Art and technology in motion
Students explore the connections between art and technology in a class that blends fine arts and engineering
Art
and technology, two things that have gone side by side since the beginning of
time when humans were still painting on cave wall complement each other well,
although they are seemingly opposites. Art is about using tools and finding new
ways to create images and ideas. It is the catalyst for technological
advancement.
The School of Fine Arts' Art & Technology
(Fine Arts 499) class is exploring the deep-rooted connection between art and
technology. Taught by Ann Page, a notable sculptor in Los Angeles, the class
explores the influence art has on technology and vice versa.
A joint venture between the schools of Fine
Arts and Engineering, the class encourages students to find new ways to
manufacture and interpret art. Some choose to invent games to create art or
interpret it.
Some choose to make machines that create art or are in themselves art. On Sunday, the Fine Arts 499 students exhibited their inventions and art-making machines to incoming students at the SOFA open house.
"For our (project) we were trying to
think of a game that we could improve (upon) and we could make more
artistic," said Liz Weigart, a freshman majoring in fine arts. "We
came up with (a version) of pick up sticks."
In her game, "Subconscious," the
players pick up individual paintbrushes without moving the other ones. Then,
they must chose three cards that will tell them how to paint, what color to use
and what they are painting. For example, one player must paint with her eyes
closed and using the color orange to interpret "perfection." And she
has to do this within 10 seconds. The process continues as another player adds
to the painting and the winner gets to keep it.
Also on display was "Motion Men,"
designed by Alex Herrera and Peter Cornforta, sophomores majoring in fine arts.
In his piece, a candle burns a rope attached to the hand of the sculpture, one
the rope is burned off the sculpture falls forward hitting a block that triggers
the motion of another sculpture to kick a ball forward.
Another interactive game is
"Sculpt-it," the brain child of Dave Garcia-Gomez, a senior majoring
in computer science, and Chris Hassan, an undeclared sophomore. In the game, two
teams compete against each other to see who can communicate an idea faster. The
team is comprised of a sculptor and at least one observer. The moderator will
give the sculptors an idea that they must communicate. Then the moderator spins
a wheel that will determine what materialssuch as wood blocks, clay, wires, etc.
they could use to communicate that idea.
"We wanted to do something that is high
paced, high action and had a lot art interpretation in it," Garcia-Gomez
said. The player tries to pass his interpretation of art into other. This game
branches off of Pictionary only it is a three-dimensional objects that he is
creating, he said. "One thing we wanted to do is to make
sure that (the player) could make something three dimensional," Hassan
added.
Perhaps the most interesting machine on
display was the "Spanking Machine," developed by Alfonso Anaya Jr., a
senior majoring in computer science, and Garcia-Gomez.
"(The machine) started out as a pleasure
and pain machine," Anaya Jr. said. "It was supposed to have a slap, a
whip, a kick and a punch." "That's what we wanted to do,"
Garcia-Gomez said. "But to get our motion to always work to we had to
narrow it down to something simple."
The machine works by tricking unsuspecting
participant to pull a lever that knocks over a water bottle, as the water fills
up the bucket below. As the bucket fills up, its weight slowly drags the lever
it sits on down. That triggers the truck attached to the lever by a wire to move
forward and release the sticks that strikes its victim on the buns.
The class is very interesting and the students
seem to thoroughly enjoy it. They all seem to be having fun with their
inventions. "It's a lot more fun when you feel that
you have accomplished something," Weigert said.
........ Alexander Nguyen , Daily Trojan , Vol .142 , No . 50
( Tuesday , April 3 , 2001) , pages 7 - 11
