Daily Bruin – Page 116

Art to Heart: Close encounters with contentious art challenge long-held conceptions, definitions

Art, the universal language, can transcend space and time to reach a diverse audience. We hear this all the time, but do we truly feel the weight of these words? A cloud of elitism envelops the “art world,” alienating the perspectives of some while glorifying those of others. In efforts to challenge ideas that reinforce the intrinsic validity of one individual’s take on art over another’s, columnist Lisa Aubry will explore different creative spaces and outlooks on art and reconcile the fields of arts and sciences through discussions.

“Excuse me, sir, this artwork is not interactive.”

I watched as the Hammer Museum docent delivered the warning through a smile that did not compromise her tonal firmness. The art must, after all, be protected. The surprised but compliant visitor wandered away from the installation of an empty chair at a table with an open newspaper on it. The gallery’s silent lull returned.

Watching this interaction, I realized museums must master and maintain a delicate balance of duties: encouraging mental connection to artworks while also ensuring their physical protection. Part of the task involves showing visitors that any responses to artwork, whether they be agreement or disapproval, are valuable; their emotional reactions or intellectual rebuttals signal the potency of the ideas within the artwork. During my visit to the Hammer Museum, I spoke with Hayley Miller, a visitor experience student lead who is well-acquainted with the strategies for striking this important balance.

Miller, a fourth-year communication and art history student, said it all comes down to prompting conversations that go beyond standard formalities, prodding visitors toward verbal expression. The goal is to immediately establish an atmosphere in which visitors feel comfortable to ask questions or offer their opinions.

“The Hammer – being more accessible than a lot of other museums because it’s free – ends up attracting a much more diverse crowd of people from different backgrounds and art knowledge,” Miller said. “A big part about facilitating the positive experience from our end is to be prepared to engage with any type of person that walks through the door without falling into superficial or cookie-cutter customer service.”

I noticed this genuine spirit during my visit when the front desk worker asked me how I was doing and followed up with, “Are you looking forward to seeing the artwork today?” The check-in is the first exchange the visitor will have in the museum setting and hence, it sets a precedent for their experience within the galleries. On my way up the marble staircase toward the galleries, another worker invited me to attend some of the week’s programs – a Q&A about sex therapy, a concert of classical Armenian music and a session on mindful meditation.

But initial interactions with visitors aren’t always so pleasant, Miller said. Because of their provocative and controversial nature, some contemporary art pieces tend to elicit polarizing reactions. Miller recalled an instance when she asked a visitor not to touch the art, to which he crisply responded that it didn’t matter because it was not artwork.

Contrary to what she believed in her first days as a gallery docent, Miller said no one is expected to revere or connect with every artwork on display – or pretend to do so for the sake of appearing hip and open. Nonetheless, it is important to maintain a basic level of respect for the physical makeup of each piece and prevent destructive reactions. The distinction between reverence and respect for artworks is a tool that can help banish the elitism of art viewing some visitors may sense.

“I can remember quite a few times when I heard the classic, ‘A 5-year-old could do this,’ or the eye-roll and, ‘You can’t be serious – this is art?’” she said. “But I’ve found that the most memorable and meaningful conversations with visitors for me have started with a conflict.”

In these cases, Miller said it is best to maintain an open dialogue through which the museum worker can share their own honest opinions or use the visitor’s passionate response about an artwork to jump-start a constructive conversation. This leads to questions like, “What is art? What does it mean to me, what does it mean to you, and what does it mean to the institution?”

“By providing an outlet for visitors to be transparent in expressing their feelings or thoughts, we are trying to break down some of the elitism about viewing artwork,” she said. “In my own experience, that’s something that I’ve found rarely in other museum settings.”

When visitors confront pieces they deem controversial or flagrantly unattractive, Miller said she noticed some of them grow uncomfortable or upset. Yet the sense of discomfort challenges the visitor to think critically about the artwork by either questioning or reaffirming their own values and beliefs in relation to it. The exercise of expanding one’s mentality necessarily calls for some growing pains. But you know what they say – no pain, no gain.

“I think apathy is probably one of the greatest threats to museums and art appreciation in general,” Miller said. “Having any interest, positive or negative, in the art is ultimately a good thing, and it brings the art alive.”

Whether admiring a particular shade of purple, clicking with a sculpture’s message or recoiling from a painting and questioning its purpose, time spent in museums is never lost. Open-mindedness and honest discussion remain key methods for unlocking a range of new insights about the world through artwork.

