Event2: LACMA

I paid a visit to LACMA , Los Angeles County Museum of Art, during week 7 with a friend of mine. LACMA is the largest museum in the western United States, It consists of over 100,000 artworks from different periods of time throughout history. During my visit at LACMA, I have a brand new idea about how art and science can connect to each other. Also, it is very helpful to study the topic - robotics and art. 

Me and a staff from LACMA

Me

Throughout the quarter, we are talking about how art and technology can contribute to each other. However, when I saw the Chinese Art collection at LACMA, I started to realize that art can also be a medium that records the technology development. 

Chinese Artworks - From Neolithic Period To People's Republic of China

The above picture showed how art form changes throughout Chinese history. At the very beginning, ancient chinese people can only make Bronzewares since they had very limited technology at that time. As time goes by, the artworks becomes more and more complicated. People started to try different materials, and artworks started to become colorful. For example, Sancai, a type of ceramics decorated by three colors, started to become popular in Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the development of artworks can be considered as a reflection of the development of technology. Historians are able to study the development of technology in ancient time based on these artworks. 

  

An artwork from Ming Dynasty  

The second thing caught my attention is a picture of a monster.  This monster is called Golem,  "an animated anthropomorphic being." 

Golem
<http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/masterworks-expressionist-cinema-golem-and-its-avatars>

At the first glance, this artwork has nothing to do with the topic- robotics and art. However, when I think about the deeper meaning of robotics, I start to see the relationship. I believe that the originality of robotics is due to the the pursue of power beyond human beings. Golem is just like a robotic. People in the ancient time used their imagination to create such a thing that has superpower to do the things they cannot do.  Therefore, this artwork just proves the argument in Professor Vesna's lecture that art inspires science to develop the idea of robots. It also shows that how the technology development impact the art. With the development of technology, people start to come up with the idea of robot instead of making pictures of an imaginal thing. 

Our Tickets! 

The trip to LACMA was really great! I strongly recommend my fellow classmates to pay a visit to LACMA. LACMA is located on Wilshire Blvd. It is very easy to go there from UCLA campus. Students can get discount on admission with students IDs all the time.  Students can even get free tickets after 4PM during weekdays and enjoy the night views of LACMA. It is a very good place to enjoy great artworks near UCLA campus. 

LACMA in the night
<http://jasoninhollywood.blogspot.com/2010/08/urban-light-at-night.html>

Works Cited

"LACMA." Wikipedia. 23 Nov. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. 

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacma>

"Sancai."Wikipedia. 30 June. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. 

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancai>

"Golem." Wikipedia. 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. 

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem>