CHAIRS: Jiayi Young and Tim Hyde

Admission free; Reservations recommended //

6:15 PM Door
6:30 PM Speaker presentations
7:15 PM Conversations followed by Rapid Fire Community Sharing

Refreshments will be provided.

Beth Ferguson
Assistant Professor, Design, UC Davis // “The Electric Drive Solar Kiosk”

Beth Ferguson is Assistant Professor of Design at The University of California Davis. She runs Sol Design Lab, a solar furniture design/build company. She has collaborated with public utilities, festivals, and universities to position solar energy as a civic and public resource. She has engaged thousands of participants in the development of projects such as solar charging stations, up-cycled public furniture, climate change emoji, and Green Maps. She has received commissions from SXSW, Austin Energy, ZER01 San Jose Biennial, TEDxPresidio, Coachella, The ZERO1 American Arts Incubator, The U.S Department of the State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the Bay Area Maker Faire. Ferguson will talk about her project, the Electric Drive Solar Kiosk, an innovative combination of solar technology and public art that provides shaded seating, LED lighting and free solar power for the public in downtown Austin, TX.

Petr Janata

Professor, Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, UC Davis // "Musical Neurobiographies”

Music is an avenue by which to access and relive many of the memories and associated emotions that we have from our past. In sufficient number, a collection of a person's music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) provides a life narrative. The Musical Neurobiography project uses music and the associated memories, together with functional neuroimaging to try to decipher how the semantic structure of those memories is represented and used by individuals’ brains during reliving of those memories.

Michael Arcega

Assistant Professor, Department of Art, San Francisco State University // "WORDSWORDS"

Michael Arcega is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture and installation. His research-based work revolves around language and sociopolitical dynamics. Directly informed by Historic narratives, material significance, and geography, his subject matter deals with circumstances where power relations are unbalanced.  As a naturalized American, his investigation of cultural markers are embedded in objects, food, architecture, visual lexicons, and vernacular languages. Arcega’s work has been exhibited at the Asian Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Orange County Museum of Art, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Cue Arts Foundation, and the Asia Society in NY, among many others. http://arcega.us/

SPONSORS:

HArCS, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences UC Davis 

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 20 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.