Nelson Series Explores Science-Inspired Art

Harvey Mudd College’s 2012 Bruce J. Nelson ’74 Distinguished Speaker Series will highlight contemporary art inspired by and created with science and technology.

Bearing the theme, “Art, Science and Technology: Between the Studio and the Lab,” the series will feature presentations by acclaimed artists and educators and celebrate art that explores science and technology’s aesthetic, creative, cultural and political dimensions.

The series starts Sept. 25 with “Reefs, Rubbish and Reason: An Unlikely Yarn about Global Warming and the World’s Biggest Art+Science Project,” a presentation by science writer Margaret Wertheim, co-founder of The Institute For Figuring, a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the aesthetic and poetic dimensions of science, mathematics and engineering.

Other speakers in the series include:

Roger Malina – Thursday, Oct. 18

Astronomer and Executive Editor, Leonardo Publications

A leading international thinker on the intersections of art and science, astronomer Roger Malina serves as executive editor of Leonardo, the journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, which was founded in 1968 by his father, Frank Malina, kinetic artist and rocket scientist.

Marko Peljhan – Tuesday, Nov. 6

Artist and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara

Slovenian radio and theater director Marko Peljhan organizes collaborations between artists, scientists and technologists and investigates the geopolitics of the Arctic, art in microgravity and communications networks during the Bosnian War.

Carl Stone – Tuesday, Nov. 13

Composer and Professor, Chukyo University School of Information Science and Technology, Japan

Composer Carl Stone is a pioneer of live electronic music, having performed internationally with real-time digital technology since the 1980s. Known as the “king of sampling,” Stone is famous for performances that transform audio landscapes into astonishing sonic explorations.

Steven Kurtz – Tuesday, Dec. 4

Artist and Professor of Visual Studies, State University of New York at Buffalo

A founding member of Critical Art Ensemble, Steven Kurtz stimulates audiences to consider the political and environmental implications of biotechnology, bioweaponry and nuclear energy by using hands-on demonstrations, websites, books and installations.

The Dr. Bruce J. Nelson ’74 Distinguished Speaker Series was established in 2000 through the visionary philanthropy of the family of the late Bruce J. Nelson ’74. Designed to bring social, economic and political considerations into global problems that pose difficult technical challenges, the series brings to campus diverse and prominent experts to speak on various topics of interest.

Free and open to the public, the lectures will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Galileo Lecture Hall and be followed by a Q&A session and dessert reception.

For more information, visit the Nelson Speaker Series webpage.