Djerassi is a residency program in Woodside California that hosts artists in groups of twelve for one month sessions. The program takes place on a several hundred acre property that rests peacefully in the Santa Cruz mountains. Nearby, brainy technophiles populate Palo Alto, the home of Standford University and startuplandia. This month’s session, playfully titled Scientific Delirium Madness, is special. A selection committee has chosen a group of art/science integrators to share this experience. They are hoping we find interesting ways to collaborate and that our creativity will flourish at this remote retreat. I plan to keep a strict daily schedule: early rising, 4 hours of science, 4 hours of making things. Each day I look for ways to create something meaningful. Yesterday—day two— was packed full of activities and orientations.
Thursday, July 2: I passed my PhD thesis defense about a week ago. When I did, my wife Christi and my friend Valeria Lombo came to my lab and presented me with a mask as a gift. This mask—made in the image of an Australian pied butcherbird head—was a giant hit: I had spent six long years up to my ears in song recordings of this species. This gift idea was so perfect that when my wife met with our friend Anthony Villanacci to tell him of it, she found out he had the same idea! Anthony—being an industrial designer—got to work right away on the construction and completed it masterfully in one late-night session. Christi and Valeria gave it life with paint. It is magical. All my lab mates and my mentor loved it. Everyone enjoyed putting it on and goofing around. With permission from all who made it, I decided to leave it in the lab as a mascot.
Just days after receiving this mask I lost it! This was seriously devastating. The devastation stood out as very significant against the backdrop of my general indifference toward material things. Losing the mask reminded me of what it represents. It represents the memory of celebrating with my friends and collaborators. It represents friendship, collaboration…and fun.
One of my goals here at Djerassi is to create a mask like the one my friends made me. I don’t know why I have such a strong desire to replicate something that has already been made but I think I will stick with this goal. Before attending this residency I sent messages to Djerassi alumni asking advice on how to spend my time here. It was Ramekon O’Arwisters who said “I suggest that you plan out or have specific and clear ideas of your goals for the residence mapped out before you arrive.” Others echoed his suggestion.
As silly as it seems—even to me—one goal will be to reconstruct this mask. It is strange to make it in this context. It is only obliquely related to my work as a birdsong researcher and musician—the credentials that earned me a spot here. I wonder if the other residents will find my cardboard project laughable and childish. I hope that it will become something special—a tribute to the magical powers of the original. For now I am dedicated to this possibility.
I began work on the mask yesterday and I continue today. I am quickly realizing that Anthony is very talented to have built the original mask in one night , but I think I have a plan…
There will be more updates to come but in the meantime visit the Scientific Delerium Madness blog, hosted by Leonardo, the journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology to find out more about our experiences with art and science collaboration at the Djerassi residency.
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