MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology: Fall 2010 Lecture Series, USA

[Marlon Barrios Solano]

Professor Dava Newman, MIT: Inventor, Science and Engineering Guillermo Trotti, A.I.A., Trotti and Associates, Inc. (Cambridge, MA): Design Dainese (Vincenca, Italy): Fabrication Douglas Sonders: Photography	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dava Newman, "Second Skin Bio-suit" Monday, October 18 7:00 PM MIT Bartos Theater Wiesner Building (E15) 20 Ames Street, Cambridge Free and open to the public 617-253-5229 [e-mail] http://visualarts.mit.edu/about/lecture.html
Second Skin Bio-suit With support from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts and Trotti & Assoc. Inc., Cambridge, Mass., the BioSuit was developed to provide a 'second skin' capability for astronaut performance. Processes such as electrospinning and melt-blowing have been used to develop fibers for the suit. A current mockup uses nylon, spandex and urethane layers with varied properties and electronics incorporated into the suit and helmet materials that can have "smart textile" functions relating to physiology (thermal comfort), communications and spatial orientation. Space suit research can lead to improvements in the quality of life here on earth, too, through advances in orthotics that can help children with cerebral palsy and 'smart orthoses' for stroke patients. Dava J. Newman is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems at MIT She assisted NASA in developing the Bio-Suit. Location: MIT Bartos Theater, Wiesner Building (E15) 20 Ames Street, Cambridge Free and open to the public. For more information: http://visualarts.mit.edu/about/lecture.html [e-mail] 617-253-5229 ···················································································· ABOUT THE SERIES ···················································································· The Give Me Shelter lecture series draws together speakers from different disciplines to discuss questions such as: How can bodywear function as body extension or to support the human body under unusual conditions such as hot and cold climates? How can we expand the notion of the boundary between the body and environment? What kind of second skin would be required to survive walking through a volcano, living under water, or visiting outer space? How does clothing contribute to the question of the protection of endangered peoples and environments? The ACT Monday night lecture series is organized this term as part of the ACT course of Professor Ute Meta Bauer, Second Skin / Body Wear. Artistic Research and Transdisciplinary Studies, in collaboration with the Performance Workshop of Professor Joan Jonas and Introduction to Networked Cultures of lecturer Nitin Sawhney. ···················································································· SERIES SCHEDULE ···················································································· 9/13/10 - Climate Changes in Science Fashion Elke Gaugele Gaugele will reflect upon climate changes in "science fashion" and discuss different points of departure for its contemporary artistic research. Elke Gaugele is a cultural anthropologist and professor of Fashions and Styles at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria. 09/20/10 - Com(ment)ic: Wondersuits, Fast Skin, Poison Ivy Regina Maria Moeller Comic superheroes dress in hightech suits that support their hyperactivities with magic powers. Are these "wondersuits" fictional? Or have they become models for current "second skin" developments? Regina Maria Möller is a German artist, author, founder of the magazine regina. She is a professor at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art / Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art at the Norwegian University of Science andTechnology. 09//27/10 - 21st Century Living in the Amazon: In the Order of Chaos Laura Anderson Barbata Laura Anderson Barbata worked with the Yanomami people of the Venezuelan Amazon Rainforest, teaching them to make paper and books so they could write their own history. Barbata is a professor at the Escuela Nacional de Escultura, Pintura y Grabado La Esmeralda of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, México. 10/04/10 - Tierra Brillante Omar Foglio and Jose Luis Figueroa Tierra Brilliante ("the brightest glaze") spotlights lead poisoning suffered by practitioners of traditional ceramics in Mexico. Jose Luis Figueroa co-directed Tierra Brillante, and Omar Folgio was in charge of production for the same film. Tierra Brillante is a co-production between Galatea and the Mexican Institute of Cinema (IMCINE). 10/18/10 - Second Skin Bio-suit Dava Newman See details above. 10/25/10 - SOFT, SMART & STEALTHY: New Paradigms for Design Practice Sheila Kennedy Sheila Kennedy will present recent research and work. Sheila Kennedy is a Principal of Kennedy & Violich Architecture Ltd. (KVA), an interdisciplinary design practice that explores the relationships between architecture, digital technology and emerging public needs. She is a Professor of the Practice, Architectural Design at MIT. 11/01/10 - Build your own world Steve Dietz Steve Dietz is the Artistic Director of ZER01 which produces the 01SJ Biennial, dedicated to inspiring creativity at the intersection of art, technology and digital culture. Dietz is a serial platform creator. 11/08/10 - Metabolic Studio Lauren Bon Lauren Bon will talk about current projects with her Metabolic Studio, including Silver and Water, a film made out of the silver and water historically mined out of the Owens River Valley. Lauren Bon is an artist and MIT alumna. Her Metabolic Studio is based in Los Angeles. ···················································································· ABOUT THE PROGRAM ···················································································· The MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology operates as a critical studies and production based laboratory, connecting the arts with an advanced technological community. ACT faculty, fellows and students engage in advanced visual studies and research by implementing both an experimental and systematic approach to creative production and transdisciplinary collaboration. As an academic and research unit, the ACT Program emphasizes both knowledge production and knowledge dissemination. In the tradition of artist and educator Gyorgy Kepes, the founder of MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies and an advocate of "art on a civic scale," ACT envisions artistic leadership initiating change, providing a critically transformative view of the world with the civic responsibility to enrich cultural discourse.