Art

Thursday, Friday & Saturday, November 21/22/23, 2019

All Day – check official website for more information; and read the GoodTimes article.

For two hundred years, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has haunted our days and chilled our dreaming nights. Delve into the enduring legacy of the first science-fiction horror story with FRANKENCON! Kicking off the three days is a back-to-back film screening on November 21 in downtown Santa Cruz, followed by a two-day conference of scientists, theorists, and artists, November 22-23, 2019 at UC Santa Cruz.

In the centuries since Mary Shelley first penned the novel, the lore and magic of Frankenstein has molded the modern genre of science fiction. With the explosive proliferation of golems, robots, monsters of artificial intelligence and genetically-engineered dinosaurs, Frankenstein and its cultural progeny have come to dominate cultural discussions about the ethics of science, the problems of modernity, the obligations of parents and children, the painful act of creation itself.

NEWS: following the conference article, “The Problem is Not Monsters” was published in the Journal of Science and Engineering Ethics on the impacts Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein has had on discussions of scientific ethics featuring the panelists.

November 21, 2019 Thursday

7PM & 8:30PM

FILM SCREENINGS: Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

DNA’s Comedy Lab & Experimental Theatre (off-campus event)

155 S. River Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Two back-to-back film screenings at 7PM and 8:30PM followed by a film talk + Q&A led by some of Santa Cruz’s biggest monster experts.

Panelists: Steve Palopoli (Good Times editor), Michael Chemers (UCSC Theater Arts), Renee Fox (UCSC Literature), Tad Leckman (UCSC Computational Media)

November 22, 2019 Friday

3PM – DARC 308

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: The Legacy of Frankenstein

The conference opens with a discussion of the impact of Frankenstein on the last two centuries of literature, theater, film, and games.

Panelists: Marshall Leicester (Literature), micha cárdenas (AGPM), Renée Fox (Literature), Michael Chemers (Theater Arts)

7:30PM – MAINSTAGE THEATER

A performance of The Frankenstein Project, a feminist and biotechnology-fueled play adaptation of Frankenstein, written and directed by Kirsten Brandt. (Please note: attendance at the conference does not include tickets to the play.) BUY TICKETS TO THE PLAY.

AFTER THE PLAY – MAINSTAGE THEATER

Q&A with the cast and crew of The Frankenstein Project and conference participants.

November 23, 2019 Saturday

10AM – SECOND STAGE

Focus on Kiersten White

A conversation with New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White on the development of her novel, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, with audience Q&A.

10:45-11:00AM BREAK

11AM – SECOND STAGE

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: Science & Ethics

What is “mad science” and how do we guard ourselves against it? What has Frankenstein taught scientists and cultural critics about the dangers of science without conscience? Panelists: George Blumenthal (Astronomy & Astrophysics), David Haussler (Genomics Institute), Nandini Bhattacharya (Mathematics) and Jenny Reardon (Science & Justice Research Center).

12:45PM – 2PM BREAK

2PM – SECOND STAGE

CONFERENCE FOCUS: Jennifer Haley

A conversation with playwright and TV writer Jennifer Haley about the ways she combines technology and horror in her writing (The Nether, Hemlock Grove, Mindhunter), with audience Q&A.

3PM – SECOND STAGE

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: Adapting Frankenstein

In this panel, three artistic creators discuss their relationship to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the challenges/delights of reinterpreting its themes for modern audiences. Panelists: Kiersten White, Jennifer Haley, and Kirsten Brandt

5PM – DARC 308

Dessert reception for all guests and attendees!

Hosted By:

UCSC Theater Arts

Co-Sponsored By:

FrankenCon 2019 is presented by The Humanities Institute and The Division of the Arts at UC Santa Cruz, with the support of Porter College, Crown College, the Science & Justice Research Center, the Theater Arts Department, Oakes College, and the Department of Art & Design: Games & Playable Media; and with the generosity of our friends at DNA’s Comedy Lab & Experimental Theatre and Good Times Santa Cruz.

More information can be found at: https://frankencon.sites.ucsc.edu/.

In Winter 2018, Science & Justice Visiting Scholar Kim Hendrickx convened a meeting in the lab of Distinguished Professor of MCD Biology Susan Strome to discuss C. elegans, the elegant see-through worm that has long served as a model in developmental biology research.

Strome and lab members welcomed Hendrickx, Distinguished Professor Emerita Donna Haraway and Science & Justice Director Jenny Reardon along with the S&J community.

Distinguished Professor Emerita Donna Haraway, Science & Justice Director and Professor of Sociology Jenny Reardon with Science & Justice Visiting Scholar Kim Hendrickx admiring a C. elegans, the elegant see-through worm.

Invited art student, D (aka Daniel Lynch) created a physical response to the ‘Addressing Biology’ discussion in the form of a sculpture made from discarded laboratory rods, hardware and band saw blades. In their written statement, the student explained: “The UNC blade both suspends and is contained by the construction much like the way scientific dialogue can become bound by the knowledge it has already produced.” Hendrickx responded: “It is strange and exciting to see something very familiar in a new form.” The student, overseen by Dee Hibbert-Jones in the Art Department, was allowed to use this response piece as their final class project. All involved felt the excitement of such creative and engaged interactions between the arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities.

UPDATE: in 2022, EMBO’s Science & Society section published an article, “Keep biology weird: On disobedient worms and scientific freedom” by Kim Hendrickx that includes the below illustration by d-lynch. (PDF)

j-UNC by D (aka Daniel Lynch)

Discarded Laboratory Rod & Hardware, Discarded Band-Saw Blades

C’elegans is a nematode characterized by its S-shaped movement, and is studied as a model organism. Experimentation has caused a variety of mutations in individual worms. Remarkably some have developed neurons instead of reproductive germs. Others lose their characteristic movement, becoming uncoordinated. These are named “UNC” by researchers.

The worm is treated both as a subject and tool, whereas the blade transforms from tool to subject. The legible, linear detail of the teeth reflect the visible, linear nature of the worm’s internal biology. The blade that is held in examination by the construction is torqued into a curve that is evocative of the worm’s natural movement. In contrast, the heavier blade on the floor appears contorted, referencing the UNC.

The material used to build the construction gains new importance through form while retaining its identity and history as a support structure used in scientific experimentation. The construction’s, upward-stretching and outward-reaching form represents a methodic progression towards something, in abstraction of science. The UNC blade both suspends and is contained by the construction, much like the way scientific dialogue can become bound by the knowledge it has already produced.

November 21/22/23, 2019 | FRANKENCON 2019