I feel as though the title of this blog describes my day perfectly. The main event of today was our group’s visit of Kunsthalle Praha, which is essentially an organization that houses an ever-changing, dynamic exhibition space for artists that would like to temporarily display their art. As our host showed to us the type of art that passed through their exhibition, I was inspired to continue my pursuits in combining art with engineering. Like I have said it most of my blogs, engineering, for me, is a mesh between form (appearance) and functionality. The final product could not survive with just one of the two characteristics from my perspective. The utter creativity that I witnessed during the host’s presentation and tour motivated me that my thoughts along these lines were valid and valuable enough to make some sort of career out of. I am always fearful that industry is the only pathway for engineers like myself. I began engineering with the desire to create and if I don’t find myself doing just that, I do not think I will be too satisfied. If it takes me forming my own company to attack such pursuits, that is what I will do, but I refuse to be another number.
The most interesting art piece shown to us was the taxi cab (a New York Taxi cab in fact) that was brought into the exhibition, and there were literal trees and bushes growing from within. From what our host described, this symbolized the dominance or harmony of nature with the products of man. It all depends on how the art piece evolves. The purpose of the piece is to let the plants continue to grow and observe how the taxi cab is affected. In a couple of years, I look forward to seeing how the piece turns out! Although, I am not sure how they will transport it if it is full of dirt 🙂
Other than the art exhibit, we were given the opportunity to talk with Pitt alumni that worked in the Prague area. This was a great experience because not only did I get to connect with experienced professionals, but I also got to get closer to my fellow classmates through side-conversation. Today, I should conclude, was a wonderful day.
Thank you Jana, Chris, and Dr. Sacre once again 🙂
Swanson School of Engineering 