LASER TALKS STANFORD: ROBOTIC SKIN, MOTION SCULPTURE, POETRY

Chaired by Piero Scaruffi

EVENT INFO

When: 8 April 2026 at 7pm
Where: Stanford LiKaShing LK101

This LASER also has an online component. The Paul Gifford (St Andrews) on "Paul Valery and Poetry" talk will take place on ZOOM

When: 8 April 2026 at 12pm (California time)
ZOOM Link: https://stanford.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_taPLwiyxRcaeNu5vbSrJag

PROGRAM

- Suzannah Wistreich (Stanford) on "DexSkin, a Robotic Skin for Learning
Contact-Rich Manipulation"
- Jodi Lomask (Choreographer and Sculptor) on "Motion Sculpture:
Designing Forms That Think with the Body"

Jodi Lomask is a choreographer, sculptor, director, and founder of
Capacitor, the San Francisco–based arts company she launched in 1997.
Her work explores the intersection of science, environmentalism, and new
technology through dance, sound, and motion sculpture. She designs
motion sculptures that are only complete when activated by the human
body, creating performances and environments that allow audiences to
experience ideas physically.

Suzannah Wistreich is an incoming PhD at Stanford University where she
researches multisensory learning, robotics, and computer vision advised
by Professor Jiajun Wu at the Stanford Robotics Center. Her work centers
on developing robust robotic perception systems that integrate senses
such as touch, vision, audio, and 3D structure in a more intuitive,
human-like manner, with the goal of achieving the same reliability
humans exhibit when navigating noisy or incomplete sensory environments.

Paul Gifford was for ten years Director of the Research Institute of
Cultural Identity Studies. He has also taught at the universities of
Toulouse (France) and Ulster (N. Ireland). He has conducted research on
modern literature and ideas, particularly in relation to the changing
scientific, philosophic, religious and cultural context of the period
1870-1945. He is the author of critical studies in French and English of
the poet and thinker Paul Valéry, has edited collections of essays on
the problems of personal identity (self and subject) and collective
identity. He has also written books on the problems of love and desire
in twentieth-century French writing; and on textual genetics (the study
from author manuscripts of the creative process behind major works of art).

The Stanford LASERs are sponsored by the schools of Medicine,
Engineering, and Humanities & Sciences, by Continuing Studies and by
Chemical Engineering.

Detailed bios at: www.lasertalks.com

FOR MOST RECENT EVENT INFO, PLEASE VISIT www.lasertalks.com.

SPONSORS:

The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 60 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website. @lasertalks