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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Leonardo
Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER)<br>
Monday, May 12, 2008</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">6:00-10:00pm<u2:p></u2:p></span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><br>
<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">SFSU downtown campus<br>
<st1:place u1:st="on"><st1:City u1:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:City></st1:place>, <st1:State u1:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">CA</st1:State></st1:State></st1:City></st1:place> <br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
</span><strong><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">Space
is limited</span></strong><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">. Please
RSVP to Piero Scaruffi: p [at] scaruffi.com</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><u2:p></u2:p> <br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Leonardo/ISAST
and Piero Scaruffi present the third in the Leonardo Art Science
Evening Rendezvous (LASER) series, featuring presentations by Ken
Goldberg, Carlo
Sequin, Richard Rinehart, Kris Paulsen and Trevor Paglen.<u2:p></u2:p></span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> <br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">6:00-6:30pm:
Socializing/networking</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">6:30-6:45pm:
Welcome
by Jeff Babcock</span></strong> (Executive Director of the
International Center
for the Arts, SFSU, and Leonardo/ISAST board member) and Piero Scaruffi<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">6:45-7:15pm:
Ken
Goldberg</span></strong>, Director of the Berkeley Center for New Media
on
"Robots as Naturalists"<br>
<br>
Ken will present experiments and questions raised by robots and social
networks, ranging from ouija boards to human "tele-actors," and tell
a true story about how invasions of privacy led him and his students to
investigate how robots can assist in monitoring the natural
environment. he'll
describe a robotic system they've deployed to assist the search for the
ivory
billed woodpecker, a bird of extreme interest to birdwatchers,
ornithologists,
and conservationists whose last confirmed sighting was in 1944. ken
will also
present the manifesto of the <st1:City u1:st="on"><st1:place u1:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">berkeley</st1:place></st1:City></st1:place></st1:City>
center for new media and propose a hopefully controversial definition
of
"media."<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">7:15-7:45pm:
Carlo
Sequin, professor of computer science at UC Berkeley</span></strong> on
"Knotty Sculptures"<u2:p></u2:p> <br>
<br>
This presentation explores the use of simple knots as constructivist
building
blocks for abstract geometrical sculptures. One approach places simple
n-foil
knots on the n-sided faces of a Platonic or Archimedean polyhedron.
Another
investigation explores various generating principles for the
construction of
recursive knots. For instance, a simple crossing of two strands is
replaced
with a more complicated tangled version of two strands, and the process
is then
repeated recursively. A few of these designs conceived on a computer
are then
developed further to make actual 3D models on various rapid prototyping
machines.<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">7:45-8:00pm:
Richard
Rinehart</span></strong>, Curator of the Berkeley Art Museum, on the
forthcoming UC Berkeley "Big Bang" conference<br>
<br>
Berkeley's New Media Center and Leonardo ISAST are organizing a two-day
academic conference to be held in June 2008 at the Berkeley Museum.
Richard
Rinehart, Curator of the <st1:PlaceName u1:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Berkeley</st1:PlaceName></st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType u1:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType></st1:PlaceType>,
will present the <st1:City u1:st="on"><st1:place u1:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berkeley</st1:place></st1:City></st1:place></st1:City>
day of the
conference (first day of the conference).<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">8:00-8:20pm:
Kris
Paulsen</span></strong>, grad student at <st1:place u1:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
u1:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Berkeley</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
<st1:PlaceType u1:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:PlaceType></st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
for
New Media on "Participation TV"<br>
<br>
Kris will examine a sequence of projects from the 1960s to the present
in which
artists have worked to reverse the unidirectional structure of
broadcast
television. These artists feed back into the networks by disrupting
broadcasts,
"hijacking" programs through pseudo-events and hostile takeovers, and
by developing their own multi-directional systems that challenge the
television
viewer's traditionally passive role. By exploiting the potential for
liveness
on television news, CCTV, and public access, the artists addressed in
this talk
attempt to put viewers into direct contact with the event and with the
others
who are watching - the network becomes a crowd.<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">8:20-8:40pm:
Trevor
Paglen</span></strong> of the Department of Geography <st1:PlaceType
u1:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName u1:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> at <st1:City
u1:st="on"><st1:place u1:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Berkeley</st1:place></st1:City></st1:place></st1:City>
on "The Other Night Sky"<u2:p></u2:p> <br>
<br>
Artist/geographer Trevor Paglen will talk about his recent project to
track and
photograph 189 classified "moons" (reconnaissance satellites) in
Earth orbit. Along the way, he introduces us to an international
network of
satellite observers, tracks the history of two "stealth" satellites,
and contemplates the relationship between classical empiricism and
democracy.<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">8:45-9:45pm:
Discussions, more socializing</span></strong> <br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">Space is
limited</span></strong>.
Please RSVP to Piero Scaruffi: p [at] scaruffi.com<u2:p></u2:p> <br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal;">LASER is
organized by
Piero Scaruffi on behalf of Leonardo/The International Society for the
Arts,
Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST)</span></em><i><br>
</i><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/may2008.html">http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/may2008.html</a><u2:p></u2:p> <br>
<br>
For more information about Leonardo programs and publications, visit:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.leonardo.info">http://www.leonardo.info</a><u2:p></u2:p> <br>
<u2:p> </u2:p></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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