Event 3: The Griffith Observatory

The Griffith Observatory has always been very interesting to me due to my love for astronomy. Despite having been there countless times, I still always find it exciting to go back again because I always seem to learn something new every time.

Entering the observatory the first thing anyone sees is the massive Foucault Pendulum, prominently and strategically placed as if to say “here is something about our own planet before we venture on to the others.”

The Foucault Pendulum was invented in 1851 as a device to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. But of course in 1851 people were already well aware of Earth’s rotation, yet it has still managed to gain popularity as something amazing. I don’t believe this was misguided, nor was it a fluke. The pendulum may not have shown us any new scientific ideas, but it did demonstrate the sheer simplicity in proving something so large and complex. You did not need anything too fancy to build the pendulum, and you could explain to a child just fine how the movement of the pendulum denotes the rotation of Earth. It may now be a relic of years past but there is a certain elegance to it that draws crowds to gaze at its movements for extended periods while it slowly knocks down pins.

Moving through the observatory I came across various very interesting displays, most of which have not changed over the years. One I particularly liked was the Tesla Coil. I was not lucky enough to catch a show this time, but I did get to simply look at its components and admire the ingenuity behind it. The Tesla Coil to me speaks of boldness and ambition. Before the use of electricity and before Gilbert, people would see lightning strikes and have no idea what exactly they were. They could not dream of ever harnessing such power and somehow making it useful. Thanks to individuals like Tesla and Franklin, we now have an excellent understanding of electricity and are able to confine huge amounts of voltage in small rooms without worry. The drive to understand the unknown had allowed us to conquer our fear of the terrifying and change the world.

Another very interesting thing on display at the observatory was the observatory itself. This may seem a bit redundant and silly but it’s an excellent reminder that this is not just a place where they put up ancient artifacts for display. Observatories the world over are populated by scientists who look up into the cosmos and attempt to figure out where we are and where we belong in the universe. This grand and noble task may seem very scientific but it’s highly human in nature for it really seeks to answer the ancient questions: “Who am I? Where did I come from? And where am I going?” A great deal of what we know about how we got here is by examining the vestiges of evidence left behind from cosmic events that transpired millions and millions of years ago, and I believe must keep looking up to learn more about what’s going on right here on Earth.

Event 2: The Hammer Museum

My second museum of choice was the Hammer Museum. The Hammer Museum was relatively small but nothing short of stunning.

This was a bit different from LACMA in that many of the art pieces were not quite as self-explanatory. One that I particularly liked was a piece simply titled “Calculations,” by Gaines.

 Looking at it from a few feet away it appears to be some sort of symmetric tree.

Upon closer examination, however, you begin to see that it’s built with an array of ordered numbers. There is a positive side, a negative side, and an unbroken sequence of numbers. I have no idea what the purpose behind this work is (and the plaque did not help either) but I do see it as an interesting take on our perceptions. It reminds me of our study of nano-science and how everything seems to change when you go to a smaller and smaller scale. This may seem simple but we easily forget that just like getting closer to the artwork reveals numbers, we can get close to the numbers to see nanoparticles. Everything is made up of something else, and the scale upon which we examine it determines what exactly we perceive.

I then proceeded toward the Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio exhibit and came across the question: “Can you squeeze a chair out of a machine, the way you squeeze toothpaste out of a cube?” I thought this was a mildly interesting and a bit silly thing to ponder, and didn’t think much of it. Then I turned around and much to my amazement there it was – someone had actually squeezed a chair out of a machine in the same way you squeeze toothpaste out of a tube. I had to look at it carefully because I simply could not believe it, and I also had to resist the temptation to sit on it.

The bench itself was not particularly extraordinary, but the fact that it was literally squeezed out of a machine made it so much more. It was no longer just a bench – it was now a work of art. I believe this goes back to the first weeks when we studied about the reconciliation of art and science because it gave me a bit more perspective on the issue. You cannot simply have science as questions such as the aforementioned one are not found in nature -- they are artistic wonders that push the limits of our technological capabilities and turn ordinary objects into things that are much more desirable.

Everything in this exhibit thoroughly amazed me. The glass bar holding up a 56lb weight.

The bridge that could be rolled up into a wheel like object.

As someone studying physics, I would one day very much like to work alongside such artists to create things that will inspire others. 

Event 1: Art & Technology at LACMA

The first museum I visited was the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), as it was the museum I know and love and have gone to countless times on previous occasions.

At the Ahmanson Building in LACMA.

The focus of this post will be on an exhibit being displayed conveniently called “Art & Technology.”

Displayed prominently at the Art & Technology exhibit.

It is unfortunately that this exhibit was confined to a small room because I found it immensely interesting. This whole idea came about in the late 60’s when artists were paired from professionals from aerospace, scientific research, and entertainment industries. Some of the companies that braved this journey include IBM, Lockheed Aircraft, and General Electric.

The first work I saw was titled Five Plates, Two Poles.

"Five Plates, Two Poles"

 This did not strike me as anything of value at first. They seemed to be a bunch of metal plates welded together with some rods near the bottom. But of course, this was not the case. As it turns out, the plates are not welded together, they are carefully balanced. It should also be noted that these metal plates are very large in size! Indeed, this display is an intricate control of mass, force, and balance. A closer look at the poles even reveals grooves that have been cut into them to allow for deliberate placement of the plates. I found this very clever – you must first appreciate the laws of physics being used here before you can truly appreciate the work of art.

Another very interesting physics-artwork at the exhibit.

The second installation was a mirror contraption created by Robert Whitman along with Philco-Ford. 

Robert Whitman's mirror artwork.

This consisted of a wall of corner cube reflectors and floating above the wall, large cylindrical mirrors made from reflective Mylar. The resulting affect was that viewers who entered the space would see their faces inverted and reflected back a myriad times in the corner reflectors. In the large mirrors they could also see seemingly random household objects that were floating (like a clock or a piece of cabbage). I found this one to be both a funny yet engaging take on perception. It’s always interesting to me to see the human brain become confused when something is a bit out of the ordinary. I believe it is a sobering reflection on just how much of our understanding of the environment is merely the result of the light that is reflected into our retina.