Speaker: Alan Macy
Monday April 21, at 1PM PST in Elings Hall room 2611 and via Zoom
Abstract
The presentation focuses on the nature of affect, its relationship to emotion and sensed physical phenomena occurring in the body. Also considered is the relationship between organ systems in the context of autonomic nervous system behavior. Aspects of chronobiology are introduced. Conjecture, regarding measures of systemic wellness and resilience, will be ventured. If circumstances allow there will be a demonstration of what happens when one eats a slice of lemon.
Bio
Alan Macy is the R&D Director, co-founder of BIOPAC Systems and an applied science artist. His arts/research efforts focus on sensory processing, physiological expressions and translations.
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
Speaker: Jonathan Schooler
Monday, April 14, 2025. 1pm PDT, Elings Hall room 2611 and via Zoom
Abstract
Professor Schooler is the UCSB Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and director of the META Lab and Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential. This talk will provide a whirlwind overview of assorted projects and theories that I have been working on that encourage openness. The first portion will consider two interventions we have been investigating for fostering openness at the state and trait levels. First, a project demonstrating the impact of critically acclaimed short animated film clips on states of curiosity, creativity, intellectual humility and conceptual expansiveness; and second, a mindful curiosity app that we have been developing to foster changes in trait curiosity. The other half of the talk will explore several theories of the mind that encourage opening our perspective to the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the physical world. This includes a neurocognitively grounded theory of consciousness that proposes that the mind can be conceived of as entailing a hierarchically organized set of nested observer windows (NOWs) with each potentially entailing its own stream of consciousness, and a philosophically grounded theory of time, which proposes that our current account of time may better accommodate conscious experience, if it is expanded to include three dimensions: objective time, subjective time and alternative time. Potential ways of visually depicting these theories will also be considered.
Bio
Jonathan Schooler, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara, Director of UCSB’s Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential, and Acting Director of the Sage Center for the Study of the Mind. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1987 and then joined the psychology faculty of the University of Pittsburgh. He moved to the University of British Columbia in 2004 as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Social Cognitive Science and joined the faculty at UCSB in 2007. His research intersects philosophy and psychology, including the relationship between mindfulness and mind-wandering, theories of consciousness, the nature of creativity, and the impact of art on the mind. Jonathan is a fellow of several psychology societies and the recipient of numerous grants from the US and Canadian governments and private foundations. His research has been featured on television shows including BBC Horizon and Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, as well as in print media including the New York Times, the New Yorker, and Nature Magazine. With over 270 publications and more than 45,000 citations he is a five time recipient of the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science™ Highly Cited Researcher Award and is ranked by Academicinfluence.com among the 100 most influential cognitive psychologists.
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
Speaker: Fabio Rambelli
Monday, April 7th, 2025. 1pm PST Elings Hall, room 2611 and via Zoom
Abstract
Professor Rambelli is the Distinguished Professor of Japanese Religions and Cultural History and International Shinto Foundation Chair in Shinto Studies at UCSB. You'll hear about various instances of the metahuman aspects of Gagaku music and Bugaku dances, as well as how this metahuman function impacted the understanding and use of musical instruments and their agency.
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
Speaker: MAT Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin
Monday, March 31st, 2025. 1pm Elings Hall 1605 and via Zoom
Abstract
What would it be like if we could generate, control and transform complex information like quantum mechanics or molecular dynamics the way that a composer or artist creates and transforms a work of art, if we could use our senses to perceive very complex n-dimensional information intuitively and as second nature?
I would like to discuss composing and performing complex systems like quantum mechanics by using the model of music composition and performance. A complex system is an arrangement of a great number of various elements with intricate relationships and interconnections. They are difficult to model and predict. Components of a complex system may appear to act spontaneously such that predicting the outcome of the complete system at any given point of time may be difficult if not impossible. In this respect composing music is analogous to building a complex system. The system changes and unfolds over time at many different levels of temporal and spatial dimensions and the outcome of the total system may not be predictable at various stages of composing the work. As a composer creating these complex systems the creative process involves what I describe as non-linear leaps of intuition. Could these leaps be quantum phase transitions? Let’s explore the possibilities.
Bio
Composer JoAnn Kuchera-Morin is Director and Chief Scientist of the AlloSphere Research Facility and Professor of Media Arts and Technology and Music at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on creative computational systems, multi-modal media systems content and facilities design. Her years of experience in digital media research led to the creation of a multi-million dollar sponsored research program for the University of California: the Digital Media Innovation Program.
She was Chief Scientist of the Program from 1998 to 2003. The culmination of Professor Kuchera-Morin’s creativity and research is the AlloSphere, a 30-foot diameter, 3-story high metal sphere inside an echo-free cube, designed for immersive, interactive scientific and artistic investigation of multi-dimensional data sets. Scientifically, the AlloSphere is an instrument for gaining insight and developing bodily intuition about environments into which the body cannot venture—abstract higher dimensional information spaces, the worlds of the very small or very large, and the realms of the very fast or very slow. Artistically, it is an instrument for the creation and performance of avant-garde new works and the development of new modes and genres of expression and forms of immersion-based entertainment. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin earned a Ph.D. in composition from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester in 1984.
