Leonardo Network News

The Newsletter of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology and of l’Observatoire Leonardo des Arts et Technosciences

Leonardo Affiliate Members Spotlight

The mission of the Beall Center for Art and Technology is to support research and exhibitions that explore new relationships between the arts, sciences and engineering and thus to promote new forms of creation and expression using digital technologies. The Beall Center, located at the University of California, Irvine, aspires to redefine the museum/gallery experience, both in content and form, formulating answers to the questions of how technology can be used effectively, not only to create new forms of art, but also to connect artist to artist, and artist with audience. See: <beallcenter.uci.edu>.

The Art|Sci Center at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a valued member of the Leonardo Affiliate Member Program. The Art|Sci Center is dedicated to facilitating the infinite potential of collaborations between (media) arts and (bio/nano) sciences. The center’s affiliation with the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) offers access to cutting-edge researchers and their laboratories and a dedicated gallery for exhibitions. The center hosts the Sci|Art NanoLab Summer Institute for high school students, introducing them to the vast possibilities in the quantum field of art/science for present and future generations. In cooperation with CNSI, the UCLA School of the Arts and the Department of Design|Media Arts, the Art|Sci Center supports visiting research scholars and artists in residency from around the world. The center hosts lectures, mixers, symposia and a monthly Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) to bring artists and scientists together and inspire individuals to think about art and science as already interrelated and relevant to society. See: <artsci.ucla.edu>.

Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER)

January 2014 marked the sixth anniversary of the Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) series. Over the past 6 years, the LASER series of lectures and presentations on art, science and technology has provided spaces for progressive thought leaders to come together to form community and explore the intersections of disciplinary thinking. Owing to its success and popularity, LASER has expanded beyond its birthplace in the San Francisco Bay Area, first to the U.S. East Coast, then across the Atlantic to London—home of the first European LASER—and back to the U.S. again to Austin, Texas. We thank all of those who have spoken at, participated in or attended LASER events throughout the years. We owe a special thank-you to Piero Scaruffi, LASER founder and chair, for his inspiration and continued dedication, and to the growing list of LASER hosts all over the world. For information on these and other upcoming LASER venues: <www.leonardo.info/laser>.

AHCN at NetSci 2014

Arts, Humanities, and Complex Networks (AHCN)—a Leonardo satellite symposium held in conjunction with the International School and Conference on Network Science (NetSci)—brings together pioneering work in the overlap of arts, humanities, network research, data science and information design. This year, the fifth AHCN satellite symposium was held during NetSci2014 on 3 June 2014 at the Clark Kerr Campus at the University of California, Berkeley. The symposium was organized by Leonardo Executive Editor Roger Malina, along with Maximilian Schich (Associate Professor, ATEC, University of Texas at Dallas), Isabel Meirelles (Associate Professor, Department of Art and Design, Northeastern University) and Meredith Tromble (School of Interdisciplinary Studies, San Francisco Art Institute). Selected papers from AHCN 2014 will be published both in a special section of Leonardo journal and in a dedicated Leonardo e-book in 2015. To view abstracts, papers and videos from previous AHCN symposia, see: <http://ahcncompanion.info/>.

Call for Peer Reviewers: Leonardo Abstracts Service

We are seeking peer reviewers to contribute their expertise to Leonardo Abstracts Service (LABS), an online database of MA, MFA and Ph.D. thesis abstracts for research in disciplines that investigate philosophical, historical or critical applications of science or technology to the arts. LABS submissions are peer reviewed in July of each year. If interested in becoming a LABS peer reviewer, please contact English-language LABS coordinator Sheila Pinkel with your curriculum vitae and two or three lines...