CHAIRS: Ellen Levy and Patricia Olynyk
NY LASER is a series of lectures and presentations on art and science projects, in support of Leonardo/ISAST’s LEAF initiative (Leonardo Education and Art Forum). Former LEAF Chairs, Ellen K. Levy, former IDSVA Special Advisor in the Arts and Sciences and Patricia Olynyk, Director, Graduate School of Art, Washington University co-direct these presentations to promote dialogue at the highest level among artists, scientists, scholars, and historians. Space is limited, so please rsvp by sending an email to levy@nyc.rr.com or olynyk@wustl.edu. There will be feature presentations by Fabrizio Desideri, Ruth Hardinger, and Linda Weintraub.
Fabrizio Desideri is a professor of Aesthetics at the Department of Humanities at the University of Florence. He is a member of the scientific board of Nouvelle Revue d'Esthétique, Rivista di Estetica, Estetica, Studi e ricerche, and Paragrana. He is co-editor of Atque, a journal of philosophy and psychiatry. He is also Editor in Chief of the peer-reviewed and Scopus indexed online journal, Aisthesis. Desideri works on relationships between aesthetics and neuroscience. His book, Origine dell’estetico is dedicated to the topic of consciousness, and his most recent book focuses on Benjamin and the perception of Art. His talk will focus on his work dealing with the origins and the value of aesthetics in the human world.
Ruth Hardinger is a NYC-based artist. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies (Magna Cum Laude) at Hunter College, CUNY and was a recipient of the prestigious MacDowell Travelling Scholarship, and Institute for International Education Scholarship sponsored by the Fulbright Foundation. Her works have been reviewed in The The New York Times, Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, Artcritical, and The Brooklyn Rail. Her socially conscious work, signified by abstraction and influenced by environmental issues, is expressed in her sculptures and installations. She co-organized Art and Activism against the Drill at Exit Art in 2010, and received a Marfa Dialogues/NY grant to support an exhibition and panel discussion about fugitive emissions of methane gas. Her talk will focus on her work in ecoactivism.
Linda Weintraub is a writer, curator, educator, artist and author of several popular books about contemporary art, who makes the outposts of vanguard art accessible to broad audiences. The current vanguard, she believes, is propelled by environmental consciousness that is not only the defining characteristic of contemporary manufacturing, architecture, science, ethics, politics, and philosophy, it is delineating contemporary art. She is author of TO LIFE!: Eco Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet and applies environmental concerns to her personal life by managing a sustainable homestead where she practices permaculture. She will discuss Eco Materialism, the emerging vanguard art movement introduced in her forthcoming book, What’s Next? Eco Materialism & Contemporary Art, (Intellect Books, 2018).
SPONSORS:
NY LASER is a series of lectures and presentations on art and science projects, in support of Leonardo/ISAST’s LEAF initiative (Leonardo Education and Art Forum). Former LEAF Chairs Ellen K. Levy and Patricia Olynyk co-organize these presentations on behalf of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts and Washington University in St. Louis, respectively.
LASER (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) Talks is Leonardo's international program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversations. LASER Talks were founded in 2008 by Bay Area LASER Chair Piero Scaruffi and are in over 30 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website.
The mission of the LASERs is to provide the general public with a snapshot of the cultural environment of a region and to foster interdisciplinary networking.