Week 4: Medicine + Technology + Art

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/524739794060501895/

The prosthesis fine jewelry that is talked about in Luxereau’s reading is quite terrifying, but I wanted to discuss it because it relates so much to the culture in Los Angeles. I could definitely see people in Los Angeles wearing these embedded jewelry pieces because it is very similar to all the plastic surgery that is done in LA for people to make themselves look like their version of more beautiful. The models’ physical appearances shown in his photo gallery make the girls look completely different with their prostheses than they would look without them. So many people, especially women, feel as though they need to enhance their beauty through surgery, but natural beauty is often times the prettiest. The technology of plastic surgery, such as prosthesis jewelry, has become a work of art, making real people seem as though they are dolls.

Warwick’s technology has further expanded the use of science and medicine to create something innovative that could one day change the future. His work on Project Cyborg allowed him to insert a transmitter into his arm, which was used to control devices that were in his proximity. He basically became a human cyborg through the use of his own nervous system. The idea was that his technology could help the disabled, or anyone that had damage done to their central nervous system. Technology like that of Warwick’s is both artistic and technological because it embodies both creativity and scientific intelligence. 

http://nutri.com/blog/2012/11/promising-research-
on-treating-nerve-damage-with-vitamin-c/

 MRI technology has always fascinated me because of the combination of the simplicity that is used for the convenience of the patient and the complexity of the technology used by the doctors. Casini explains how she views MRI technology as “a transparent window onto the self.” Essentially, it is an art piece of ourselves, or a more intense, yet more authentic version of a self portrait. This technology has saved people’s lives, allowing doctors to see health complications that they were never able to see before. Similarly, the last time I went to the eye doctor, I couldn’t believe that all they have to do now is take a picture of your eye using a machine to see the prescription you need. Soon, everything will be done with technology, which also relates to last week’s lesson of how mechanization is taking over, leaving fewer tasks that humans have to do themselves.

http://www.momentummagazineonline.com/beautiful-brain/

Sources:

"Arts." Christophe Luxereau : Arts / Electrum Corpus / Photos1. The Vanessa Quang Gallery, 2002. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.

Casini, Silvia. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts. N.p.: Johns Hopkins UP and the Society for Literature and Science, 2012. Print.

Ingber, Donald E. "The Architecture of Life." Scientific American (1998): 48-57. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.

Warwick, Kevin. "Kevin Warwick." Kevin Warwick. N.p., Jan. 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.

Week 3: Robotics + Art

http://monstermg.com/tag/social-media/

Mechanization is very prevalent in today’s society with technology expanding, and more work is being done online. Davis’s writing expands on how art is changing in terms of how it affects our body, mind and spirit. He draws on how it took years for a Marxist art theorist, Frederick Jameson, to accept video as a form of art. He still disliked that video was unable to promote communication of any kind. In today’s society, communication is seen vividly through the internet. People are using forms of social media to communicate with one another, and these new technological means of communication are seen as a form of art. I see these technological innovations affecting today’s youth especially, where children are no longer forced to express themselves verbally, as they are now allowed to hide behind the walls of technological social media to express themselves, including their works of art.

http://matreeves.deviantart.com/art/Hand-
drawing-itself-161226876

While technological innovation is being used to expand communication, it is also being used to recreate works of art. Benjamin elaborates on the repercussions of reproducing works of art. Any time you are replicating art, you are missing the element of its presence in time and space, and thus you are losing the element of passion and emotion that went into creating the original making. It becomes unauthentic, and it lessons the artist’s original work by taking away the difficulty that lies behind the artwork. It is easy to copy what someone else has already done, but coming up with the idea in the first place is the real challenge.

http://pixar.wikia.com/wiki/WALL%E2%80%A2E

Technology is truly becoming the future with everything being done on a computer, or even through a robot. Driverless cars are becoming a staple of our future, leaving humans with one less tasks to do on their own. In Disney Pixar’s movie, Wall-E, Wall-E is the last robot left on earth. He spends his days tidying up the earth with his own hands. The movie shows that people ruined earth from their laziness, becoming too fat to even move on their own. This exemplifies how people often abuse the technology we are so blessed to have, and if we are not careful, the technology will consume us. It is important to remember to still do things on our own, without technology. Some of the best works of art are still created with two human hands.  

Sources:

"Arduino - Introduction." Arduino. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

"Micromagic Systems Robotics Lab." Micromagic Systems Robotics Lab. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”(1936): n. pag. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Davis, Douglas. "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (An Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995)." Leonardo 28.5 (1995): 381-86. J Stor. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Week 2: Math + Art

 

 http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/?sort=none&q=paper+architecture

This week’s topic  relates to my life growing up and how I always loved both math and art. There are many activities throughout my life that I didn’t realize at the time actually combined the two, and this weeks readings touched on some of those creations. Working in entertainment has allowed me to experience how music is produced. As Polansky explains, music can often be created using a synthesizer, which is a device that truly combines math with art. Computer synthesizers use formulas that accept a sequence of values as input, and the result is music, a form of art.

http://nathanselikoff.com/works/giant-marble-chute

When I was little, I enjoyed experimenting with origami. Lang touches on how applications of origami can be used for engineering through the geometry that is used to create the complex folds. I was also fascinated with the creation of buildings, and I thought one day I would become an architect. Krishnammorthy’s article explains how societies have been using architecture to create their buildings for many years. The Seven Wonders of the World were created using architecture, another example of how when math is used to create a monument, an amazing form of art is the result.

Selikoff’s Giant Marble Chute is an example of an art piece that combines math, science and art. This piece is at an artistic exhibition on display for people to experience how it truly combines all three subjects. All the dimensions of the cardboard pieces have to be perfect in order for the plastic balls to travel through the course without falling off the tubes. In order to do this, both math and physics is used. 

http://www.1uptravel.com/sevenwonders/pyramid

This week’s lesson further validated that often times when you combine two or more ways of doing something, the result can turn out extraordinary. This goes back to last week’s lesson of combining art with science, which can create the most innovative products. If you combine math, art and science, you can truly create something amazing, like societies were doing when they created the wonders of the world. People may not realize they are using other subjects in their practices, such as engineers who build beautiful works of art through the bridges they construct, or music producers using mathematical technology to create sound, but the results are truly incredible.  

Sources:

Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. N.p.: n.p., 1884. Web.

Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion. 3rd ed. Vol. 17. N.p.: MIT, 1984. Web.

Krishnamoorthy, Mukkai. "African Fractals." African Fractals. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Lang, Robert J. "Crease Patterns." Crease Patterns. N.p., 2004. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Polansky, Larry, Douglas Repetto, Dan Rockmore, and Mary Roberts. "Music and Computers." Music and Computers. N.p., 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.