Leonardo Art/Science Meeting of January 2008

San Francisco, 14 January 2008
c/o SFSU
835 Market
San Francisco

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

Chaired by Tami Spector and Piero Scaruffi.
Part of a series of cultural events

Leonardo ISAST invites you to a meeting of the Leonardo Scientists Working Group. This event is part of the Leoardo 40th anniversary activities ( see www.leonardo.info).

We will have brief presentations by a number of the panelists for the forthcoming Leonardo Day on June 3 at UC Berkeley, a presentation by Roger Malina on "Intimate Science" and a presentation by David Stork on "Computers Analyzing Paintings". See detailed agenda below. We will also brief about the Zero1 Conference and Berkeley's New Media Conference of June 2008.

We would also like to informally discuss ideas for other events in the Bay Area before and after those major conferences, and we welcome input from the Working Group.

Feel free to invite relevant acquaintances.

In an effort to involve more students, we encourage you to invite one of your most promising students to attend.

Please RSVP to p@scaruffi.com . Admission is limited.

When: january 14, 2008

Where: Donwtown facilities of SFSU

835 Market, between 4th and 5th Streets, 6th floor
BART and MUNI tip: the building is above the Powell Station
What: 6:00pm-7:15pm Social event. Snacks.
7:15pm-7:45pm Roger Malina on "Micro Science: Or Making Science Intimate" (click here to download) As an astronomer, I view new telescopes as a steadily increasing number of senses, new interfaces to the world, that bring otherwise inaccessible phenomena into my intimate awareness. I will present a brief history of the universe informed by this perspective. Most people on this planet have never met a scientists nor used a scientific instrument. I believe that part of the cultural change needed to build a sustainable society involves making scientific knowledge acquired through instruments an intimate part of daily life. Just as the inability of large banks were to respond to the daily needs of individuals led to the micro credit movement, I argue that scientific institutions are unable to respond to the scientific needs of individuals, and that a micro-science movement is needed. I will give examples of the work of artists that in my view are exemplars of intimate science. 7:45pm-8:05pm David Stork (Ricoh Innovations and Stanford Univ) on "When computers look at art: Rigorous image analysis in humanistic studies of the visual arts". See his abstract. David Stork is Chief Scientist at Ricoh Innovations and Consulting Professor at Stanford University.
8:05pm-8:25pm Joel Slayton on San Jose's forthcoming Zero1 Conference and Piero Scaruffi on Berkeley's forthcoming Big Bang Conference
8:25pm-9:05pm Presentations by some of the panelists of the forthcoming Berkeley conference: Douglas Kahn (Cultural Historian at U.C. Davis) on "Noise Water Meat" A very brief history of the accidental discovery of natural radio in the late-19th Century, the musical aesthetics of scientific research in the 1920s and 30s, and the beginnings of amateurism and arts in the second-half of in the 20th Century. Laura Peticolas (Berkeley's Space Science Lab) on "Hearing Space Weather" The "Sounds of Space" project is being developed to explore the connections between solar science and sound, to compare visual and aural representations of space data, mostly from NASA's STEREO mission, and to promote a better understanding of the Sun through stimulating interactive software. I will be talking about the work I am doing with musicians to sonify current solar wind data (particle data and magnetic fields) and images of the Sun. (Abstract)
9:05pm-9:40pm: Discussions, more socializing
We will project the movie made by Wayne Lanier (Hidden Ecologies project of the San Francisco Exploratorium) Mat-forming Cyanobacteria in San Francisco Bay salt marsh ponds move in a gentle coordinate dance of 3.5-billion years, creating our oxygen atmosphere. I wanted to capture, in motion and music, a sense of this deep time and relentless movement.
Further socializing at the Piazza Lounge, Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel, across Market from the Westfield Centre.

Directions:

From Market Street, Enter at SFSU (835 Market) and take elevator to 6th Floor. Signs will be posted If coming on BART, take POWELL STATION exit, enter Concourse Food Court, look for Out The Door restaurant on the left. Immediately past the restaurant, turn left, walk past the first set of elevators to the second set of elevators and go to the 6th floor.

If coming on MUNI, take POWELL STATION exit, enter Westfield Centre and head through the first mini-food court to main concourse food court. Walk straight across the food court and walk between Amoura and Out the Door restaurants, past the first set of elevators to the second set of elevators and go to the 6th floor.

If driving, Park in the 5th and Mission Garage. Enter through Market Street or walk through Bloomingdale's, look for the signs to San Francisco State University and take elevator to 6th floor.

SFSU Downtown Campus 835 Market Street San Francisco, CA 94103

ICA Office: 415.817.4476


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