Event 3 Blog - Angela Zhang

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the UG Senior Capstone Exhibition of the Design | Media Arts department at UCLA, titled “Business As Usual.” This event, held at the Broad EDA and Untitled Gallery, was not just a showcase of talent and creativity but a profound reflection on the integration of art, science, and technology—themes that resonate deeply with my academic and personal interests.

The opening reception of the exhibition "Business as Usual" in the EDA at Broad Art Center

One of the projects that particularly struck me was Joanna Chen’s DMA Yearbook. This innovative project utilized NFC technology to create an interactive yearbook where visitors could leave digital messages for the seniors. This blending of digital and physical realms echoes the ideas in Victoria Vesna’s "Third Culture: Being in Between," which explores the fusion of human interaction and technology. Vesna’s work discusses how such integrations can transform our traditional experiences—much like how the DMA Yearbook reimagines the concept of yearbook signatures and memories in a digital age (Vesna).

A picture I took with Joanna in front of her work - "DMA Yearbook"

Taylor Che’s "Bob’s Entertainment" offered a critical view of the esports gaming industry, specifically its practices of sexualizing women. This project resonated with me as it underscored the broader societal issues related to gender portrayal in media and technology. Che’s approach aligns with C.P. Snow’s discourse in "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution," where he challenges us to think about how the humanities and sciences can merge to address and rectify societal discrepancies (Snow).

The "ChatGPT Confessions" installation by Michael Elizarraraz was another highlight, where AI was used to mimic a confessional booth. This intersection of AI technology and human emotional expression intrigued me as it reflected themes from Francisco Varela’s "The Embodied Mind," which discusses how our creations (like AI) can mirror and extend human cognitive experiences, suggesting a new frontier in how we interact with technology (Varela).

My friend Dylan interacting with "ChatGPT Confessions"

The “Business As Usual” exhibition not only showcased the culmination of years of hard work but also served as a testament to the power of integrating art with technology. Each project at the exhibition revealed how creatively combining different fields can lead to meaningful and impactful creations. As an aspiring designer, I left the exhibition inspired by my peers' courage to integrate their unique voices into their works, particularly around pressing societal themes, and motivated to apply similar interdisciplinary approaches to my own projects.

Second part of "Business As Usual" in the Untitled Gallery

Works Cited:

1. Snow, C. P. "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution." Cambridge University Press, 1959.
2. Vesna, Victoria. "Third Culture: Being in Between." Accessed 12 May 2024.
3. Varela, Francisco J., et al. "The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience." MIT Press, 1991.