Qanat by Sholeh Asgary

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...

Electronic _Khipu_ by Patricia Cadavid

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...

In Silence … by Joel Ong

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...

Sound + Science 3.0

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...

Illuminating the spectrum: design inspiration behind Lightfest Symposium by Maryam Razi

Maryam Razi, one of the designers at UCLA ArtSci Center, designed the Lightfest Symposium graphics. The design drew inspiration from the shape of laser beams and the dynamic movement of light. Beginning with white, representing the color of light before it passes through a prism, the design transitions into the full spectrum of colors. The Lightfest design incorporated both digital and physical...

Atmosphere of Sound Opening Reception: Bill Fontana's Sonic Exploration of Notre-Dame and the Dachstein Glacier at UCLA's Royce Hall

The opening reception for *Silent Echoes: Notre-Dame and the Dachstein Glacier* took place on September 14, 2024, from 2–4 pm at UCLA's Royce Hall, Room 306. Curated by Victoria Vesna and Anuradha Vikram, this site-specific sound installation by Bill Fontana blended audio from Notre-Dame’s silenced bells and the melting Dachstein Glacier in Austria. The installation was part of *Atmosphere of...

"SOUND" IN OUTER SPACE | TALK BY SANTIAGO TORRES

ART|SCI welcomed Santiago Torres, a former postdoctoral scholar in UCLA's Physics and Astronomy Department and a member of the ArtSci Collective, for a great lecture on astrophysics, sound, and art on May 22, 2024 for Professor Victoria Vesna's Honors Seminar Series "Biotechnology and Art."

Santiago Torres is an astrophysicist passionate about the art of making science and the science...

Haley Marks, an artist at heart and a scientist in the lab, contributed to the imagery for the Fiat Lux Water Bowl!

Haley Marks, Project Scientist at UCLA ALMS, generously contributed her time and knowledge to make the Fiat Lux Water Bowl performative installation truly remarkable. At ALMS (Advanced Light Microscopy and Spectroscopy Laboratory), autofluorescence and polarization images of the herbal plants horehound, rosemary, mugwort, stinging nettle, vervain, and lavender were captured using a Leica...

Interactive Fiat Lux Water Bowl installation by the Art|Sci Collective

ART|SCI Collective presented a site-specific collaborative installation, FIAT LUX Water Bowl, at the opening of UNESCO's annual International Day of Light, "LIGHTEST, Advanced Light Microscopy Symposium," at CNSI.
The installation was a 10-minute experience featuring sound, light, lasers, and micro and macro imagery. Participants were invited into a dark space that transitioned into an...

Lightfest! Advanced Light Microscopy Symposium at CNSI

Lightfest! Advanced Light Microscopy Symposium at CNSI
**UNESCO’s International Day of Light**

The second annual Lightfest! Advanced Light Microscopy Symposium at CNSI was held to celebrate UNESCO’s International Day of Light from May 15 – 17 in honor of Theodore Maiman, who fired the first laser in Southern California on May 16th, 1960. The symposium featured invited talks from a...

Siddharth Ramakrishnan, Neuroscientist and Former UCLA Postdoctoral Researcher

This past week we were privileged to welcome Siddharth Ramakrishnan, a fellow and former instructor of UCLA SCI ART Institute and a current neuroscientist at University of Puget Sound, as a visiting lecturer at the UCLA ArtSci Center. His research interests span the field of developmental biology, neuroendocrinology and sensory-motor integration. As a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA (2006-2009...

LASER Talk: Animal Consciousness & Creativity

Featured speaker: Aaron Blaisdell
Responder: Siddharth Ramakrishnan
Chaired by Victoria Vesna
This LASER is connected to the exhibition opening at the UCLA ArtSci gallery at CNSI – developed by Professor Aaron Blaisdell with his research students at the Comparative Cognition Lab at UCLA.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION: https://artsci....

Dr. Hannah Landecker’s exhibition at CNSI ArtSci Gallery

“Hot Cling, Shear Magic, and the Mouthfeel of Capitalism: Images From the History of Ultra Processed Foods”
April 10 - 17 at the ArtSci Gallery on the CNSI 5th floor. LINK to directions

In a set of advertisements exhumed from back issues of industry trade journals in food engineering from the 1960s through the 1990s, this exhibit explores the values and the chemistry of an...

LASER Talk: ULTRA PROCESSED HEALTH

Featured speaker: Hannah Landecker
Responder Patricia Olynyk
Chaired by Victoria Vesna
This LASER is connected to the exhibition opening at the UCLA ArtSci gallery at CNSI – developed by Professor Hannah Landecker with her students: "Hot Cling, Shear Magic, and the Mouthfeel of Capitalism:
Images From the History of Ultra Processed Foods"
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:...

Patricia Olynyk, Fellow of Medicine & Media Arts initiative

In the second week of April, we were privileged to welcome Patricia Olynyk, a fellow of the UCLA Art Sci Medicine & Media Arts initiative, as a visiting lecturer at the UCLA ArtSci Center. Olynyk's multifaceted artistic practice, which includes photography, printmaking, video, and installations, scrutinizes themes related to science and technology, as well as the influence of social systems...