Student’s art examines nexus of 3D graphics, surveillance technology and identity

Hirad Sab used ten-dollar hardware to holographically render faces on a gallery wall.

With artistic endeavors informed by his background in coding and programming, Sab said he favors digital applications like Blender, an open-source 3D modeling software, over the typical paint palette. His solo exhibition, which opened Tuesday and ends Thursday, features his most recent work, “Disfigure Refigure,” a single installation hosted in the Broad Art Center. In order to create his piece, the graduate design media arts student said he employed the technical skills learned from his computer science degree to explore the technological possibilities of art. He said the interactive nature of his installation forces viewers to contemplate themes – such as surveillance – enfolded within our technological sphere.

“My goal is to push the observer to contemplate their contribution to their data footprint in their day-to-day activities and think about what the data says about you beyond your behaviors, practices and routines,” Sab said. “I want the viewer to see this data as ontologically separate from themselves in the sense that even when you perish, some sort of representation of you still continues and persists.”

Constructed from 64 laser-cut acrylic sheets, “Disfigure Refigure” takes the shape of a cube and hangs from the ceiling by four metal cords. The sheets, overlaid atop each other, form the layered image of a human head. Sab said he attempted to make the head shape as ambiguous as possible when cutting the sheets, allowing visitors’ faces to fit more easily into the framework of the piece. The head is divided into different slices, flattened in order to represent a certain amount of height, similar to the construction of a topographical map.

To complete the three-dimensionality, Sab said he hand-sprayed details onto the sheets for a holographic effect, as the frosted areas restrict the amount of light that can pass through each layer. The face revealed through this trick of lighting incorporates a human aspect into his work through an emphasis on the face’s physiology, said Dalena Tran, a fellow graduate design media arts student.

“(Sab) tries to always enter using very hyperrealistic aesthetics, so I think he wants to go past this uncanny valley to create both a landscape and a context that oftentimes is beyond even what is realistic,” Tran said.

Beyond its aesthetics, Sab’s sculpture works in conjunction with consumer-accessible hardware – specifically, a camera contraption placed directly above the hanging cube. The camera is connected wirelessly to a computer to operate with his code. Sab said he emphasizes that the hardware is easily purchased on sites like Amazon – his computer chip cost $10 and the camera only $5. The sculpture shows the technological and artistic capabilities of hardware that is easily accessible to anyone, he said.

“If you look at art as a type of investigation rather than expression – while I do acknowledge that it can be simultaneously both – it makes perfect sense to make art that is concerned with technology, given how intertwined it is in our daily lives,” Sab said.

To interact with viewers, the system utilizes a face detection algorithm, immersing the viewer into the artwork more fully. The camera uses what is called a certainty value, which detects the likelihood of certain shapes being faces as opposed to miscellaneous objects. It locks onto a particular individual before autonomously deciding to move on to the next one.

Because the camera is triggered by facial detection, Sab said he is interested in the social interactions provoked by the surveillance aspect of the piece. Individuals can sacrifice their privacy by purposely attracting the camera’s gaze and diverting attention from others. Interaction with the software aims for greater reflection on part of the viewer, particularly on the body’s use as a control element, said Lauren McCarthy, an assistant professor of design media arts.

“It’s a voyeuristic experience where you’re directly manipulating the projection, whether intentionally or unintentionally,” McCarthy said. “The viewer is positioned within the media, causing them to reflect on what their role in (the installation) was.”

By detecting the individuals’ presence and projecting their faces onto the sculpture, Sab said his piece is ultimately meant to embody an experience that integrates the viewer as a facet of the art itself. This sense of interactive immersion takes the piece beyond the surface-level visual aesthetic, he said.

“The audience should question some fundamental aspect of reality,” Sab said. “In this piece, my conversation primarily revolves around us as these digital entities being constantly fragmented and molded back again, able to continue and to not necessarily leave a trace, but to be a trace of us.”

Q&A: Graduate student explores bounce dance’s link to traditional Louisianian parades

Mardi Gras isn’t just a one-day event – it’s a whole season, said Saroya Corbett.

Corbett, a graduate student in world arts and cultures/dance, will conduct a talk at the Fowler Museum on Friday discussing her personal experience with the traditional second line parades of Louisiana.

Corbett said she plans on incorporating the museum’s exhibit “New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson” and her research on bounce dance.

