Event 2

LACMA

For my second event I got the chance to visit LACMA. There were many interesting pieces of artwork to be seen here at this museum however one of my favorites was located in the Resnick Pavilion. Chris Burden’s “ Ode to Santos Dumont” caught my eye because it was a piece of artwork in motion. According to the artworks info, this piece was inspired by a Brazilian Pioneer aviator named Alberto Santos Dumont. After spending most of his time on experiments in auronautical study in Paris, France he later on built and flew the first device that proved that flight control was possible. In Brazil Dumont is a national hero and is credited as a “father of flight”.

After doing more research on the mini aircraft, I learned that this piece took almost a decade of research and work for it to be able to finally fly. It was inspired by Dumonts first flight around the Eiffel tower in 1901.

I can relate this type of artwork to week 3 of this course when we talked about robotics and art. When I think of robots what comes to my mind is an object/machine that can work on its own however it is programmed or controlled by a human. Similiarly, Dumonts creation was a machine that he was able to take full control of.

Burden was able to do two things in this exhibition. First, by being inspired by Alberto Santos Dumont, through his artwork he was able to bring attention to the Brazilian “father of flight. I would have never known about him and his impact in aviation if it werent for Burdens artwork. Second, by recreating Dumonts 1901 flight around the Eiffel Tower, we as viewers are able to see why this was such a great discovery at the time. Not only was this work of art interesting because of the history behind it but it was able to move 

http://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/computerweekly/photogalleries/237178/1411_20_the-honda-asimo-robot.jpg 

the exhibit rather than just stay in one place. If you havent been to LACMA I would definitely recommend visiting it because there are so many different types of artwork in one place. I would also recommend seeing Chris Burden’s “ Ode to Santos Dumont” because it’s a rare art sculpture that moves.