May 10 2010
LASER- Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous
An event about Artists and Scientists who work/think/imagine/engage
at the intersections of the Arts and Science.
http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/may2010.html
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.
http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/may2010.html
6:45-7:10:
Chris Palmer (Artist) on “Tradition Meets Modern Digital Fabrication”
Custom software tools (rhinoscripts | grasshopper definitions)
developed to serve the expression
and fabrication of Middle Eastern styles combining structure and ornament
7:10-7:35:
Therese Lahaie (Artist) on “Longing for the Background”
An unusual combination of glass, steel, motors, lighting and photography is
employed in an investigation of the sciences, the natural world and
contemplative practice. The technical and imaginative possibilities
of LED lighting will also be discussed.
8:15-8:45:
Mona El Khafif (California College of the Arts) on “City Space Share”
Revitalizing and transforming urban activity in a city center through
spatial strategies that recuperate
the street frontage, promote productive inhabitation and initiate
micro-urbanisms that support the local neighborhood.
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.
Bios:
Mona El Khafif is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban
Design and Project Coordinator of the
CCA URBANlab, who holds a doctorate in urban design from the TU
Vienna. El Khafif worked in
architectural offices in Germany and Vienna, on projects which
received important urban design
awards including the Otto Wagner Urban Design Award for the
BUSarchitecture Homeworkers project
and the Ortner & Ortner Museumsquartier. El Khafif is a founding
principal of phase 1
Fox_El Khafif_Nuhsbaumer, a co-author of URBANbuild local global, and
has recently
published Staged Urbanism: Urban Spaces for Art, Culture and
Consumption in the Age
of Leisure Society in Germany. Zer01 Artist in Residence.
Therese Lahaie studied Fine Art at Emmanuel College and Glass
Technology at Massachusetts
College of Art, Boston, MA. She is a kinetic sculptor using glass,
low rpm motors and LED lighting
and also has a background in architectural lighting design. At a 2010
Djerassi Artist Residency she
collaborated with NY choreographer Leigh Evans. Their performance
installation called “Quite Two
Departure,” will be premiered at PS. 122 in NYC in July 2010.
Chris Palmer is a Fine Artist who has specialized in traditional and
modern geometric art, textile design,
traditional ornament and folding. After four years teaching Digital
Fabrication in schools of architecture
in Chicago (IIT) and the University of Colorado at Boulder he now
works with Rob Bell in a design build
studio in San Francisco CA. He is a member of an international design
team doing architectural ornament
in middle eastern styles for the American Institute of Mathematics
Research Conference Center in San Jose.
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. As a music historian,
he has published ten books, the latest ones being “A History of Rock
Music” (2003) 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.