The style developed from bounce – a genre of hip-hop that originated in New Orleans, Corbett said. Corbett, also a professional dancer and a dance educator, spoke with Daily Bruin’s Alexsandra Coltun Schneider about her findings on the impact and importance of bounce dance.

Daily Bruin: What do you plan on discussing in your gallery talk?

Saroya Corbett: I am new to (the) culture of the second line, as my research isn’t necessarily focused in second line. But part of learning the cultural landscape of southern Louisiana, and particularly New Orleans, I’ve taken the time to participate and learn about the practice. I am working on making it interactive … and give (the audience) a small sense of the feeling of what a second line is like, because it is something you can never really create. I’ll share some of the history that I’ve learned and some of the experiences that I’ve had during my three trips down to the region.

DB: What are some of the feelings you are trying to recreate for the audience during your talk?

SC: Second line is definitely a celebratory tradition, and so the music is important, and the dance is important. Those are the two main elements of the parade. I’m going to play some music and encourage people to move throughout the exhibit with me. Encouraging people to do what they do and just enjoy the music and the sense of community that is built around second lines … is a major part of it. What is really wonderful about second lines is that it’s kind of a takeover of space, being that New Orleans, in particular, is going through gentrification. Particularly, it has been accelerated after (Hurricane) Katrina, and outsiders have come in, bought our property (and) completely skyrocketed the cost of living there.

(Second line) is an African-derived tradition, or black tradition, where they take over the street, and for that time period on the parade route, it becomes about this beautiful tradition.

DB: What fieldwork did you conduct in New Orleans for this year’s Mardi Gras?

SC: I’m looking at black social dance that focuses on the hips, the butt and the pelvis – which is why I located my research to southern Louisiana. I’m also looking at the dance team culture in the region, which is not just New Orleans; I’m also looking at Baton Rouge. One of the major focuses on the dance team side is the (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) experience of dance teams. Southern Louisiana, but in particular New Orleans, is full of so many black cultural traditions that it is hard to just focus on bounce and focus on dance teams and not notice second line.

DB: What role does bounce dance play in New Orleans?

SC: I think that historically, that it was a trend that I feel like the height was in like late ’90s to early 2000s, when you saw a major push for bounce happening. I think in the more current times it has died down a lot. I feel like bounce has become ambiguous in a way where it’s not just this highlighted trend anymore; it has just kind of fizzled out. … I’m still doing my research, so I can’t say that exactly. But that is what I am sensing as an outsider, that the trend of it has died down within the city. I mean of course there is always the queer community that embraces bounce too, but in general that is what I’ve been sensing.

DB: What have you found from your research on majorette performances in Baton Rouge?

SC: I started off calling it majorette performance, but I am changing my language, and I now call them dance teams. That is just a part of my research, is that learning the language I should be using. Those dance teams are ubiquitous to a lot of HBCUs – not just the ones in Louisiana. Dance teams are a major thing in the entire region of (southern Louisiana) that live outside the university. I went to a parade, and it was school after dance studio after school of these dance teams, and it is a major part of what the culture is. I was expecting it to be a practice isolated within the HBCU school, and that’s not what was happening. And so that’s something my research is going more into, is looking at the HBCU experience but also looking at the community experience. The parade is nothing but a three-hour walk of people loving you, and you just dance and perform for your local community.

The Quad: Unyielding Instagrammers tarnish wildflowers as super bloom cultivates botanical zeal

Social media influencers and botany enthusiasts share one thing in common: a love for fields of brightly colored flora.

This spring, deserts across California are experiencing a phenomenon referred to as a “super bloom.” Appealing to the eye, these wildflower super blooms are the aesthetically pleasing result of climatic conditions, mainly heavy rainfall. The winter rains allow seeds that have laid dormant in the desert soil to finally germinate and take bloom – and because Southern California received ample rainfall this year, the region is super-blooming.

Every ten years or so, climate scientists expect a sprawl of beautiful wildflowers when enough rainwater permeates the arid ground. However, the last Californian bloom was only two years ago in 2017, making this year’s bloom even more unique and unexpected.

During its peak, the super bloom draws thousands of visitors every weekend to popular sites, such as the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, Joshua Tree National Park and Lake Elsinore in Riverside County. Searching the hashtag #superbloom on Instagram displays thousands of posts from the poppy reserve, a common wildflower destination for Los Angeles residents.

Evan Meyer, assistant director of the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, has spent several weekends following super bloom sites, from Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Colorado Desert to Three Rivers in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

He said he sees the phenomenon as an opportunity to educate the general public about plant conservation efforts and saving nature for future generations to enjoy.

