Q&A: Alumna talks receiving fellowship, hopes for her project

Riding her bike around Los Angeles while wearing a mask, UCLA Design | Media Arts alumna Pinar Yoldas became fascinated with air pollution.

On April 9, Yoldas was named as one of the recipients of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for her proposal, “Distilling the Sky.” With an architectural structure, Yoldas said she hopes to compress polluted air particles into a kind of ink for this generation’s stories.

The Daily Bruin’s Natalie Green spoke with Yoldas on her multidisciplinary background, Los Angeles serving as the inspiration for topical subject matter and Yoldas’ hopes for her project.

Daily Bruin: When did you first become interested in art as an interest or field?

Pinar Yoldas: I had my first solo exhibition when I was 5 years old, so I guess that’s when I started my career as an artist. But then I also had this interest in mathematics and sciences.

I was kind of torn. I decided to study architecture to bring these two fields in my life together, which wasn’t the right decision because architecture is its own thing. I tried different things; I got a few degrees. I did computer science and interfacing, and then I came to UCLA.

DB: As someone with a background in both the arts and sciences, how do you typically approach your projects and mediums?

PY: I work very differently. Usually an idea just pops out of my head somehow based off what I’m thinking about. Having all of these diverse interests helps me think in a broader sense: I can jump from fields, which gives me more flexibility.

DB: What was your experience at UCLA like?

PY: During my two years here, I had a lot of time to experiment and explore. I tried different subjects – I took some courses from the neuroscience department; I was doing some coding and programming.

But on top of my interests in math and the sciences, my life here in Los Angeles was also important. The work I’ve done during the past five years has been shaped by my experiences here in Los Angeles.

DB: How did Los Angeles influence your projects?

PY: I would be riding my bicycle here every day, and I would inhale the smog. I started thinking about air pollution and the other kinds of pollution that I am living in, which inspired my proposal for the Guggenheim fellowship.

DB: What was your proposal project for the fellowship?

PY: My proposal is directly dealing with air pollution. I’ve always been searching for knowledge and new artistic techniques to talk about grim subjects, such as air pollution and climate change.

The project is a large, architectural mechanism that intensifies air pollution, not by making more of it, but instead by distilling it from the sky, entitled “Distilling the Sky.”

The mechanism will condense and compress this air – and its pollutive particles – into one single vessel I design to create the “ink.” I will take this ink and present it to calligraphers and poets and ask them what they would write with this ink of our time.

DB: What do you hope to accomplish with this project?

PY: My goal is to create a platform for contemplation or discussion around these topics without being didactic or wagging my finger. To create a poetic moment so people can express their emotions about it because these subjects tend to be really emotional. … It’s not an easy topic.

DB: What’s the significance of receiving the Guggenheim fellowship?

PY: It’s a 12-month fellowship and basically buys you time to do your research; it essentially gives me 12 months to research like there’s no tomorrow.

I’m hoping that it will give the project the visibility that it needs so that I can raise more funds and convince more people to work with me. I’m hoping that it will be the fuel to finish the project.

Compiled by Natalie Green, A&E senior staff.