The Nanomandala is an installation by media artist Victoria Vesna,
in collaboration with nanoscience pioneer James Gimzewski.
The installation consists of a video projected onto a disk of sand, 8 feet in diameter.
Visitors can touch the sand as images are projected in evolving scale from the molecular
structure of a single grain of sand - achieved my means of a scanning electron microscope
(SEM)- to the recognizable image of the complete mandala, and then back again.
This coming together of art, science and technology is a modern interpretation of an ancient tradition that consecrates the planet and its inhabitants to bring about purification and healing.
The sand mandala of Chakrasamvara seen in this installation was created by Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Gaden Lhopa Khangtsen Monastery in India, in conjunction with the "Circle of Bliss"
exhibition on Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhist Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This particular sand mandala had never before been made in the United States.
To complement the video, sound artist Anne Niemetz has developed a meditative soundscape derived from sounds recorded during the creative process of making the sand mandala.
Of the installation the artist says: Inspired by watching the nanoscientist at work, purposefully arranging atoms just as the monk laboriously creates sand images grain by grain, this work brings together the Eastern and Western minds through their shared process centered on patience.
Both cultures use these bottom-up building practices to create a complex picture of the world from extremely different perspectives.
With generous support from the David W. Bermant Foundation.
Any/Nano/Body - dance performance event in the Nanomandala
A performance event that brings nano science to life through innovative choreography and site-specific improvisation.
Choreographers Marianne M. Kim and Norah Zuniga Shaw work in collaboration with master performers to discover
the nano science of our bodies and put it into to motion by interacting with the installations in the nano exhibition.
The dresses were designed by New York designer Isabel Toledo in collaboration with Victoria Vesna.
Any/nano/body was premiered at the nano exhibition on summer solstice, June 20th and repeated as a closing ceremony on September 5th.
Discussion of Copyright law applied to Arts & Technology with Victoria Vesna, James Gimzewski & David Nimmer, titled "Who Owns Art, Who Owns Science? What happens when the two collide?"
Department of Design|Media Arts, November 16, 2004 pm
Join Visiting Professor at UCLA Law School, David Nimmer, nano scientist and Professor of Chemistry, James Gimzewski and media artist and Chair of D|MA, Victoria Vesna for an informative discussion on copyright ownership issues related to art and science collaborations on campus. The session will focus on ownership of intellectual property in the university environment, issues of licensing, patenting and copyrights.