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
Speakers: Michael Fox and Brad Bell
Monday, March 10th, 2025 at 1pm PDT, room 1605 Elings Hall and via Zoom.
Abstract
Only recently has computation fostered profound new ways of designing, fabricating, constructing, and thinking about architecture. While the profession sits at the end of the beginning of this historically transformative shift, it is now possible to look back upon the rapidly maturing landscape of projects, influencers, and tools that have finally begun to catch up with the visionary thinking of the past. A newly-released book, The Evolution of Computation in Architecture, is the first comprehensive overview of the pioneering works, events, and people that contributed to the paradigm shift defined by computation in architecture. Join authors Brad Bell and Michael Fox as they discuss their book – this conversation is sure to inspire students of computation in architecture, as well as researchers and practicing architects to think about how the tools we use and the ways we design our buildings and environments with them can truly impact our lives.
Michael Fox received his Master of Science in Architecture degree with honors from MIT and his undergraduate professional degree in Architecture from the University of Oregon. He has been elected twice as the President of ACADIA (Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture). Fox founded a research group at MIT to investigate interactive and behavioral architecture, which he directed for 3 years. He has taught at Art Center College of Design, USC, MIT, HKPU, and SCIARC and is a Full Professor at Cal Poly Pomona. Fox’s work has been featured in numerous international periodicals and books and has been exhibited worldwide. He is the author of two previous books on architectural computation. He is a practicing registered architect and directs the office of FoxLin Architects. foxlin.com.
Brad Bell received his Master of Science in Architecture degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning & Preservation and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Texas A&M. Brad is the former Director of the School of Architecture (2016-2023) and an Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington. He currently directs the Digital Architecture Research Consortium (DARC) at UT Arlington and was a founding member of TEX-FAB (2008-2017). In 2020 Brad was honored by the Texas Society of Architects with the Award for Outstanding Educational Contribution in Honor of Edward J. Romieniec FAIA. Brad is a member of the Board of Directors of The Dallas Architecture Forum and Chairs The Forum’s Lecture Programming Committee. He has previously taught at Tulane University and the University of Colorado. His research focuses on innovative material applications and computational fabrication within the architectural design process. darc.uta.edu.
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
Speaker: Sterling Crispin
Monday, March 3rd, 2025 at 1pm PST via Zoom.
Abstract
The emergence of blockchains as an artistic medium has provided new possibilities for artists working with code. Ethereum and other smart contract blockchains allow artists to publish Turing-complete, self-executing code that permanently stores and processes data on the network. This represents the "World Computer" thesis of crypto—an open, decentralized computational layer—contrasted with the speculative "Casino" that has dominated headlines.
Beyond its reputation as a marketplace driven by hype and speculation, blockchain technology enables autonomous, trustless, and censorship-resistant software, creating a fertile ground for generative and code-based art to thrive onchain. These unique properties offer artists both new creative opportunities and an alternative to traditional gatekeepers, allowing for permanent, self-sustaining artworks that exist independently of any centralized authority.
This talk will explore blockchain as both an economic instrument and a creative medium. We’ll discuss how artists can engage with crypto meaningfully beyond speculation and imagine what the future of onchain generative art might look like as the world accelerates.
Bio
Sterling Crispin (born 1985) is a conceptual artist and software engineer who creates smart contracts, generative art, machine intelligence, and techno-sculpture. Crispin’s artwork oscillates between the computational beauty of nature, and our conflicting cultural narratives about the apocalypse.
Crispin’s artwork has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including ZKM Karlsruhe, The Mexican National Center for the Arts, The Seoul Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, The Deutsches Hygiene Museum Dresden, and the Venice Biennale. As well as published in The New York Times, Frieze, Wired, MIT Press, BOMB, Rhizome, ARTNews and Art in America.
His corporate career as a software engineer and designer has been focused in the AR and VR industry since 2014 at companies like Apple, and Snap as well as several startups.
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
Speakers: Olifa Ching-Ying Hsieh, Timothy Wood and Weihao Qiu
Monday, February 24th, 2025 at 1pm PST in Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.
Abstract
The subconscious is where your intrinsic qualities thrive; where seeds of inspiration reside; and where many impulses, emotions, and thoughts are hidden and never expressed. Sometimes they only appear in dreams.
α-Forest is a participatory immersive theater with healing qualities, created by Olifa Ching-Ying Hsieh, Timothy Wood, and Weihao Qiu. The work integrates electronic sound, interactive design, AI imaging technology, Electroencephalography (EEG), and motion tracking to create an immersive meditative journey through the mountain forests of Taiwan and the subconscious mind resulting in interactive real-time co-created content.
