Event 1: BioDesign

I attended the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose and visited the BioDesign exhibit, which used artistic elements to make biological concepts both more interesting and easier to understand.With the LivingColors Lab, I got to participate in a small experiment with DNA and color. I was provided with gloves, small syringes, and two little tubes in which I mixed together in a small plastic container. Throughout the entire process, there were colorful diagrams and creative ways of showing visitors what each step was. 

Once I was done putting the DNA into the container, I put it in an incubator, and got to take the container of someone who had done the exact same steps before me. I then put the platter in the microscope and got to see the colors which developed from the mixture. The next step was to take a photo with the microscope machine, and the computer then detected all of the "new" found colors in that mixture. The colors were then added to the database which was shown on the wall in front of the lab.

As you can see here from the wall shown, new information would be given within the middle circle, such as new colors found and which colors were the most rare. The entire experience was very aesthetically pleasing and, due to my studies in this class, I realized how much artwork actually went into this exhibit which could have easily been considered merely science, and not about art at all. While the exhibit was not necessarily "meant" to teach people about art, it was entirely reliant on artistic elements. Similar to the way in which biology textbooks have artistic drawings, there was art throughout the entire BioDesign exhibit in order to make the experience fun and understandable. 

Here is information about the exhibit:
http://www.thetech.org/biodesignstudio