NANOTECH + ART/ SPACE + ART

Nanotechnology + Art

This weeks topics were very different from our previous topics. At first I felt unsure about how it was relatable to art. Gimzewski's lectures all seemed more complex in the science form but as I kept watching I began to make the connections just as I did in the previous weeks.

What surprised me the most about this weeks topic was the word nanotechnology. I became ashamed that I actually had  no understanding of what the definition of this word even was. Nanotechnology, nanoparticles, nanosizing, nanomedicine, nanoshells, nanosomes, etc. As mentioned in lecture part 1, nano is greek for Dwart and is a billionth of a meter. Lecture 1 helped me become more familiar with nanotechnology but lectures 2 and 3 helped me build a connection with art and also helped me realize how much nanoparticles really take place in our lives. Something I had never heard of suddenly became something that had always been involved in my life. I became amazed. Sports wear, stain glass, lotus leaf, tennis balls, plastic beer bottles, diatoms and even cosmetic products! Never would I have guessed that L'oreal is investing a lot of money   into nanotechnology.

Space + Art 

The interesting fact about Space is that everything we have learned about in this course from two cultures to robotics all has something to do with space. This was mentioned in our professors intro video. Vesna said space is, "The place where all comes together." 

So is space the true inspiration to everything? It could be. Or maybe this is why the world was so interested in flying into space as we saw in lecture part 4. Space to me seems like the actual inspiration, the reason why so many brave astronauts risked their lives to learn more about space. 

I really enjoyed lecture part 6. As a little girl I spent much of my time watching The Jetsons meet the Flintstones. Now I truly see how space was an inspiration before to the world. Many shows and movies were created because of it and in my perspective, even art was inspired. 




Links/Sources
http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/special_feature_150/184_special_feature.html

http://www.funfactsgo.com/tech-fun-facts/nanotechnology/

http://www.ski.org/CWTyler_lab/CWTyler/Art%20Investigations/C20th_Space/C20thSpace.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXdj-zwLyBY



Works Cited

Gimzewski, Jim. "NanoTech + Art PT1." NanoTech and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los Angeles. 27 July 2013. Lecture.

Gimzewski, Jim. "NanoTech + Art PT2." NanoTech and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los Angeles. 27 July 2013. Lecture.

Gimzewski, Jim. "NanoTech + Art PT3." NanoTech and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los Angeles. 27 July 2013. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. “Space + Art Intro.” Space and Art. UCLA.UCLA, Los

Angeles. 27 July 2013. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. "Space + Art PT4." Space and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los Angeles. 27 July 2013. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. "Space + Art PT6." Space and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los Angeles. 27 July 2013. Lecture.

Biotechnology + Art/ Neuroscience +Art

BIOTECHNOLOGY + ART

For the first part of this weeks lecture we learned about biotechnology plus art. As professor Vesna said, "Artist have entered the laboratories." Its amazing how I would have never made all these connections with art if I would have never watched these lecture videos. For these past three weeks I have became more open about these sort of subjects. Scientist like Eduardo C. and Osamu Shimomura mentioned in lecture part one are not only scientist but artist as well. I found their Albino Bunny "Alba" and the glowing jelly fish very fascinating. At first I was excited about the subject and my imagination started wondering about the beautiful art they can create but then I wasn't sure whether I agree about the abusiveness of animals or not. The animal rights claim its abusive and honestly it might just be.

I became more against the actions of these scientist/artist once while I was watching the lecture part 3. Martha D. modified the wing patterns of live butterflies in attempt to create art work in nature but instead caused these butterflies to have holes in their wings. Its beautiful when experiments come out the way scientist/artist desire them to but when all goes wrong its extremely heartbreaking to me. If Martha's experimentation with this nature would have kept working properly I'm sure beautiful wing designs would have been created. However, this did not occur. I strongly feel butterflies already have their own natural beautiful designs and there is no need to experiment on them. 

NEUROSCIENCE + ART
The second subject for this week was neuroscience and art.  Santiago Ramon y Cajal from lecture 1 was a neuroscientist who originally wanted to become an artist. I am fond of him because he is one of the greatest examples of an artist and scientist together. After all, the overall purpose of our topics is to make the connection between art and science.

Lecture Part 3 was the one that grabbed my attention the most. This was where I really began to think about what restrictions should be made when experiments are being done. It was slightly hard for me to believe that cocaine and LSD were both widely available.   I strongly believe there should have been strict limitations when Albert Hofmann founded LSD. The fact that so many people easily were able to get a hold of this drug was awfully wrong. I also had no idea that Bicycle Day existed as a celebration of the discovery of LSD. 

Works Cited

"A Meeting of Mind: Neuroscience, Art & the Creative Process | IdeaFeed | Big Think." Blogs,

             Articles and Videos from the World's Top Thinkers and Leaders | Big Think. N.p., n.d.

            Web. 22 July 2013. <http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/a-meeting-of-mind-neuroscience-art-

            the-creative-process>.

"Art Inspired by Neuroscience - RobotSpaceBrain." RobotSpaceBrain - A Discovery of Science & Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 July 2013. <http://www.robotspacebrain.com/brain/art-inspired-by-neuroscience-2/>.

Vesna, Victoria. "BioTech + Art PT1." BioTech and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los

              Angeles. 19 July 2013. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. "BioTech + Art PT3." BioTech and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los

             Angeles. 19 July 2013. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience + Art PT1." Neuroscience and Art. UCLA.

             UCLA, Los Angeles. 19 July 2013. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience + Art PT3." Neuroscience and Art. UCLA.

