Event 3: Hammer Museum



Hammer Museum




I recently went to the Hammer museum in Westwood and there were two exhibits that I felt incorporated science and art in unique ways. First, on the main floor there were about ten chairs that spin like a top. These chairs were designed by Tanya Aguiniga who is involved in architecture and design. These chairs were modeled after the design of a spinning top and allow a person to spin around in the chair while being seated. It may seem like a fairly simple concept but there is a large amount of physics that was required to design these chairs. They needed to be able to centralize the mass of the person in the center of the chair otherwise the chair may tip over or the person could lose balance and fall out. I was a bit doubtful about this at first and definitely felt like I would tip the chair over when I leaned back. However, once I gave it a try and did a couple complete spins, I saw how well the chair was designed to balance a person’s weight.





The second exhibit was a sculpture, called Gamelatron, by Aaron Taylor Kuffner which integrated robotics with traditional Indonesian instruments. It consisted of 5 sculptures which were inspired off of the Gamelan, an Indonesian percussion instrument. These sculptures were programed to play music together like a small orchestra. The sculptures were also programed to respond to the change in visual surroundings and play corresponding music. This was very fascinating to me that the exhibit was able to change the music in response to the atmosphere. In front of the 5 sculptures there was also mats and cushions for seating. Several people were in these seats and appeared to be meditating or relaxing as they watched the display in front of them. The music being played was very relaxing and slow, occasionally it would increase in volume and more notes would be played. After a while, it would slow back down and play the soft music. Although I didn’t sit down in the seating area, I feel like I may return and do so later in the summer. The exhibit is open until August 16 and it seems like a nice way to relax and destress. It was also very entertaining to watch the sculptures move to play music, similar to how it is enjoyable to watch an artist play live music. I would definitely encourage others to stop by and view both the exhibits because I thought the kinetic art was very interesting to watch.


References

"Aaron Taylor Kuffner: Gamelatron Sanctuary - Hammer Museum." The Hammer Museum. N.p., 16 May 2017. Web. 04 June 2017.<https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2017/aaron-taylor-kuffner-gamelatron-sanctuary/>.

"Close Encounters: Make & Take a Seat - Hammer Museum." The Hammer Museum. N.p., 01 Sept. 2016. Web. 04 June 2017. <https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2015/05/close-encounters-make-take-a-seat/>.

Cohen, Michael R. Precession of Top. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2017. <https://www.4physics.com/phy_demo/top/top.html>.

"Gamelan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 May 2017. Web. 04 June 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan>.

"Gamelatron – Sonic Kinetic Sculptures." Gamelatron. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2017. <http://gamelatron.com/>.

"Kinetic Art." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 May 2017. Web. 04 June 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_art>.

"Magis Spun Chair." Magis Spun Chair - Lounge Seating - Herman Miller. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2017. <http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-seating/spun-chair.html>.

SPINNING TOPS. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2017. <http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~cross/SPINNING%20TOPS.htm>.


"Tippe Top." Physics Experiments. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2017. <http://www.physicsexperiment.co.uk/content/tippe.html>.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nanotech + Art

Image
Nanotech + Art I took a great interest in this week’s topic in nanotechnology. As a materials science and engineering major, some of the topics covered were things I focus on within my major. For example the different allotropes of carbon (diamond, graphene, graphite, nanotubes, buckyballs) are a large area of study since my major focuses on the structure of materials and how the atoms are arranged. These differences in structure can lead to different material properties including color, conductivity, and strength. Being able to control the size, structure, and shape of materials allows us to improve upon or create new materials that can be catered to specific applications. Feynman was correct in predicting that the future would focus on scaling things down in size and that there was “room at the bottom”. There is so much that we still do not know in the field of nanotechnology and there have still been huge discoveries such as graphene which are fairly rec...
Read more

Event 1: Welcome to My Woods by Linda Weintraub

Image
Welcome to My Woods This past Wednesday I went to Linda Weintraub’s open workshop called Welcome to My Woods in CNSI. I hadn’t done any previous research on her art so I had no idea what to expect which actually added to my excitement of attending. When I arrived Linda had each of us wait outside the exhibit and introduce ourselves to the whole group. When I said I was a Materials Science and Engineering major she was intrigued and said that the exhibit would definitely relate to my interests. Linda then asked us how much of our life we spend walking on a manmade surface and how much time we spend holding objects made of manmade materials. These questions really made me realize how disconnected I am from nature and how dependent I am on technology. Linda then explained this was part of the inspiration behind her exhibit and she then welcomed everyone to explore her exhibit. Inside there were five circles each with boxes in the center. The boxes were each categorized by the ...
Read more

Event 2: Eli Joteva

Image
Event 2: Eli Joteva This past Tuesday I went to the Eli Jotova’s opening exhibition at the Broad at UCLA. I had read briefly that the display dealt with cryo materials which definitely peaked my interest but I still had no idea what to expect. When I entered, there was a small map showing the layout and it mentioned how certain parts of the exhibit dealt with past, future, or memories. I first walked over to this ice sphere that had an assortment of colors. I was hanging by a rope from the ceiling and below it was a metal pan to catch all of the water that fell off the melting sphere. What was interesting about this was that on an adjacent wall, there was a live projection of the droplets hitting the puddle in the metal pan. This was one of my favorite parts of the exhibit because I felt the ripples the droplets made were beautiful and it was cool that I could see it up close thanks to the projection on the wall.   Next, I went over to an ice sphere that ...
Read more