NEURO exhibit blends art and science

At the Art Center College of Design’s Williamson Gallery, a cluster of video screens depict women straining to smile continuously for a computer “judge,” while, in another room, digital fish mimic the movements of a school of koi in a tank, providing a view from the proverbial fishbowl. At the same time, and across town, the movements of guests at the Athenaeum trigger computer-generated “explosions” in vibrant hues, images that are projected overhead, just below the vaulted ceiling in the faculty club’s foyer. The piece is called Einstein’s Dilemma.

These intriguingly dissimilar displays are the result of a yearlong collaboration between Caltech engineers and Los Angeles–based artists. The art is assembled in NEURO, a joint exhibition presented by Caltech and the Art Center College of Design, which recently opened at the two campuses and will run through June 29.

The works of art all utilize, and were inspired by, advanced sensory equipment created at Caltech’s Center for Neuromorphic Systems Engineering (CNSE). Much as their predecessors used oils and canvas or hammers and marble slabs, the six contemporary artists are equipped with motion detectors, light-emitting diodes, and vast reserves of data-crunching power. In NEURO, the artists have built on the foundations of 20th-century modernism to create art in which technology is the medium: it is not only the artist’s means of creation but the raw material as well.

The scientists at the National Science Foundation–funded CNSE specialize in fields as esoteric as psychophysics, learning theory and pattern recognition, optoelectronics, and locomotion, to name a few. Pietro Perona, a professor of electrical engineering at Caltech, directs the center, whose objective is to create electronic devices that perceive the world, are able to learn and discern, and can react to stimuli, much as humans and animals do. To do this, engineers must figure out ways to impart in machines various biological processes, like vision, learning, and movement, all senses and abilities that we take for granted.

“The National Science Foundation encourages us to make our science and technology accessible to everyone,” says Perona, who with artist Ken Goldberg created the fish-tank work called Infiltrate. “Through the work of talented artists we can reach people who may feel intimidated by our scientific lingo.”

Perona also participated in the creation of the work featuring the smiling women, titled Cheese. Described as an experiment in the architecture of sincerity, the piece by artist Christian Möller, software engineer Sean Crowe, and Caltech graduate student in electrical engineering Pierre Moreels, seeks to detect sincerity in a smile. While scrutinized by a computer perception system, six actresses hold a smile for as long as they can; when they lose concentration or tire and fail to display enough happiness, an alarm orders them to show more sincerity.

Another piece encourages viewers to see without looking. Untitled, by Jessica Bronson, employs light sticks and LED lights that project descriptive words onto a wall. These bursts are too quick to be seen by the eye directly, but they are detected by peripheral vision, and are registered on the retina in a process called retinal painting.

Body Electric, by Simon Penny, professor of arts and engineering at UC Irvine, and Caltech postdoctoral scholar in mechanical engineering Malcolm MacIver, seeks to replicate the sensory system found in weakly electric fish, one that detects fluctuations in a self-generated electric field. The more conceptual Sciance, by Peter Schröder, professor of computer science and applied and computational mathematics, and Martin Kersels, artist and codirector of the art program at California Institute of the Arts, uses an installation and a website to discuss science’s lofty, yet somewhat removed, profile, as perceived by the larger culture. Where, Schröder asks, are the Gap commercials featuring the stars of science? The website is at www.sciance.org.

The Athenaeum, which houses the installation Einstein’s Dilemma, by Jennifer Steinkamp, is located at 551 S. Hill Avenue in Pasadena and can be reached at (626) 395-8200. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday, from noon to 5 p.m. The Williamson Gallery is located at Art Center College of Design, 1700 Lida Street, in Pasadena, and can be reached at (626) 396-2446. The gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and on Friday from noon to 9 p.m.
•