Extra Credit Event #4 Blog

Extra Credit Event Blog #4

My final event was the UCLA Design Media Arts “Weak or No Signal”, featuring 22 pieces from multiple artists.


Photo from UCLA DMA 2018 MFA thesis exhibition https://www.artandeducation.net
After this event, I looked up the Design Media Arts department and read about their mission. According to their website, their goal is to provide an extensive education in the subject, covering, “forms of visual communication, typography, interaction and interface design, ubiquitous computing, and virtual environments...”(UCLA Design Media Arts Full). The website displays a large gallery of works like this beautiful piece, “Misc Posters” by Stefanie Tam. This piece was also featured on the website “Trendlist” in September 2017, which I thought was awesome that this could be circulated easily throughout the visual media arts community.



Reading about Design Media Arts allowed me to better understand the context for the exhibition I attended, “Weak or No Signal”. My physical visual experience was informed by research prior to attending. This exhibition was the final MFA thesis showcase of the graduating class of 2018, so I got the impression this was a synthesis of many months of work and a number of contributions from this class. I learned that the show drew from many contemporary subject matters, including, “hyper-mediated social relationships to artificial intelligence; technological utopianism, and the increasing fallibility of the image” (Arts and Education Announcements). This gave me an idea of the kind of abstract work I was going to see, and reminded me of topics I’ve studied in this course, like artificial intelligence.
Paper I was given at the Exhibition

Photo I took of Biogram Blueprints by Elί Joteva

These pictures were  beautiful to me and the most appealing of the gallery, and even cooler when I found out they were by my TA Elί. The title “Biogram Blueprints” and the natural essence of the images made me wonder if the environment was the inspiration for these pieces. They look almost like art created by splashes of water, or unique plants frozen in space. I think my analysis may be  off but I loved these images and their creative names like,“Bambusoideae 2.2”. Of course, I thought of the BioTech and art unit and the works I saw that incorporated biology and artistic manipulation to create dynamic displays. One piece I really liked from this week was Mel Chin’s “Revival Field” where wildlife was replanted and reworked into a beautiful display that romanticized nature with the same perspective I saw in Elί’s work.
Mel Chin’s “Revival Field” http://melchin.org/oeuvre/revival-field
I learned that “Biogram Blueprints” shows partially developed “cyanotypes”. I researched this and found that this is a photography medium that creates a cyan blue print, clearly seen in the art pieces.
Photo from TXRX labs Photography and Printmaking https://txrxlabs.org/classes/297/photography-and-printmaking-cyanotype/

I was pleased to see this medium used for many nature inspired images like this one and feel like I was sort of able to understand the art I saw better with my newly acquired understandings from this class. This was a great way to cap off the events I’ve attended, and I would definitely recommend this exhibition and the other amazing projects from the Design Media Arts department to anyone with an appreciation for artistic intersections.

Sources
Cyanotypes, AlternativePhotography   Posted in. “Cyanotype – the Classic Process.” AlternativePhotography.com, 9 Apr. 2017, www.alternativephotography.com/cyanotype-classic-process/.
“DMA 2018 MFA Thesis ExhibitionWeak Or No Signal - Announcements.” Art & Education, www.artandeducation.net/announcements/158398/weak-or-no-signal-ucla-dma-2018-mfa-thesis-exhibition.
“MISC. POSTERS.” United States of America - Trend List, www.trendlist.org/images/misc-posters.
“Photography and Printmaking: Cyanotype at TXRX Labs.” TXRX Labs, txrxlabs.org/classes/297/photography-and-printmaking-cyanotype/.
“Revival Field – Mel Chin.” Bio – Mel Chin, melchin.org/oeuvre/revival-field.
“UCLA Design Media Arts.” UCLA Design Media Arts Full, dma.ucla.edu/.

Cyanotypes, AlternativePhotography   Posted in. “Cyanotype – the Classic Process.” AlternativePhotography.com, 9 Apr. 2017, www.alternativephotography.com/cyanotype-classic-process/.
“DMA 2018 MFA Thesis ExhibitionWeak Or No Signal - Announcements.” Art & Education, www.artandeducation.net/announcements/158398/weak-or-no-signal-ucla-dma-2018-mfa-thesis-exhibition.
“MISC. POSTERS.” United States of America - Trend List, www.trendlist.org/images/misc-posters.
“Photography and Printmaking: Cyanotype at TXRX Labs.” TXRX Labs, txrxlabs.org/classes/297/photography-and-printmaking-cyanotype/.
“Revival Field – Mel Chin.” Bio – Mel Chin, melchin.org/oeuvre/revival-field.
“UCLA Design Media Arts.” UCLA Design Media Arts Full, dma.ucla.edu/.
Cyanotypes, AlternativePhotography   Posted in. “Cyanotype – the Classic Process.” AlternativePhotography.com, 9 Apr. 2017, www.alternativephotography.com/cyanotype-classic-process/.
“DMA 2018 MFA Thesis ExhibitionWeak Or No Signal - Announcements.” Art & Education, www.artandeducation.net/announcements/158398/weak-or-no-signal-ucla-dma-2018-mfa-thesis-exhibition.
“MISC. POSTERS.” United States of America - Trend List, www.trendlist.org/images/misc-posters.
“Photography and Printmaking: Cyanotype at TXRX Labs.” TXRX Labs, txrxlabs.org/classes/297/photography-and-printmaking-cyanotype/.
“Revival Field – Mel Chin.” Bio – Mel Chin, melchin.org/oeuvre/revival-field.
“UCLA Design Media Arts.” UCLA Design Media Arts Full, dma.ucla.edu/.

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