LASER Talks at UCLA (Los Angeles): Ultra Processed Health

This LASER is connected to the exhibition opening at the UCLA Art Sc gallery at CNSI – developed by Professor Hannah Landecker with her students: "Hot Cling, Shear Magic, and the Mouthfeel of Capitalism:Images From the History of Ultra Processed Foods"

The show of posters unveils a fantastical universe of perfect textures in processed foods through 1960s-1990s industry ads, highlighting unseen chemical enhancements and their emerging health and environmental impacts.

Guest responder is artist Patricia Olynyk who is fellow of the UCLA Art Sci Medicine & Media Arts initiative. Chaired by: Victoria Vesna

EVENT INFO

When: Wednesday, April 10, 2024 – 6-8 PM PST (UTC-7), Find your timezone here

Where: CNSI at UCLA, Presentation Room, 5th floor

570 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Online: ZOOM registration

The session centers on the intersection of medicine and media arts and features distinguished guests Hannah Landecker and Patricia Olynyk.

This talk accompanies an exhibition at the ARTSCI Gallery at CNSI, curated by the Hot Cling and Shear Magic Research Group, a collective of UCLA undergraduates guided by Professor Hannah Landecker. The images in this collection induct the viewer into a fantastic universe of textures and viscosities generated in the making of processed foods.  In a set of advertisements exhumed from back issues of industry trade journals in food engineering from the 1960s through the 1990s, this exhibit explores the values and the chemistry of an otherworldly scene in which there are no lumps, inconsistencies, or bubbles.  Emulsifiers, clouding agents, gums, thickeners, anti-foaming agents, and antioxidants ensure that the marshmallows remain eternally fluffy, the particles are all the same size, mixtures never separate, and the sauce stays on top.   Produced by upstream chemical manufacturers and aimed at an audience of food processors, these messages were not intended for the end consumer - and indeed often extolled the invisibility of their products to the eating public.   Now that the health impacts of highly processed foods are increasingly ringing alarm bells in medicine and epidemiology, and the environmental footprint of these industrialized systems of production becomes ever more evident, this exhibit invites the eating public to see into the process for themselves.

This exhibit leverages the deep collections of the UCLA Library system in bringing these material off the page and onto the wall. It is curated by the Hot Cling and Shear Magic Research Group, a team of UCLA undergraduates led by Professor Hannah Landecker, pied piper of the grim joy of historical excavation of apparently banal but terribly consequential social and technical events shaping our biological lives.  The team, composed of undergraduates majoring in Human Biology and Society and Psychobiology, is comprised of Xian Zeng, Nicole Vasquez, Emily Sutherland, Kianna Satari, Manasi Sastry, Chloe Nelson, Max Kokka, Kiana Karimi, Rayna Irving, Sara Herron, Xavier Herrera, Haley Ficker, Lea Dahlke, and Shelsy Aragon.  

Hannah Landecker, with a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from MIT and a B.Sc. in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of British Columbia, uses the tools of history and social science to study contemporary developments in the life sciences, and their historical taproots in the twentieth century.  She has taught and researched in the fields of history of science, anthropology and sociology.  At UCLA she is cross-appointed between the Institute for Society and Genetics, and the Sociology Department.  She is currently working on a book called “American Metabolism,” which looks at transformations to the metabolic sciences wrought by the rise of epigenetics, microbiomics, cell signaling and hormone biology.

Landecker’s work focuses on the social and historical study of biotechnology and life science, from 1900 to now.  She is interested in the intersections of biology and technology, with a particular focus on cells, and the in vitro conditions of life in research settings.

Patricia Olynyk is an artist, writer, and educator whose work explores science and technology-related themes and the ways in which social systems and institutional structures shape our understanding of our place in the world. She is the former director of Washington University’s Graduate School of Art and the Florence and Frank Bush Professor in Art. She holds a courtesy appointment in WashU’s School of Medicine and fellowships in the Institute for Public Health and Living Earth Collaborative, both interdisciplinary hubs that facilitate research across a wide range of fields.

SPONSORED BY:

The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 50 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website. @lasertalks

For most up to date information on Los Angeles LASER Talks visit the UCLA Art | Sci Center LASER Page.