UCLA Department of Design | Media Arts announces events for winter 2012

The creative artists of Mirada will lecture Feb. 7

Media Arts (DMA) is offering a variety of events for the public’s enjoyment this winter, including exhibitions, seminars, symposia and lectures.

For events at the UCLA Broad Art Center’s New Wight Gallery (Room 1100) or EDA facility (Room 1250), all-day parking ($11) and short-term parking (payable at pay stations) are available in Lot 3 (enter campus at Hilgard Avenue and Wyton Drive).

Visit www.dma.ucla.edu for live streaming coverage of lectures. Programs are subject to change. For updated information, gallery hours and confirmation of events, call 310-825-9007 or visit www.dma.ucla.edu.

Gromala was one of the first artists to work with immersive virtual reality. Her work is currently in use in more than 20 hospitals and clinics. She is the founding director of the Transforming Pain Research Group, an interdisciplinary team of artists, designers, computer scientists, neuroscientists and medical doctors investigating how new technologies — ranging from virtual reality and robotics to social media — may be used as a technological form of analgesia and pain management. She holds the Canada Research Chair at Simon Fraser University. Gromala has worked as a designer and art director in the corporate realm, including at Apple Computer Inc.

The intersection of the creative arts and neuroscience is not always a comfortable place. Robert Bilder takes up the challenge in his compelling lecture on brain mechanisms involved in the creative process. (Hosted by the Department of Design

Sci Center. Supported by the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, the UCLA Visual and Performing Arts Education Program and the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation.)

Mirada is a company designed for storytellers. The company’s four creative artists have joined forces to realize their vision of a collaborative space where they and other filmmakers can work together to create and produce projects that span digital production and content for film, television, advertising, interactive and other media.

Molleindustria aims at starting a serious discussion about the social and political implications of videogames. Its founder, Paolo Pedercini, is a game designer and a teacher at Carnegie Mellon University.

Macklin focuses on developing new games, simulations and play experiences that encourage experimental learning and investigation into social and global issues. She has led social media projects with the United Nations and the Open Society Institute. (Exhibition opening to follow the lecture.)

Ikegami is an associate professor in the department of general systems sciences at the University of Tokyo. His work encompasses the arts and sciences while dealing with complex systems and artificial life.

Gadani is a Los Angeles artist interested in curious creatures and their unique adaptations. She is an artist-in-residence at the Alfaro Lab and the Center for Society and Genetics at UCLA.

Olynyk is an artist whose prints and installations frequently employ microscopy and biomedical imaging technologies to explore the intersections between art and the life sciences. (Exhibition opening to follow the lecture.)

Kaplan will give a guest lecture on her recent work "Pollen." She is a media artist and is currently an M.F.A. student in the UCLA Department of Design