Our next VALS speaker is Victoria Vesna, an Artist and Professor at the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci Center at the School of the Arts and California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). With her installations she investigates how communication technologies affect collective behavior and perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation (PhD, University of Wales, 2000).

Between coronavirus, wildfires, floods and the polarized politics, 2020 has been an incredibly overwhelming year. But it has also brought global transformation, and, breathtaking celestial activity, including a once-in-a-lifetime comet, a close approach with Mars and countless meteor showers. At the beginning of the year and again this month, the Chinese landed on the other side of the moon. Recently NASA announced that astronomers detected phosphine gas 30 miles up in Venus’ clouds, leading researchers to suggest it is a sign of alien life. The discovery is not a direct observation of life on another planet, but the sheer quantity of the rare molecules cannot be explained through any known process. Most exciting was the discovery here on earth - the oldest star dust found -- 7 billion years!

Alien Star Dust: Signal to Noise premiered March 10th in Vienna at the meteorite gallery of the Natural History museum. The work evolved into a collective networked meditation in times of crisis and quarantine. It is meant to bring audiences together for a shared experience -- out of this world -- through animations and a binaural sonic tapestry. Currently Victoria is developing an event that will be based in the Integratron in the Mojave desert in California. In this talk she will give a background of leading the collaborative process and show behind the scenes how art science projects evolve.

This lecture will be live-streamed via Zoom. To join on Zoom, simply send an email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to receive the link.