The second annual Blue Morph event at the Integratron will be on 22nd of March from 6pm till noon of the next day. The event is organized for the Spring Equinox and the high season in the desert.
The cacti are blooming, the moon is full and the vibrations of metamorphosis will abound! Visitors are invited to bring their media, there will be projectors lined up for a open screening. Also, open mike and spontaneous performances encouraged.
The Integratron is an acoustically perfect tabernacle and energy machine — sited on a powerful geomagnetic vortex located in the Mojave Desert . This is an evening event with optional overnight camping under the stars or guests can stay inside the Integratron.
Blue Morph is a art-science collaboration between media artist Victoria Vesna and nanoscientist James Gimzewski. This site-specific interactive installation that uses nanoscale images and sounds derived from the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
Nanotechnology is changing our perception of life and this is symbolic in the Blue Morpho butterfly with the optics involved: that beautiful blue color is not pigment at all but patterns and structure which is what nano-photonics is centered on studying. Blue Morpho has intrigued scientists for generations because of its subtle optical engineering that manipulated photons. The optics are no doubt fascinating but the real surprise is in the discovery of the way cellular change takes place in a butterfly. Sounds of metamorphosis are not gradual or even that pleasant as we would imagine it. Rather the cellular transformation happens in sudden surges that are broken up with stillness and silence
Currently a gallery version is on exhibit at the Fringe exhibitions in Chinatown until April 12th. http://fringexibitions.com
Victoria Vesna is a media artist, professor and chair at the department of Design | Media Arts at the UCLA School of the Arts. She is also director of the recently established UCLA Art|Sci center and the UC Digital Arts Research Network.
James Gimzewski , PhD, CPhys, FIoN, FInstP, FWIF, FREng Distinguished Professor, UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Department; Director, UCLA CNSI Nano & Pico Characterization Core Facility; Scientific Director, UCLA Art|Sci Center