at Chicago
November 16-17, 2007

Keynote speakers:
Judith Halberstam, University of Southern California
Lennard J. Davis, University of Illinois at Chicago

In the 1950s, C.P. Snow saw a fundamental split between the “two cultures” of science and the humanities. But in recent years this split has faded, with theorists like Michel Foucault and Donna Haraway as well as writers like Samuel Delaney and Octavia Butler examining what "the human" is in a world where recent biological and technological developments have profoundly shaken our assumptions about identity and power. At the same time, interdisciplinary work in fields like bioethics, gender studies, disability studies and critical race theory has begun to bridge this divide, offering up new ways of theorizing the body and its relationship to medical, cultural, and political knowledge. Putting projects like these in dialogue with one other, this conference seeks to create an interdisciplinary discourse that participates in the emergence of biocultures - the intellectual space where the humanities and the sciences converge.

Corpus Delicti: The body, a jelly, made visible

2006-09-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

Last year we heard about the anatomical play "Corpus Delicti: Just Desserts" after it had ended, and couldn't believe we'd missed it. I mean, how often does the opportunity come around to see a performance examining the history of anatomy and involving a.) an illuminated cadaver made from ballistic gelatin and vegetables, b.) live accordion music, and c.) audience participation? So this year, when a small flyer appeared announcing another run of this Local Infinities production, I reserved tickets immediately. I'm glad I did. Staged in the operating theater of UIC's neuropsychiatric institute, Corpus Delicti investigates anatomy's complex, controversial past with witty accuracy and startling beauty. In addition to the famed gelatinous body, the group transforms the surgical theater into a rich and interactive stage set, using a covered operating table and white clothing of the actors as moving sub-screens that animate and activate imagery from art history. The two actors work adeptly with language and with the architectural constraints of the theater, using the steep seats and the audience itself as a part of their intense investigation into public dissection while using fruits and vegetables as playful metaphors for human organs. At the end of the show, the public is invited to come down to examine the expertly-crafted gelatin body for themselves, using scalpels to explore lettuce lungs and exquisite arteries made from rainbow kale. This show was well worth the price of admission, and I recommend reserving your seat ahead of time. The show continues Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (Halloween) nights at 8PM. For more information on Corpus Delicti (and Local Infinities' other work) visit http://www.localinfinities.com/cd/cd.html -Christa Donner

on the Strange & Wonderful

2006-06-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

High-speed film captures droplets that "defy" gravity:

Researchers at University of Oregon documenting the Leiden frost Effect" in which water drops propel themselves uphill on superheated surfaces. Mysterious and gorgeous, and something you've probbly done similarly in your frying pan 100 times but never noticed quite like this:

Uphill Slow-Motion droplet on the move
Glitter droplet!
Hopping Droplet!

posted by a. yang

Out & About: Natural Histories & New Art Spaces

2006-05-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

This last weekend of April brought the well-known showers, for sure. But also spring-like re-openings of flowers like the new Hyde Park Arts Center. People were all over the place, over over all the big new space, even at midnight. Plenty of art to be found, like Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Mark Herald and Rick Gribenas' piece "Random Sky" whose floating and flickering blue stripes provide translation of current temperature, barometric pressure, and wind speed just outside.

On the other side of town, Terri Kapsalis's performance "Hysterical Alphabet" played with new “film recombobulation” of Danny Thompson to an extremely full house at Links Hall. Text and image orchestrating an amazing story of the uterus, from A to Z. And even if US immigration worries kept one of the main performers, Sebastian Paz, from being there, Theatre Oobleck's hilarious and harmonic interpretation of Pliny the Elder's writings were appreciated by all, especially those who think accordians and guitars are just the very accompaniment an examination of life, death, comets and triangles and beetles needs.

Out & About: Evolving Art

2006-03-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

This last weekend the bio-art show "Endless Forms: Engaging Evolution" had its opening reception at University of Michigan's Work Gallery. The show featured work from over six countries themed around evolutionary biology and processes like sexual selection, migration, and mutation. The show was the brainchild of ArtSci members Gabrial Harp and Chris Landau. Given the recent broohaha over evolution in the political realm, and a host of exciting discoveries this year in the scientific realm, it couldn't be more timely.
The work ranged from the fairly traditional (a landscape painting of Charles Darwin, wife Emma, and puppy) to the electron microscopy, computer graphics and other media that characterize the ever-evolving pallette of art-makers. Lucky enough to be a part of the show was the work of students from SAIC's Evolution & Biodiversity class (image above) as well as some ArtSci Chicago members too (C. Donner and me).

If you are going to be in-or-around Ann Arbor in the next month, get youself over to the Work Gallery and engage yourself in a dose of evolutionary change...

Andy Yang

NOTE:
Just this past week Chicago's Field Museum opened their new exhibit: "Evolving Planet" with a whole host a special programs over the next two months.

Also check out Science magazine's web video reviewing this past year's major discoveries in evolutionary biology!