“The fact that there is so much public interest is really great,” Meyer said. “As a person who spends his life thinking about plants, I’m really happy to see the public taking such excitement from it.”

Nonetheless, the accessibility of super-blooming sights coupled with the sheer number of visitors can disturb both human and plant life in the area. Visitors are advised to stay off flower beds in an attempt to preserve the bloom for all. The mentality that people can do anything for an Instagram post can actually do a lot of unintentional damage: Some heavy-traffic super bloom areas, such as Lake Elsinore, briefly shut down public access due to irreversible damage to vegetation and safety concerns. Since Riverside county officials cannot keep Walker Canyon closed, they have provided travelers with a list of alternative super bloom sites in an attempt to alleviate traffic flow.

At the Antelope Valley poppy reserve, third-year biochemistry student Kari Merrill said she noticed park officials watching for overzealous selfie-takers who might be stepping on the flowers.

“Anytime someone would try to get in the flowers, these people would yell at them. So the flowers there were in really good shape,” Merrill said.

The unmanned flowers along the highway make for popular photo spots as well. Chinmaya Vempati, a first-year pre-cognitive science student, pulled over on the way to Antelope Valley to take some photographs. Vempati said he noticed a few damaged flowers, but people were being cautious not to step on them.

Both students said their first impression was awe at the vibrancy radiating from these fields of color.

“This is the beauty of nature that we are allowed to see,” Vempati said. “As long as we don’t mess it up.”

While the flowering season might be coming to an end for the general public, Meyer expects the bloom to continue as ice caps on high elevation mountains melt into fertile soil.

For those in the Westwood area looking to gain some flower power, the Santa Monica Mountains provide a glimpse into super bloom territory. Driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, visitors can see the ocean on one side and yellow-speckled foothills on the other.

Though beautiful, these blooming yellow mustard flowers are not native to Santa Monica. Super blooms are accompanied by nutrient-rich conditions that allow invasive species, like wild black mustard, to spread their seeds quickly. These invasive blooms typically occur closer to human habitation as the soil has already been disturbed by construction or reinvigorated by fire.

So basically, humans are one of the worst invasive species of all – keep that in mind the next time you flex on the ‘gram.

Jordyn Wieber to leave UCLA gymnastics coaching staff to head Arkansas’ program

An Olympic gold medalist is on her way out of Westwood.

UCLA gymnastics volunteer assistant coach Jordyn Wieber has accepted the head coaching position at Arkansas, announced Hunter Yuracheck, Arkansas vice chancellor and director of athletics, on Wednesday.

Wieber enrolled at UCLA in 2013 and served as a team manager during her first three years as a Bruin. She has spent the last three seasons as a volunteer assistant coach.

The former Olympian coached the Bruins on floor exercise – an event on which the team has finished the last two seasons ranked No. 1 in the nation. In 2018, Wieber and UCLA’s associate coaches – Chris Waller and Randy Lane – were named the West Region Assistant Coaches of the Year after leading UCLA to Pac-12 and NCAA titles.

Wieber was a member of the “Fierce Five” at the 2012 Olympics and took home a team gold medal. She was also a two-time U.S. all-around champion in 2011 and 2012, as well as the 2011 world all-around champion.

Wieber will succeed former Arkansas coach Mark Cook, who announced his retirement April 9 after 17 years with the program. Arkansas finished with a 1-7 record this season, with its only dual-meet victory coming against Arizona.

UCLA basketball center Moses Brown to declare for NBA Draft

Moses Brown has made it official.

The freshman center’s name was on the official league-released list of underclassmen entering the 2019 NBA Draft. Although Brown has not made a personal statement confirming this, a team spokesman told the Los Angeles Times that Brown would enter the draft pool with no intention of returning to school.

Brown’s departure leaves UCLA men’s basketball without its top three scorers from last season – sophomore guards Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands, as well as Brown – despite not having a single graduating player. The three combined to average 41.3 points, 16.8 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game on the season.

In 31 starts, Brown averaged 9.7 points and 8.3 rebounds while playing 23.3 minutes a night and shooting 60.7% from the field. Brown ranked last on the team with a 35.2% mark from the free throw line, helping the Bruins to the No. 342 spot on the national free throw percentage leaderboards.

Hands and Wilkes reportedly played themselves out of first round grades from NBA scouts over the past two seasons, but Brown may still be in the mix. Anonymous scouts told the LA Times that the 7-foot-2-inch center has the physical and defensive tools to slide up into the top 30 if he can “wow” a team in a workout.