   

             UCLA, Los Angeles. 19 July 2013. Lecture.

MedTech+Art

I was extremely fascinated by this week's topic. I was able to put together a somewhat reasonable connection with technology and art but once I tried making the connection with medicine, I couldn't. After watching this week's lectures/videos and doing the readings my perspective of this entire subject has changed tremendously. I have became amazed about the topic. The human anatomy has always been of interest to me and now even more that I have made the realization that art has so much to do with it. The human body itself is art, it's a beautiful creation. It is amazing what the human body can be put through, the changes that can be done to it, the beauty it creates.

The first lecture mentioned human dissection. Before the lecture, i thought human dissection was something that hadn't been around for long. In contrary, I learned that the start of human dissection goes all the way back to ancient egyptians. This lecture also helped in making another connection between medtech and art. The Human Genome Project and the HMP were said to be very inspiring/influential to artist. Again, I was proven wrong. I would have never believed that genes in the human DNA is something artist were actually fascinated about. 

Lecture Part 3 was another one of my favorite videos this week. Learning about the material has made me realized that I have been missing out on so much information. This lecture's main subject was plastic surgery. When I think of plastic surgery I picture those celebrities constantly making changes to their body in order to 'look more beautiful'. It's something that seems as if its recent, brand new. However, plastic surgery started back during WWI where plastic surgery was necessary. Technology and science advanced with war. I related plasticles with art. I figure those performing the surgery feel as if them themselves are artist as they give mold or form to something.

The video which shocked me the most this week was Orlan-Carnal Art. Watching the things she puts herself through in order to create art truly made me understand that there actually are people who see this connection with medicine/technology and art. Many believe that she is just gambling with her life but as the video mentioned, she is actually gambling with the loss of her identity. I am very inspired of Orlan. I have never heard of her before but after this video I have expanded my thinking. Are we really who we are born as?

Sources/links

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/danny-quirk-anatomical-self-dissections

http://gizmodo.com/5925721/pioneering-wwi-plastic-surgery-was-way-ahead-of-its-time

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/performance-artist-orlan-interview-beauty-surgery_n_2526077.html

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/medart/

Works Cited

"ORLAN Talks Plastic Surgery, Beauty Standards And Giving Her Fat To Madonna (PHOTOS, INTERVIEW, NSFW)." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/performance-artist-orlan-interview-beauty-surgery_n_2526077.html>.

"Orlan - Carnal Art (2001) Documentary - YouTube." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_66MGu0Oo>.

"Plastic Surgery Art - YouTube." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2BVEQrABF8>.

"Surreal Watercolor Paintings of Anatomical Self-Dissections - My Modern Metropolis." My Modern Metropolis. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2013. <http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/danny-quirk-anatomical-self-dissections>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine Pt1." MedTech and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los Angeles. 12 July 2013.

Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine Pt3." MedTech and Art. UCLA. UCLA, Los Angeles. 12 July 2013.

Lecture.

MATH+ART/ ROBOTICS+ART

As mentioned in this weeks intro for math and art, "Computers through mathematics brings art and science together." I found the topic of this week very fascinating due to the fact that math and art and interconnected with each other. Before reading this weeks material I considered art and math entirely different topics. However, I now have been proven wrong. Computers unite the two as almost one. One can say they absolutely hate math but they are unaware that mathematics is what makes possible the reality in the computers that they love. 

The same thing goes for math involved with paintings. Proportion/perspective is what helped paintings become so realistic. Artist and mathematicians learning from one another. 

This weeks topic also included robotics and art. As mentioned in the intro video, we cannot possibly look at robotics without also taking a look at industrialization. It is because of mechanization of labor that robots began to be used. I actually agree with Walter Benjamin about mechanical reproduction putting an end to uniqueness. If we take a look at Benjamin's epilogue he mentions, "Society has not been mature enough to incorporate technology as its organ." As i kept reading his epilogue I came to this astonishing sentence, 

"Instead of draining rivers, society directs a human stream into a bed of trenches, instead of dropping seeds from airplanes, it drops incendiary bombs over cities; and through gas warfare the aura is abolished in a new way."

Instantly I felt as if I agreed with him but then I realized that this is not true. Society has used some technology for the wrong purposes but we have indeed been mature enough to use it to better the world. Planes have been used for bombing cities but they have also been used to put fires out. 

This weeks topic was extremely interesting to me. "A Romance of Many Dimensions", was a fascinating reading. While reading the example we were given about looking at a penny from the corner of the table I began to truly understand the connections art has with so many other subjects like art and robotics. 

Sources and Links:

http://www.computersforcreativity.com/about/programming-art-math

http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/math-art-arch.shtml#Objectives

http://www.artbots.org/2011/

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/series/1003002/mighty-planes/3361529/martin-mars

Works Cited

Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland a romance of many dimensions. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, 199. Print.

Benjamin, Walter, Michael William Jennings, Brigid Doherty, Thomas Y. Levin, and E. F. N. Jephcott. The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility, and other writings on media. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. Print.

"Mighty Planes: Martin Mars | Smithsonian Channel." Smithsonian Channel: Telling America's Stories. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 July 2013. <http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/series/1003002/mighty-planes/3361529/martin-mars>.

"Planes swoop in to put out Rolling Hills Estates fire - YouTube." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 July 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj8njha25Co>.

"Programming-Art-Math - computersforcreativity." computersforcreativity. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 July 2013. <http://www.computersforcreativity.com/about/programming-art-math>.

"See How Computers Add Numbers In One Lesson - YouTube." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 July 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBDoT8o4q00>.