Leonardo Art/Science Evening Rendezvous of March 2010

Constructive Interference of the Arts and Sciences

San Francisco, 8 March 2010
c/o University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton Street
SF, CA 94117
McLaren Conf. Center, Room #251

An event about Artists and Scientists who work/think/imagine/engage at the intersections of the Arts and Science.

Chaired by Piero Scaruffi (p@scaruffi.com) and Tami Spector
Part of a series of cultural events
Sponsored by:
School of the Art Institute of Chicago,
the University of Illinois' eDREAM Institute,
the University of Calabria's Evolutionary Systems Group,
Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology,
and USF Dean's Office of Arts and Science.


  • 6:30pm-6:45pm: Socializing/networking.
  • 6:45-7:10:
  • Helena Carmena (California Academy of Sciences) on "Connecting Art and Science Thorough Museum Experiences" Artists and scientists share similar approaches in their processes, an overlap in skills and processes has led to a thoughtful education-focused collaboration between the California Academy of Sciences and the de Young Fine Arts Museum.
  • 7:10-7:35:
  • Jesse Austin & Charles Lee (BIOS Design Collective) on "The application of biological patterns to architecture" Design at the intersection of biology and technology. Collaborative self organization through the lens of bio-inspired design and information technology.
  • 7:35-7:50: BREAK
  • 7:50-8:15:
  • Anna Couey on "Communication systems as social sculpture" Projects and reflections about artists involved in telecommunications as an artistic medium, from building communication systems as social sculpture to facilitating community-led research as a strategy for building power and transforming social systems.
  • 8:15-8:45:
  • Taraneh Hemami (Visual Artist) on "One Day: A Collective Narrative of Tehran" Chronicling narratives of place and time, a group of Iranian artists examine the relationship between the patterns, rhythms, and systems that emerged from their everyday experiences in Tehran within the larger social and cultural context of the city.
  • 8:45: Piero Scaruffi on the next Leonardo Art/Science evening I will simply preview the line-up of speakers for the next Leonardo evening.
  • 8:45pm-9:30pm: Discussions, more socializing You can mingle with the speakers and the audience

Bios:
  • Jesse Austin and Charles Lee are members of the architecture collective BIOS. Living organisms are distinguished from inanimate objects in that they exhibit metabolism, reproduction, and response to stimuli. Living organisms communicate: depending on feedback to find optimal patterns for their continued existence. They self-organize, living in negative entropy. As designers we find the patterns of life and use them to negotiate the layering of diverse parameters and constraints inherent in architectural design. Zer01 Artist in Residence.
  • Helena Carmena, a former science educator, is the Manager of Teacher Services at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. She has been active in curriculum development for use in the museum and classroom setting and has delivered numerous inquiry-based educational programs for children and adults. Helena has worked with many organizations to develop multi-disciplinary curricula. The most recent project has been focused on art, science, and literacy integration in collaboration with the de Young Fine Arts Museum and the San Francisco Unified School District.
  • Anna Couey works at the intersection of art, communications, information and social justice, using participatory media tools and story-collecting methods to re-imagine and restructure power. During the 1980s-1990s, she helped develop art telecommunications projects such as the Art Com Electronic Network and Arts Wire, as well as producing temporary cross-cultural communications events as social sculpture. Since the mid-1990's, Anna has applied social sculpture strategies outside the art world, collaborating with alternative media makers; librarians, educators, and youth; and poor and working class communities of color organizing for social justice. Her communication sculptures have been exhibited at digital art festivals internationally, including ISEA and SIGGRAPH.
  • Taraneh Hemami is an Iranian-born artist who relocated to the USA after the Iranian revolution of 1979. Hemami's work examines the liminality of her existence, of being of two world that are continuously and contentiously at odds with one another. Through her projects she explores personal and collective stories and histories while creating spaces for creative exchange and dialogue.
  • Piero Scaruffi is a cognitive scientist who has lectured in three continents and published several books on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, the latest one being "The Nature of Consciousness" (2006). He pioneered Internet applications in the early 1980s and the use of the World-Wide Web for cultural purposes in the mid 1990s. His poetry has been awarded several national prizes in Italy and the USA. His latest book of poems and meditations is "Synthesis" (2009). As a music historian, he has published ten books, the latest ones being "A History of Rock and Dance Music" (2009) and "A History of Jazz Music" (2007). He has also written extensively about cinema, literature and the visual arts. An avid traveler, he has visited 121 countries of the world.

Directions:

See the campus map and directions

Room 251 in McLaren Conference Center

University of San Francisco 2130 Fulton Street SF, CA 94117


Confirmed so far:


Photos