On April 21st, I attended two lectures in the Ecocentric Art + Science Symposium: Prophecies & Predictions, one where ecocentric artist Linda Weintraub spoke and the other where nanoscientist James Gimzewski spoke. In the first lecture, one of the most interesting things Weintraub discussed was about the artist Jae Rhim Lee. Lee reversed the assumption that humans always pollute by exploring how humans can make beneficial contributions to the environment. She discovered that urine has all the components of good fertilizer. Then, she demonstrated how useful and nourishing urine could be by putting herself on display in a gallery, where she ate a specific diet (including food such as spinach, tofu, and nuts) to create the perfect fertilizer from urine. This urine forms the perfect fertilizer and is used to grow cabbage, which Lee uses to make kimchi. Finally, this kimchi (made from her urine) can be eaten by observers in the gallery. In its essence, this shows the cohesion of art and science. Lee’s discoveries are founded by science, and her art is used to portray these findings to the public. I was taken aback when Wientraub elaborated on how Lee lived in a display and used urine to make kimchi for spectators. However, I realized that art is thinking outside of the box. Lee probably brainstormed about how best to tell the public about this discovery and concluded a display showcasing a person living out her discovery is much more effective than a poster with blocks of text about her findings. Art and science aren’t two separate subjects - instead, these subjects rely on each other to bring about societal awareness or change, sometimes in very creative ways.
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| The gallery in which Jae Rhim Lee lived in to create the display showing the profitability of urine fertilizer. Courtsey of: http://we-make-money-not-art.com/ |
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| Weubtraub showing the toilet Jae Rhim Lee used while in the gallery, exhibiting how the urine was collected. |
In Gimzewski’s lecture, he primarily discussed nanobubbles, which were invented by environmental scientist Dr. Marino Morkawa. Morkawa took on the challenge of saving the wetlands in Peru which were filled with human waste, bacteria, and other pollutants. To do so, he created nanobubbles, which act as magnets for bacteria. The nanobubbles stay stable underwater for 5-8 hours collecting bacteria, kill the bacteria as it reaches the surface, and then at the surface, the nanobubbles are destroyed by solar radiation and carried away as a harmless gas. Within 15 days, there were notable improvements, and within 4 months, the entire wetlands was decontaminated. This impressive scientific feat ties to art because these nanobubbles can be easily repurposed to develop creative works of art using nanobubbles’ properties of remaining underwater as an air bubble for long periods of time and evaporating in the air. From the topics covered in lecture, it is evident that Math and Science are the fundamental building blocks that artists can use to bring their creative visions to life, and I believe that the invention of nanobubbles will equip artists to create new works of art in the near future.
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| Dr. Marino Morkawa standing in the wetlands in Peru that he is restoring. Courtesy of: https://www.linkedin.com/ |
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| Gimzewki explaining how nanobubbles work and how they helped clean the wetlands |
I would strongly recommend others to attend this event in the future, because it has opened my eyes to the specific applications of technology in the realm of art. Not only did these lectures provide details about scientific feats, they both discussed how artists are using these inventions to create artwork of their own. We all need to have this mindset of thinking outside the box in order to effectively imagine and create a brand new product or idea for our midterm and final projects. It is easy to get stuck in the habit of learning the information from this course and not applying it to subjects outside the range of the course. Therefore, we need to learn how to think differently and beyond our specializations and grow a desire to learn more about other subjects. This way, we can have a better understanding of the world we live in and use this knowledge to create improvements.
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| Proof of attendance: taking a picture from the back of the lecture hall by the video-recording equipment. |
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| Proof of attendance: featuring the employee signing people into the event, showcasing her ID. |
I agree with your point that "art is thinking outside of the box". While I had always been told that in art classes growing up, ironically only until I attended this event myself did I realize that I was putting art in a box by confining it to traditional forms such as painting and sculptures. Art and sciences are heavily intertwined, and the works of Jae Rhim Lee and Dr. Marino Morikawa showcase this in their work. I found it especially interesting that while both Lee and Morikawa utilized art to educate the public, the effects of their work had different results - while Lee's work led to more of an intellectual understanding and did not directly prompt any change from her audiences, Morikawa's work actually led to a physical, tangible change in the environment, educating people while enacting change, and I am excited to see how nanobubbles will be used to restore more ecological areas.
ReplyDeleteYour description of the first lecture/art piece sounds incredible. The idea that science was used as the base for the creative endeavor exemplifies the chance for harmony from the "two cultures".
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