Rita Blaik- On Campus Art and Science Exhibition

            Rita Blaik holds the on campus Art and Science Exhibition at the California Nano systems Institute (CNSI). At this gallery, she puts about four sets of photos together. All the photos in one set are of the same object, however, the photos are all very different because she mixes them, or resizes them, or takes them in different perspectives. By doing this, her goal is to take common things and make them abstract to give meaning and make others think more about these objects to put more thought in general. This helps to convey her idea that many things, depending on how you look at it can serve a purpose or give meaning which is one of many definitions of design (lecture 1).

            For example, Blaik has many pictures of a cross or crosses. It all looks different because the arrangements and sizes are very different. In my opinion, the photo on the left looks like a wind mill because the cross rotated. Another person said it looked like the letter “X” but this picture only reminds me of a wind mill. The person I was talking to later asked me what my major was. I told him it was environmental science and he concluded that because I probably pay attention to renewable energy sources, I would think of wind power and thus, wind mills. I thought his idea was very interesting because I did not connect that photo to environmental science, but maybe this abstract photo reminds me of a wind mill because I support them for their renewable energy.

Left: Cross that reminds me of a wind mill or wing; Center: Cross that looks like Jesus' cross and reminds me of Him; Right: This photo seems like it was aimed at the floor of a kitchen because it looks like kitchen floor tiles

            The center photo is the only photo that looks like a cross, and I’m thinking Jesus’ cross, so maybe this was the cross Blaik was taking and changing it to hold other meanings. The photo on the right reminds me of a kitchen at night because it looks like kitchen tiles. When I think of these things, they are nothing like a simple cross, thus, Blaik can be right because I, the viewer put thought into what I see and relate it to things I like or past experiences. In this way design here serves the purpose of remembering things like how I remember how the kitchen floor looks or it reflects my values, such as sustainable energy.