NY LASER a Leonardo/ISAST In-Person Rendezvous Event

Chaired by Ellen Levy and Patricia Olynyk

EVENT INFO

When: Saturday, May 18, 2024 - 3:00-6:00 PM EDT, Find your timezone here

Where: LevyArts: 40 E 19 Street, #3R NYC

Please RSVP here or email eklevy.nyc@gmail.com. Please note that late admittance past 3:30 PM cannot be accommodated

The NY LASER program is a series of lectures and presentations on art, science, and technology-related projects and an affiliate of Leonardo/International Society for the Arts, Science and Technology (ISAST). Ellen K. Levy, PhD, artist, writer, and co-editor of the "Science and the Arts since 1750" Routledge Press book series, and Patricia Olynyk, artist, writer, and Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art at Washington University co-chair the NY LASER program to foster high-level dialogue on topics of leading interest to a network of artists, scientists, humanists, and scholars. Feature speakers include Rebeca Acosta, Kat Mustatea, and Laura Splan.

Rebeca Acosta is a Latinx Brooklyn-based artist and educator originally from Dallas, Texas. She has exhibited most recently at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Metal Works, and Washington State University. Rebeca is an instructor at Pratt for the Consortium of Research and Robotics (now known as PRATT STEM). She will discuss her project “The Colors of Clear,” a new body of visual art which captures beautiful possibilities using polarized light microscopy. Her work makes otherwise unseen light spectrums visible through polarized lenses. These original high-resolution images of microscopic organisms and specimens display properties of colors which can only be detected and differentiated through bi-refringent analysis. 

SPEAKERS BIOS

Kat Mustatea is a transmedia playwright and artist working at the forefront of live performance and cutting-edge technology. Her experiments with language and new narrative forms enlist absurdity, hybridity, and the computational uncanny to dig deeply into what it means to be human in the digital age. Her work has been presented at Ars Electronica Linz, New Images Festival Paris, CPH:DOX, Stanley Picker Gallery London, among others. Kat will discuss “BodyMouth,” a bespoke computational sound / movement tool that turns the body into an instrument for speech. Wearing sensors on various body parts, a dancer sounds out words phoneme-by-phoneme by performing specific gestures in sequence.

Laura Splan is a Brooklyn-based artist working at the intersections of science, technology, and culture. Her research-based studio practice and transdisciplinary collaborations culminate in multimedia exhibitions that reframe artifacts of the posthuman landscape to unravel entanglements of natural and built systems. Recent collaborators include a theoretical biophysicist, a geneticist, a heavy metal musician, and a laboratory instrumentation engineer. Laura will present new work exploring technological translations of the biological world to locate what she calls the “GUI/gooey”, a liminal space of posthuman existence. Current projects include weavings and multisensory planetarium shows to immersive installations.

SPONSORS

NY 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 LASER program is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 50 cities around the world. To learn more about LASER Hosts or to visit a LASER near you, please visit our website @lasertalks.

NY 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 LASER program is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 50 cities around the world. To learn more about LASER Hosts or to visit a LASER near you, please visit our website @lasertalks.