Out & About: Fermilab

2006-03-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

On March 5, students and faculty from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) embarked on a day-long field trip to world-famous particle physics laboratory Fermilab in nearby Batavia, IL. The trip was organized by Elizabeth Freeland (who works at SAIC and collaborates with physicists at Fermilab), and I decided to tag along.

Upon entering the lab’s dramatic main building, we were treated to a lecture on string theory and black holes, followed by a trip to the 15th floor viewing deck, where physicists in bright yellow t-shirts answered all the physics-related questions we could come up with. After that, docents led visitors on an in-depth tour of the lab’s famous Tevatron, currently the highest-energy particle accelerator in the world. In addition to being quite interesting, the tour of the facilities was surprisingly visual. The main building and surrounding grounds were punctuated with outdoor sculptures and a large art gallery, but I was most interested in the lab's own brightly-patterned floors and wires, multicolored/ multitextured pipes, and gigantic metal structures that would have seemed fantastically sci-fi except that there was no fiction to this science.

The docents and scientists on hand were happy to make their work accessible and interesting to a broad spectrum of visitors, as they do several times a year when the lab opens its doors to the public with tours and events. If you go when it’s warmer you might even catch sight of bison wandering the grounds! For more information on Fermilab’s public programs, visit their education site.
-Christa Donner

[photo details of Fermilab's Wilson Hall and of one of its many sculptures ]

Happenings Past (more recent)

2006-02-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

"Teaching Color Theory with Reflectance Curves" a talk by Dr. Michael Welsh

Thursday April 5, 5-6 pm
Ferguson Auditorium 600 S. Michigan Ave. Columbia College Chicago

Welsh will discuss how we can merge the science and art of color theory to understand how different primary colors are used in different applications. The conversation will include both discussion and demonstrations to illuminate how different primary color schemes are used in different situations and how these can be taught using reflectance curves. The discussion takes place on Thursday April 5 from 5 to 6 pm in the Ferguson Auditorium and is preceded by a brief reception in the auditorium foyer.
The Colloquium Series is free and open to the public.
ASL-interpretation services are available.

[][]

“Facing Pain: Davy, Freud, & Early Anesthesia” a talk by George Bause (MD, MPH, FCPP, FICS, FRSM, FRI !)

Tuesday, April 3, 2007 (Reception 5:30; lecture 6:15)
Hektoen Institute of Medicine
2100 W. Harrion, Chicago.
www.hektoen.org

International Museum of Surgical Science and Hektoen Institute of Medicine present the seventh lecture in their series “Understanding Pain”

R.S.V.P. to Keri@imss.org, or call 312.642.6502 x. 3130
**Free parking is available**

[][]

"Science and Ethics" a reading by Dr. Bernard Rollin (info)

Monday, March 26 (6pm)
Harold Washington Library, Auditorium
400 S State St
312.747.4050

This event is co-sponsored by the National Anti-Vivisection Society and The John Marshall Law School.
Bernard Rollin, renowned Professor of Philosophy, Biomedical Sciences and Animal Sciences, will discuss and sign his new book, Science and Ethics, which examines the ideology that denies the relevance of ethics to science. Providing an introduction to basic ethical concepts, he discusses a variety of ethical issues, such as animal research, genetic engineering, biotechnology, cloning and stem cell research and how they are ignored, to the detriment of both
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The Social Cost of Pain

Wednesday, February 28, 2007
at Hektoen

by Kenneth L. Vaux, PhD, Professor of Theological Ethics, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and Graduate Faculty, Northwestern University, will discuss the personal and social cost of the quest to ameliorate pain and offers a philosophical and theological reasoning to guide personal action and public policy.

see the full schedule for the Understanding Pain Lecture series here

posted Feb. 23rd

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(B. Dettmer)

"Postoperative" by Brian Dettmer
"Wisenheimer's Disease" by James F. Cleary, B.F.A.

February 2–April 20, 2007
at the Museum of Surgical Sciences (IMSS)

AND!

call for exhibition proposals - IMSS Anatomy in Gallery, 2008

[][]

When Species Meet (lecture/presentation) by Donna Haraway

Reception following the lecture

Thursday, March 1, 2007, 4:00 pm
at Northwestern University
The McCormick Tribune Center Forum
1870 Campus Drive Evanston, IL

more info and directions here

ABOUT THE LECTURE: This lecture explores the concept of companion species as a response to the critiques of humanism and the urgency of ethical and political questions about multi-species relations. Much more than "companion animals," companion species embraces the human and non-human partners who make worlds in their interactions. Pairing biologists with philosophers and media artists, Haraway explores figurations and stories that link people with other species that are both organic and technological. When Species Meet explores contact zones in colonial studies, developmental biology, anthropology, animal studies, science fiction and ecology. Donna Haraway is Professor and former chair of the History of Consciousness Department at UC Santa Cruz and Professor of Feminist Theory and Technoscience at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. Her research interests include: Cultural and historical studies of science and technology, relation of life and human sciences, connections between humans and nonhumans, and feminist theory.