The scout also said Brown’s shot was “a joke.”

Brown was suspended from the team during the Pac-12 tournament for breaking university policy, but was later reinstated without further detail. He had also been benched prior to UCLA’s first game against Utah, but made his lone appearance on the court when the Bruins allowed a desperation buzzer-beater to lose at home.

UCLA is now left without a true center on its 2019-2020 roster, with rising redshirt senior Alex Olesinski and rising redshirt sophomore Jalen Hill now tied for the tallest player on the team at 6 feet, 10 inches.

Rising redshirt sophomore forward Cody Riley – who entered the draft pool last year – and rising junior guard Chris Smith will both be returning to Westwood.

The decision also leaves coach Mick Cronin and the Bruins with one more scholarship available for next season.

Brown has until May 29 to pull out of the draft and retain his amateur status, but he is not expected to do so.

Men’s volleyball reflects after once-promising season lost to injuries

After a season plagued by injuries, the Bruins did not have the chance to make a postseason run.

UCLA men’s volleyball’s record season was cut short after it did not win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference tournament or claim an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

UCLA coach John Speraw named injuries as the main cause of the Bruins’ short-lived season.

“With ankles, multiple backs, sickness and being forced to do everything we were forced to do,” Speraw said. “Sometimes it goes that way in sports, doesn’t usually go that way in volleyball, but unfortunately it did for us this year.”

Throughout the 2018-2019 season, the Bruins suffered injuries to four positions in the starting lineup, including a lower-leg injury to junior outside hitter Austin Matautia, who averaged 2.41 kills per set before being ruled out for the rest of the season March 9.

Senior outside hitter Dylan Missry – who posted 148 kills in his senior season – missed 11 matches due to a back injury and redshirt junior opposite Brandon Rattray – who led the Bruins with an average of 3.33 kills per set – sat out three matches with a toe injury.

Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Sam Kobrine filled in for Missry and Matautia after averaging 0.19 kills per set last season. Kobrine recorded 130 kills and 13 aces before suffering an illness which caused him to miss five of the last six games of the season. Freshman libero Cole Pender also missed three of the Bruins’ last six games due to injury.

Junior middle blocker Daenan Gyimah and senior setter Micah Ma’a were the only members of the UCLA squad to play all 28 matches of the season.

Gyimah finished the season as the leading scorer for the Bruins with 311 kills, 25 service aces and .78 blocks per set. He was also the fifth-most efficient offensive player in the nation, finishing the season with a .435 hitting percentage.

Ma’a, who switched to the outside hitter position in the latter part of the season, recorded 147 kills and 851 assists. The senior ranked third in the nation with .64 aces per set and posted 67 service aces in his last season – which placed him as the all-time aces leader in program history.

Despite his short senior season, Ma’a said he was pleased with his teammates’ response to the adversities they faced throughout the season.

“We had to switch a lot of lineups,” Ma’a said. “As people have seen, everyone’s played everywhere and I’m proud of the guys for just filling in where they needed to be. Wherever coach (Speraw) put them they gave it their all and that’s all you can do.”

UCLA won eight of its first 10 games to begin the season and defeated all six of its conference opponents in the first half of conference play. The Bruins finished the season losing four of their remaining six conference matches and secured a No. 2 seed in the MPSF tournament.

UCLA finished the season among the top 10 in the nation offensively, ranking fifth with 1.73 aces per set, seventh with 12.18 assists per set, and sixth with .323 and 12.85 in hitting percentage and kills per set, respectively.

The Bruins were nearly perfect at home, ending the season with a 10-1 record. Their only loss was to the 2018 national champions, Long Beach State 49ers, on Jan. 19. However, UCLA faced obstacles on the road, ending the season with a 7-7 record away from home, with four losses obtained in the second half of conference play.

After an MPSF quarterfinal win against Concordia Irvine and a four-set semifinal loss to USC, UCLA ended the 2019 season with a 19-9 overall record.

Missry described his last season at UCLA as a chaotic one after the Bruins’ MPSF tournament semifinal loss to the Trojans on April 18.

“A mess, a hot mess,” Missry said. “I mean with injuries and all these things, we hung tough and gave it our best.”

However, with only two seniors leaving the Bruins’ starting lineup and its top three offensive players returning next season, UCLA men’s volleyball has the potential to grow and return to the NCAA tournament next season.