Sunday, July 7, 2013

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>.










5 comments:

  1. Hi Laura!

    Nice inquiry on this week's subject. I really enjoyed that triple venn diagram you included. I couldn't help but notice how there was nothing directly in the middle in which shared all three aspects of art, math, and computer programming. Maybe we haven't created something that incorporates all three fields together equally. Or maybe we have and just don't realize it. What do you think? Technology has definitely been used for immoral reasons. Hopefully, this is less so in the future and there is a shift to utilize technology for good such as the example you mentioned. Looking forward to your next blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Suk,

    The only thing I see that has the connection with all three is the fact that math is used to create computer programming and people use computers to create art at times. I mean almost anything can be considered art so therefore I feel art is created through computers as well. I actually became interested in your question so I searched through the internet and came across "computer art". Without math, computer art would not be existent.

    Thank you for your comment :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Laura
    I really enjoyed what you had to say about Walter Benjamin and his aaumption that we are not "mature" enough to use the technology that we have. Like you said I also disagree with this statement. Technology should be placed in a gray area where it does help and also harms but there are situations where the technology such as weapons may be used in a harmful way but is also helping others such as during war; for one side it is helping and for the other side it isn't and vice versa.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rebeca,

    I completely agree with you about technology being placed in a gray area instead of black and white. I agree that it is right in between. Some use it for harm but many use it for helpful manners therefore I see that it is not one or the other but both good and bad. Therefore, its neutral. Society as a whole cannot be considered "not mature".

    ReplyDelete
  5. Exactly! I feel like being called "immature" can be a form of stereotype because society as a whole does not inculde our individuality; therefore if someone uses technology for a bad purpose it does not mean everyone agrees with it or would do the samething.

    ReplyDelete