BIO*FICTION: Science.Art.Film Festival

Patricia Cadavid’s Electronic _Khipu_ is an instrument for interaction and experimental sound generation operated by weaving knots with conductive rubber cords into which sound compositions are encoded. This instrument is based on an Andean quipu, the ancient textile “computer” used for the processing, encryption, and transmission of information in knots and cords of cotton and wool. KHIPUMANCY is a Performance Documentation Video that documents the performance of KHIPUMANCY, presented at the Ars Electronica Festival in 2021. In this collaborative performance, Patricia Cadavid and Paola Torres Núñez del Prado explore the interplay between tradition and technology, performing with their respective khipus: the Electronic_Khipu and the ML: Knot() Khipu. Together, they reimagine the Andean khipu as instruments of sound, storytelling, and cultural resilience.

Joel Ong’s installation, In Silence …, takes a selection of anecdotal stories abstracted from interviews with individuals at medical, ecological, and socio-cultural frontlines, and “narrates” them through actors limited to non-vocal expressions. A reflecting pool reveals patterns that alternate between emergence and disappearance in synchrony with the story’s emotional valences and as cymatic visualizations of speech. The audio for these stories is accessible through a bone-conductance railing nearby, audible through touch. Ong’s work pays tribute to the resilience of these frontline communities through emotional turmoil and uncertainty that has made them feel they were in a perpetual suspension and immobility. This iteration of In Silence at the UCLA Art Sci Gallery also features two survivor testimonials from the Climate Disaster Project.

Apr 04 – May 02, 2025

Sholeh Asgary’s Qanat is an interactive sound and light installation named after the ancient Iranian underground water channel system. Asgary amplifies the resonant qualities of a traditional rug with the sound of water, as a pendulum microphone hung above picks up the amplified sounds of the rug, movements, and room tone, creating a live feedback loop. Visitors are invited to sit, lay or stand on the rug, affecting the transmission of sound throughout the gallery. The exhibition also includes a series of embossed prints that are topographical mappings created by Asgary’s breath and a video work that references water, transmission, and incommunicability. Qanat reminds us that we are all born into the comforting darkness of sound and water.

>>Exhibition Dates:
MAY 09 - JUN 06, 2025

This spring, the UCLA Art|Sci Center proudly presented Sound + Science 3.0, the third installment of its trailblazing symposium series, following editions in 2009 and 2019.

Taking place in person on May 1–2, 2025, the symposium was hosted across three iconic UCLA locations: the Fowler Museum, the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), and the Botanical Gardens.

Held in conjunction with 20 years of the Art|Sci Center and the Center’s exhibition in Getty’s region-wide initiative PST ART: Art & Science Collide, Atmosphere of Sound: Sonic Arts in Times of Climate Disruption, this year’s event brought together leading artists, scientists, and scholars to explore the dynamic intersections of sound, science, and environmental change.

On view were two works: In Silence… by Joel Ong at the CNSI Art|Sci Gallery, and Electronic Khipu by Patricia Cadavid at the Fowler Museum. Additionally, the Art|Sci Center launched Leonardo (MIT Press) Volume 58, Issue 2, spotlighting a special theme on Acoustics — a collection of critical discourse on sonic research and artistic experimentation.