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ArtCenter College of Design
Ahmanson Auditorium
1700 Lida St.
Pasadena, CA 91103

Fulcrum Arts, the Williamson Gallery at ArtCenter, and Pitzer College Art Galleries will present the symposium, Free Radicals: On the Provocations of Awe, a program of Fulcrum Arts’ AxS (art + science) initiative, and LASER (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous), Leonardo/ISAST’s international program of gatherings that brings artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversations.

Tom Hall, Photo by Marcus Fischer

To “stand in awe” is to be filled with a transcendent sensation of deep joy and insightful connection to something we know also as a physical and material reality. It’s all benignly celebratory, until one might notice that sensations of awe are more likely the product of a highly nuanced biology over eons of human evolution rather than of divine edict. That parsing awe can place newly emerging complexities of the natural in conflict with fading clichés of the supernatural, and by extension disturb our empirical truce with the mythical. Or awe can be the muse of innovation, irritating tensions between the risks of progress and the stasis of tradition, embattle truth with fiction, and spill into the vast delta of the socio-political.

Free Radicals will present a robust, two-day program of artist talks, performances, screenings, and panel conversations. Rather than focus on one specific thematic, the symposium will present an array of diverse viewpoints and approaches to understanding the phenomenon of “awe” through the lens of art and science. Robotics, space science, botany, and augmented and virtual reality will all be addressed and positioned within a greater conversation that recognizes the allied importance of both the arts and the sciences to the dynamic tenor of our time.

Theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin will deliver the keynote presentation, and the symposium will also include presentations by Rana Adhikari, Bill Anthes, I.R. Bach, Nancy Baker Cahill, Beatriz Cortez, Ciara Ennis, Tom Hall, Ian Ingram, Karen Lofgren, Kyle McDonald, Rebeca Mendez, Chris Parks, Archie Prakash, Brittany Ransom, Christopher Richmond, Sasha Samochina, Jana Winderen, The World in a Cell, and Jenny Yurshansky.

AMYJ170330-021610A, 2017 © I.R. Bach

Saturday, November 9

10:00am
Continental Breakfast – Ahmanson Auditorium Foyer
10:50am
Stephen Nowlin – Opening Remarks
11:00am
Janna Levin – Keynote Presentation
11:40am
I.R. Bach – Artist Talk
12:20pm
Jana Winderen – Artist Talk & Quadraphonic Sound Dispersion
12:50pm
Lunch (the cafeteria will be open)
2:00pm
Kyle McDonald – Artist Talk
2:40pm
AR/VR Panel – Sasha Samochina, Nancy Baker Cahill, & The World in a Cell, moderated by Archie Prakash
3:45pm
Christopher Richmond – Artist Talk
4:15pm
Christopher Richmond – Viewing Stone Screening
5:00pm
Day 1 concludes

Sunday, November 10

10:00am
Continental Breakfast – Ahmanson Auditorium Foyer
11:00am
Rebeca Mendez – CircumSolar, Migration 1 Screening
11:40am
Rana Adhikari – Beyond LIGO
12:10am
Chris Parks – Fluid Perspectives I & II Screening
12:25pm
Tom Hall – Artist Talk & Quadraphonic Audio Visual Performance
1:00pm
Lunch (the cafeteria will not be open)
2:00pm
Botanic Potentials – Panel Discussion with Beatriz Cortez, Karen Lofgren, & Jenny Yurshansky, moderated by Ciara Ennis
3:10pm
Robotics Panel with Ian Ingram & Brittany Ransom, moderated by Bill Anthes
4:10pm
Reception
5:00pm
Day 2 concludes

Free Radicals: On the Provocations of Awe has been made possible with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pasadena Art Alliance, the City of Pasadena, and LACMA Art & Technology Lab.

In Focus

Janna Levin: Keynote Presentation

I.R. Bach: I Want to Know

Jana Winderen: Listening in to the Spring Bloom in the Marginal Ice Zone

Kyle McDonald: Light Leaks

World In A Cell

Sasha Samochina

Nancy Baker Cahill

AR/VR Panel – Sasha Samochina, Nancy Baker Cahill, & The World in a Cell

Christopher Richmond

Rana Adhikari: Beyond LIGO

Tom Hall: Symmetric causes for the crumpled state

Beatriz Cortez

Karen Lofgren

Jenny Yurshansky

Botanic Potentials – Panel Discussion with Beatriz Cortez, Karen Lofgren, & Jenny Yurshansky

Brittany Ransom

Ian Ingram

Robotics Panel with Ian Ingram & Brittany Ransom, moderated by Bill Anthes

Support