At a residency base offered by the Experimental Forest of National Taiwan University, the artists collected unique forest sounds from a mountainous area in central Taiwan, Nantou. They also visited the region’s indigenous tribe and learned about their culture. During a residency in a mountainous region in Xinyi Township of Nantou County, Taiwan, the team members were immersed in the natural energy emanating from Taiwan's mountains and trees, and were also deeply inspired by the indigenous Bunun culture. The Bunun people believe in living in harmony with nature; their everyday life and farming activities are conducted according to the lunar cycle. Through “dream reading” (Taisah in the Bunun language), they explore various signs that connect their dreams to reality. To them, “dreams” are like a bridge that connects one’s inner consciousness to the outside world. The Bunun’s unique “eight-part harmony” is performed by several men huddling in a circle, singing deep sounds that slowly build up, creating a unique sound field with rich vibrations and resonance. This group chanting is a meditative prayer ritual that uses vocal sounds to send spiritual thoughts to the heavens.
This project’s concept and healing experiential design are inspired by this unique cultural experience. By using the immersive technology of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts U-108 SPACE, it constructs a multi-sensory healing experience with synchronized resonance with the audio-optical frequencies, modulating one’s mind and body with natural energy, and embarking on a journey of self-exploration into inner consciousness.
Olifa Ching-Ying Hsieh
Program Coordinator / Interactive Electroacoustic Composer
Timothy Wood
Visual Director / Audiovisual and Embodied Interaction Design
Weihao Qiu
Technical Director / Interactive AI Visual Design
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
The goal of this workshop is to provide participants with a toolset whereby they can design a world and populate it with transmodal agents with the potential of modelling complex systems.
Dr. Hosale is an Associate Professor in Computational Arts, and the Director of nD::StudioLab at York University, Toronto, Canada.
Speaker: Xavier Amatriain
Monday, February 10th, 2025 at 1pm PST via Zoom
Abstract
Generative AI is rapidly transforming how we create, from generating photorealistic images and composing music to fundamentally altering the product development lifecycle. But as AI takes on more creative tasks, a critical question emerges: Are we witnessing the dawn of a new era of human-AI collaboration, or are we ceding too much control to the machines? This presentation explores the evolving landscape of product thinking in the age of GenAI, drawing lessons from the complex history of AI's interaction with creative fields. We'll delve into recent breakthroughs in generative models, examine their impact on both artistic practices and product development, and discuss how we can design AI-powered tools that augment, rather than diminish, human creativity. Join me as we navigate the GenAI frontier, grapple with the ethical and artistic implications of this powerful technology, and consider the crucial role of human ingenuity in shaping the future of creation.
Bio
Xavier (Xavi) Amatriain returns to UCSB, where he previously taught in the Media Arts and Technology department and led research and development for the Allosphere. His time at UCSB, following his PhD, sparked a deep interest in the potential of technology to empower creative expression. This foundational experience, combined with his research background in AI, has shaped his career trajectory, leading him to explore the broader implications of artificial intelligence across diverse fields. While his early work explored the intersection of AI and media creation, his focus has evolved to encompass the wider landscape of AI and its impact on product development and user experience. His career has included pivotal roles at Netflix, where he helped develop the recommendation algorithms, and LinkedIn, where he led product innovation. Currently, as VP of Product for AI and Compute Enablement (ACE) at Google, he leads teams pushing the boundaries of generative AI, exploring its potential to transform how users interact with technology and how products are conceived and built. He's particularly interested in the evolving relationship between humans and AI, a topic he'll be exploring in today's talk, focusing on the challenges and opportunities presented by generative AI in the context of product development and the future of user interaction.
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
Speaker: Kenneth S. Kosik, M.A. M.D
Monday, February 3rd at 1PM PST 2025
Abstract
Brain organoids are not miniaturized brains. They are prepared by taking skin or blood cells from a person, converting them to stem cells, and differentiating those stem cells to neurons by encasing them in a gel-like material that induces growth in three dimensions. Their size is limited to only a few millimeters because they lack a vasculature system to provide nutrients. They make a remarkable but ultimately incomplete diversity of cell types that bear some resemblance to the developmental anatomy of the brain. Most intriguingly, their electrical signals have a high degree of temporal structure at multiple time scales. We have thought about these observations as an intrinsic framework for encoding information in a setting devoid of conventional information in the form of sensory inputs.
Inevitably, the question of brain organoid consciousness has arisen. Given current organoid technology it does not appear that they fit any of the operational definitions of consciousness. Advances in the field will introduce internal processing systems into organoids through statistical learning, closed loop algorithms and engram formation as well as interactions with the external world, and even embodiment through fusion with other organ systems. At that point we will be faced with questions of biosynthetic consciousness and establishing some well-conceived opinions in advance of that day is a useful exercise.
Bio
Kenneth S. Kosik, M.A. M.D. served as professor at the Harvard Medical School from 1996-2004 when he became the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California Santa Barbara. He has conducted seminal research in Alzheimer's disease genetics and cell biology. He co-authored Outsmarting Alzheimer’s Disease. His work in Colombia on familial Alzheimer’s disease has appeared in the New York Times, BBC, CNN, PBS and CBS 60 Minutes.
Dr. Kenneth Kosik UCSB Commencement Speech 2016
For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.
For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.
The Glass Box Gallery is open Monday - Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Join us at our opening reception on Thursday, January 16th from 5:30pm to 8:30pm, featuring live performances by our own CREATE Ensemble, Yifeng Yvonne Yuan, and Lucian Parisi.
