Event Blog 2: Love Machines

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The Love Machines MFA exhibition was intriguing, inspiring, and slightly eerie. 


The exhibition Touch(ing) Screen Workshop by Jules Johnson caught my attention as I first entered the room. The screen displayed videos of technology that intertwined with the sense of touch. The following image is of one of the interactions that intrigued me the most. 


Ellen K Levy’s essay  questions the classification of life forms (Levy 1). She describes how artists are incorporating these changing classifications in their artwork, exploring the intersection of human and organism life, and artificial life (Levy 4). Johnson’s exhibit calls the viewer to consider the integration of human and machine. When we use our smartphones, we are only using our eyes and ears, and meshing human’s sense of touch with technology adds another dimension that draws us closer to technology: effectively diminishing the separation of the two.



Another exhibit that I spent considerable time at, was Chong Xu & Vinny Roca’s display of the CHP raid on the Palestine Solidarity Encampment. What caught my attention was the dim lighting and headlamp helmet, faced across from the fragmented rubber bullets. Looking at this display, I could imagine the fear the students must have felt at that moment. I was shocked to read that the instructions for the bullets read “do not fire directly at the crowd.” Seeing this exhibit made me think of Carl Jung’s “The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man.” Jung believed that the spiritual problem of society is that the obsession with a culture focused on technological and scientific advancement- is the loss of personal introspection and a loss of personal fulfillment (Jung 8). To me, Xu and Roca’s display symbolized this idea of a loss of collectivity and compassion for one another. Our society is becoming ever-divided and the consequences manifest in an “us vs them” manner. 




Lastly, the final exhibit I enjoyed was Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou’s video display (I was so intrigued by the video I forgot to take a picture of the artist card and title). This video opened up with scenes of sinking statues and poetic prose. Large vast landscape shots filled the screens, before an uptempo electronic song moved the characters to dance and pose extravagantly. While I was watching, I was trying to figure out if the figures were digitally and artificially created, or if they were based on humans who were then digitally transformed into the figures on the screen. I was especially captivated by the man in the lingerie. Hius burlesque-style dance moves were mesmerizing. These human-like movements, illustrated through artificial means,  is further evidence of Levy’s ideas of the intersection of human and artificial life forms. Tsagkaropoulou’s exhibition really solidified the connection between the two cultures, referenced in week 1’s material (Vesna, Lecture 1). Mathematical formulas and principles, used to create digital animations, seem to further diminish the lines between what is real and what is artificial.


Overall, the MFA exhibit was an interesting exploration of the intersection of art and science. The artists showcased creative pieces that provoked awe and curiosity, as well as bringing to life concepts through the use of technology.

Works Cited

Jung, Carl. The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man. 1933.

Levy, Ellen K. “Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications.” pp. 1-22.

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture Part 1. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNI7dF3DIAM.



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