[][]

Art:Science:Design - What's Possible?
a talk by Chuck Pell, sculptor/biomimeticist.

March 7th, 4:15pm
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
Maclean Center (Michigan Building), room 521

ArtSci Chicago

Inner Cartography - this week!

Artists at Work Forum: Studio as Lab on Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV)

HARD SCIENCE at Chicago Art Department on Friday, Aug 13, 2010, 6pm – 10pm

Artists at Work Forum: Studio as Lab at Chicago Cultural Center on June 17, 2010 at 6pm

Seminar: Art, Technology, and Living Systems by Brittany Ransom, April 8, 2010

The DNA Trail at the Silk Road Theatre Project in Chicago through April 4, 2010

MCA Symposium: Art/Science/Spectacle 9/12

VISUALIZING MEDICAL PROGRESS, 8/7 ->

Slightly Off Science - Reception 7/30

Ars Sciencia: Animals, Autism & Design (5/4)

Cinema, Nature, Ecology Film Series at UChicago (3/13)

The Physics of Music (3/23)

C.E.B. Reas lecture at Gallery 400 (2/17)

Design and Sustainability Lecture (2/24)

X-102 Rediscovers The Rings Of Saturn (1/16)

Re: Production (1/9 -2/13)

ARS SCIENTIA series (Part II - Salon Series)

ARS SCIENTIA series (Part I - Conversations Series)

The Emergence Project (til 12/30)

The Leaf and the Page

The Leaf and the Page

How Does your Garden Grow? (til1 11/14)

Bio-Art Panel Discussion 11/05

Sculpture as Medicine & CORPoreal (10/31 - )

Science Adventures in Creativity, Innovation and Learning (10/16)

Espace Vert (10/29-)

Exposing Time - Michele Brody (10/29)

Biological Agents at Gallery 400

Science in Art at the U of Chicago 10/10/08

Mountain: force of Faketure (9/13 opening)

The Hall of Natural + Despicable Wonders: 9/6 - 10/4

The Printer's Ball - (Small Science Collective &) (8/22)

Latest exhibits at the IMSS (now to October)

"Energy Plans" - FutureFarmers at the Nature Museum (7/21 & 22)

OLD GOLD animation screening (7/18)

Seed Science Writing Contest (8/1 deadline)

"Science in Art" - call for submissions (8/22)

Continental Drift w/ Midwest Radical Cultural Corridor (6/06 - 08)

Call for biology zines, comics, etc!

"Lawn Nation" at the Nature Museum (5/22 on)

"Small Science" at MCA's Hip Lit (5/17)

eMotion Pictues: Orthopeadics in Art (till 7/20)

Darwin + Design Exhibition and Symposium

Design in the Age of Darwin: From William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright

Christa Donner and Timea Tihanyi at IMSS

Steve Kurtz Update - "Bioterrorism" charge finally dropped?

The Hysterical Alphabet

World Offset - part of the EcoAesthetics Exhibit

Radio Ephemera - call for Submissions

"Heating Up" Exhibit - Call to Artists

Autism + The Republics of Cognition 3/18

Leap (Year) Screening at Golden Age (2/29)

Climate Clock - call for artists

Fluids, Sparks, and Spirits in Antebellum America (2/13)

Landscape Art at the Notebaert

Patterns, Pixels, and Process: Discussing the History of the Computer Print (2/16)

Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of the Computer Print

Bioculture Seminar: Donor Offspring and DNA testing

American Apartheid: Tracing the Art, Science and Ethics of Medical Racism (2/7)

"Warsong" and "Marked" at the IMSS (Feb.1 - April 18)

COSMIC CARTOGRAPHY JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE (12/5)

Biocultures Graduate Student Conference

Where Art and Science Meet: Conservation Science at the Art Institute of Chicago (11/8)

The Hysterical Alphabet (11/8)

From Pythagoras to Hendrix: The Development of the Tempered Musical Scale ( 10/25)

Government Pressure forces Scientist's Plea in the bizarre ongoing Art-Science-"Bioterrorism" case

"Narrative Psychiatry" talk at Biocultures (10/16)

“Recovery: Embroidered X-Rays” & “Under the Looking Glass" （till 10/19)

Kosmolet - Huong Ngo at DEADTECH (10/6)

"How do Multicellular Organisms Evolve?" (10/8)

Steven Pinker & Richard Dawkins - This Week (10/3 & 4)

Chicago Science in the City 2007 (10/2-13)

Paul Sereno Talk - “Dinosaur Science” (10/2)

Artist Talk: Tiffany Holmes (10/4)

Preposterous Propositions-Artists as Visionary Engineers (9/27)

Image & Meaning Workshop - Harvard (Oct. 24-25)

ARTificial Life, Robotics, and Emergence (9/20)

Int'l Conference on Image Science

a talk about ALVIN and the Deep Ocean - 9/6

“Recovery: Embroidered X-Rays”　& “Under the Looking Glass" （till 10/19)

BioCultures - Call for Papers