Art and Science-Together at Last - Patrick Zentz at TEDxBillings

Patrick Zentz sees the advent of data visualization as the beginning of a fusion between the disciplines of art and science. Relying on experience as a teacher, rancher, and artist he will compare technologies like smart phone map apps with the songlines used by ancestral aboriginal Australians. Then after briefly tracing the evolution of a handful of other inventions from the past century, Patrick will demonstrate their use in a new mobile robotic system he is prototyping. This system is designed to survey the landscape through sensors and transmit its discoveries to the Internet. Using techniques from art and science, terrain data is transformed aurally and graphically extending the ancient narrative of the landscape. A new "songline" is presented, accessible now in the palm of your hand.

The transistor was invented in 1947, the same year Patrick Zentz was born. It's fortuitous, because his current work relies heavily on the device. Following over three decades of creating public sculpture and installations, he has undertaken the study of computer programming and digital media because of the precision it affords. He acquired a deep interest in the natural world growing up in the hilly grassland south of the Yellowstone River near Billings. Patrick left Montana for college in 1965 to study science in California. After graduating with a biology degree, he enrolled at the University of Montana as a graduate student in fine art. During that time, he and his wife taught in a rural two-room school with seventeen students. That experience instilled a lifelong interest in children and how they learn. He claims that his own art is a personal continuing education program and is convinced that education is our most important technology.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)