Final Project

Final Project

Event 5: Typhoon Relief Benefit Show

When Professor forwarded the email of an invitation of the donation show, I thought I would attend not only because it is an event for this class, but also because it meant a lot to my UCLA Filipina peers whose families were suffering from the Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Since it was a benefit show,  the goal of which was to inform people the serious situation in Philippine and raise money to help, it was not an event that we could find the obvious connection between art and science. This show emphasized emotional expression. However, there were still some noticeable integrations of art and technology.

The Performers

After I registered, I found a good seat so that I could watch the performance clearly. The show began at 8 p.m. Before it started, there were slides of photos of destroyed houses and impacted people in Philippine. While the slides were shown on the certain, the background music more evoked the sad feelings about people who were impacted by the typhoon. I think people have the same experiences as me that surrounded by rhythmic music through the stereo speakers, we feel like our hearts are beating with the rhythms. I still remembered the song they put was "Officially Missing You" by Tamia. This is a very classical R&B style song. Listening to the lyrics of the music while watching the slides of pictures of the disaster, I could not help feeling the same way my Filipina peers feel. Along with the technology of stereo speakers, music and pictures vividly showed the the bad situations of the disaster and infiltrated the sentimental feelings into our hearts.

The map of Philippine with marks of impacted areas

My favorite performance was the Filipina traditional dance “Tinikling" by SPCN. Besides the amazing and fabulous dance, I was so obsessed by the way the dancers danced. They used four bamboo sticks to organize the whole performance. They used the sticks to make rhythms, create certain shapes for the dancers to dance accordingly. Even though there were not many modern technologies employed in the show, since it was traditional, the choreographers still integrated science and art. They employed the mathematics of choreography to organize the dance and also employed the special physical sounds by the bamboo sticks hit on the floor to create happy circumstances for the dance.  The dancers and choreographers wanted to remind us of the happy lives their families in Philippine used to have and evoke us to help them rebuild their homes and lives. I highly suggest my peers to attend such benefit shows because not just we can help people, but also we can experience the unique integration of art and science to express emotions.




           Front of ticket                                                                          Back of the ticket

Professor's Approval (email)

Event 4: Getty Museum - The Universe Next Door

Getty Museum is such a good place to visit not only for artistic exhibition, but also for a wonderful view. I went there to see the Morell's exhibition: The Universe Next Door.  Abelardo Morell is an internationally famous artist for his employment of photography into the expression of visual surprise and wonder. It was interesting to find out that after the birth of his son in 1986, he started to take large pictures around his home to explore ordinary household objects with childlike curiosity. Morell was so creative that he turned to photography expression as a source of inspirations.

There was a section called "From a Child's Perspective". I was so obsessed by the title that I could not  help imagining how the pictures were going to look like with my personal experiences. Morell wanted to examine the differences between a child's view of the world and an adult's view of the world. In "Toy Blocks", he seemed to crawl on the floor with a camera at an eye level of a little baby. A set of wood boxes with cheery imagery was constructed into a tower, which little children like me always played. This picture reminded me of my childhood of spending the whole morning building wood blocks. Morell's work from a child's perspective evoked a preverbal vision of a child.

Toy Blocks

Morell  was a very creative photographer and artist; he had experimented with various photography techniques such as the tent camera with a periscope lens on top,  which projected the scene outside onto the ground within the structure. He used this technique to show a special but appealing image that underfoot ground formed the backdrops, which exhibit a unique background for the image. In the context of our class, Morell is an artist who is working to build a bridge of the two cultures. As an artist, he creatively employed photography techniques to demonstrate and express the surprises and wonders in our daily life, "From a Child's Perspective" for instance. The idea of the language of photography resonates perfectly between science and art, which we are looking for in this class.

Tent Camera Image On The Ground: Golden Gate Bridge

I highly recommend visiting Getty Museum as an event. It will not be closed even after this class! Besides "the Universe Next Door", Getty also has several different exhibitions like European paintings. If you are interested in paintings, this is a perfect place to visit. You can enjoy the beautiful views and ticket is free!

My Ticket

Resources

1. "Getty Exhibition Explores the Fantastic Visual World of Photographer Abelardo Morell."News from the Getty | Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

2. "Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door (Getty Center Exhibitions)." N.p., Web. 1 Dec. 2013.