UC DAVIS LASER EVENT: From 'Inner Lives of Cells' to 'Other Side of the Screen'

PHOTO: Danielle Tullman-Ercek

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By Kathy Keatley Garvey:

Four speakers who fuse art with science--two scientists from the University of California and two artists from the Bay Area--will discuss their work at the UC Davis Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) event, set for Thursday, June 4 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Room 242 of Asmundson Hall, UC Davis campus.

The LASERS are an international program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversation with an audience.

The site is a change from the usual meeting place.

The event, free and open to the public, will begin with socializing and networking from 6:30 to 7.

The lineup of speakers:

7 to 7:25: John Albeck, UC Davis assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology, will speak on “The Deep Thoughts and Inner Lives of Cells.” He will discuss living cell cinemotography.

7:25 to 8:10: Elia Vargas, an Oakland-based artist, will cover “Signal Flow: Bodies, Boundaries and the Phenomenology of Information.” Vargas investigates new technologies of human identity, and is interested in culture, code, cities and cells as new landscapes and new organisms--or the narrative byproduct.

8:10 to 8:35: Danielle Tullman-Ercek, UC Berkeley professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering will discuss “Synthetic Biology: The Challenge and Potential of Engineering Living Systems.”

8:35 to 9 p.m.: Rhonda Holberton, Oakland-based artist, will cover “From the Other Side of the Screen.” She will discuss the complex relationships that arise when technologies developed for combat are integrated into civilian applications.

Anna Davidson, who directs the UC Davis LASER programs, is the moderator and organizer. She is currently a master of fine arts student in Art Studio at UC Davis. She received her Ph.D. in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, studying plant ecophysiology. Davidson studies the biological world using both artistic and scientific approaches.

The UC Davis LASER is affiliated with the UC Davis Art Science Fusion Program, which was co-founded and co-directed by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman and artist Donna Billick. Ullman is a professor of entomology with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Mosaic-ceramic artist Billick of Davis, a self-described “rock artist,” holds a master’s degree in genetics from UC Davis.