Spring 2007: The UAA Complex Systems Group welcomes Ellen Levy
by Kathleen McCoy |
New York artist lectures on art and artistic research in complex systems
Ellen Levy, a New York-based artist and teacher at Brooklyn College, will give two
free lectures at UAA as part of the Complex Systems' spring lecture series.
"Redefining Life: Artistic Research in Complex Systems"
Friday, March 30, Noon
Professional Studies Building, room 166
Artist researchers in complex systems have focused their investigations on hybrids
such as the slime mold for their potential to reveal underlying cultural assumptions
ranging from what constitutes life to what constitutes property. These judgments hold
potential ramifications for our legal and social systems and come at a time when new
kinds of life forms are being fashioned. Some of the artists explore robotics or implement
computational simulations to identify basic components of life and reproduction.
Through tissue culture research other artists examine entities that straddle boundaries.
Yet others consider whether animals or body parts such as genes should count as property.
Such research provokes ethical concerns, challenging the limitations of our categories
and the determination of who holds authority.
"Converging Lineages: Art and Complex Systems"
Friday, March 30, 7:30 p.m.
Social Science Building, room 118
Steven Weinberg provocatively noted that complexity theory shifts the emphasis from
verbal absolutes that are implicit in the mathematical equation to the more visual
world of computation. This talk will explore the implications of this observation,
examining the ways some artists visualize such processes as growth, evolution and
innovation. The artists find ways to initiate art works that can "make themselves"
and assume dynamic capabilities. Although artists may use the same tools as complexity
scientists (e.g., cellular automata, genetic algorithms), the content of artistic
experiments often relies on an interchange between the work and viewer that actively
engage sets of expectations and artistic conventions. As a distinct discipline, art
offers its own unique approaches in the consideration of complexity.
Levy has played a seminal role in airing issues of complex systems in her art, publications
and lectures. With Berta M. Sichel, Levy was guest editor of a special issue of the
Art Journal in the spring of 1996, compiling an issue entitled "Contemporary Art and
the Genetic Code," a subject then largely unexplored. She solicited contributions
from scientists, such as evolutionary biologist Stephen
Jay Gould, as well as artists and art historians. In 2002, she and Philip Galanter
organized "Complexity: Art and Complex Systems," a major traveling museum exhibition
devoted to artists' responses to the study of complex systems.
Complex systems is rooted in science and examines how relationships between parts
give rise to the collective behaviors of a system. These lectures are part of UAA's
2007 Complex Systems lecture series, a program that brings cutting-edge research in
the field of complexity to the Alaska public. Other upcoming lectures include:
Cyril Wecht, Forsensic pathologist
"Some of My Most Interesting Cases"
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Wecht has been involved in many high profile cases, such as the assassinations of
Robert F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, the murders of Sharon Tate, JonBenet Ramsey,
Laci Peterson and the cases of Anna Nicole Smith, Sunny von Bulow, Elvis Presley,
among many others.
Hans Moravec
"Robot Evolution"
Thursday, May 3 and Friday, May 4, 2007
Moravec is known for his work on robotics and artificial intelligence.
For more information about UAA's Complex Systems Group or the Complex Systems' lecture
series, visit http://complexsystems.uaa.alaska.edu.