SCARS, Healing, and Ethical Medicinal Research: Y-Exchange Summary, 09/30
On the last Wednesday of every month, we here at Kinetech Arts like to co-host “Y-Exchange” alongside ODC Dance. Y-Exchange is a series of presentations about performing arts, technology and science and how they intersect and inform each other. Every month, selected artists and scientists are invited to talk about their life and work. The event takes place on the last Wednesday of every month. Since 2014, we have featured hundreds of artists and scientists from all over the world!
This month, our two artists were Olivia Eng and Jim Swick.
Olivia Eng
Our first artist, dance artist Olivia Eng began by talking about her project S.C.A.R.S. (www.scarsart.wixsite.com/scars/).
The project was inspired by Olivia's own scars and healing process, as well as the concept of Kintsugi. Kintsugi is an ancient Japanese technique mending pottery where broken pottery is stitched back together and mended with gold.
For the project, meanwhile, Olivia would interview artists for their scar stories, then paint gold around their scars as a symbolic kintsugi gesture, and photograph it. The project evolved over time, going from only physical scars to deeper, less visible and emotional scars.
S.C.A.R.S. is extremely global, diving into how different artists from different cultures learn to heal from their scars.
In Olivia's own words: "S.C.A.R.S is a project that has many branches that are all rooted in the common theme of connecting, helping, encouraging, and inspiring those who are struggling through dance, artistic expression, storytelling, and cross-cultural exchange. It has morphed from a jewelry fundraiser to a photography project and multimedia platform for sharing "scar" stories. It is inspired by the Buddhist concept of "turning poison into medicine" and the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which broken objects are repaired with golden lacquer. This symbolizes and teaches that something that has been broken and put back together is more valuable and beautiful than before because of its history."
Using this methodology of exploring scars and people's stories, Olivia has also stitched together a dance film with dancers as well.
If you were Olivia Eng Website: www.scarsart.wixsite.com/scars Email: scarsart.olivia@gmail.com
Jim Swick
Our second speaker at this Y-Exchange was Jim Swick, medical scientist, entrepreneur, and researcher.
When he was 10, he was given a science book of the month club and an accompanying microscope by his father. Once he figured out how to use the microscope, it opened up the rest of his life journey.
I am a semi-retired person who can't seem to stop working. - Jim Swick
He spoke of respecting the living animals that he worked with and how he ended up founding his own lab with a lab that actually treated animals ethically. He had veterinarians working with the lab. Jim was also a large reason for the reason for the thing "translational medicine." (Translational medicine, also called translational medical science, preclinical research, evidence-based research, or disease-targeted research, area of research that aims to improve human health and longevity by determining the relevance to human disease of novel discoveries in the biological sciences.)
Later on, Jim also helped produce the first coronary stent in the world, which helps run catheters from the groin to the vessels and allow blood to circulate again. And a whole slew of other incredible research and medicinal contributions!
If you have any other thoughts or concerned, you can get in contact and learn more about Jim Swick https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-swick-a604725/ and jswick1120@gmail.com!
If you're curious about more stuff, feel free to join our meetup group here and pop on by between 6-7:15 PM Pacific time on any Wednesday!
Y-Exchange is Co-Presented by Kinetech Arts, ODC Theater and The Djerassi Resident Artists Program.