Saturday, May 21, 2016

Event Post -- Hammer Museum

Spun Chairs
Me in the Spun Chairs
            The Hammer Museum was a joy to visit because I felt as if the art was more interactive and colloquial than at other museums. Upon walking in, I looked to my left and saw these Spun Chairs in which I was able to sit and roll around in this symmetric, pin-top chairs without falling off. Already, I fell in love with this exhibit and the math behind this artistic piece. It must have been designed in a way that despite the weight of the individual and force in which they roll, one cannot fall off. This interactive piece as a great exemplar of the crossroads between math and art because it shows the underlying geometry integrated into the piece to give it this safely rolling effect. I definitely recommend going to Hammer to the students who enjoy interactive art and who enjoy seeing art in more ordinary objects.

MacArthur Park
            As I continued throughout the museum, I entered the Contemporary Collection of normal, everyday objects and what caught my eye was MacArthur Park, a sculpture that included an amplifier, CD player, and moving green and yellow balls. It was an interesting piece in the idea that it resembled a robot. As learned in lecture, Karl Capek coined the term robot from the word robota, meaning work, with originally robots being anything that works in place of a human. We see this intersection of robots and art in this piece as it is powered by a motor that constantly keeps the yellow and green balls moving and the stereo playing. This technology replaces that of a human that would be manually controlling the piece, and give it its own freedom and autonomy. This piece spoke to me
because I see this shift in the world around me as technology is able to stand alone and no longer needs human guidance -- just as in this art piece. This is definitely a point I would like to discuss in my final paper because it leads me to question what the art of the future will be like, and if it will all be independent of human control.

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