Week Four: Medical Technology and Art

'Bling DNA' 

This course has made me reflect on the basis of what is truly art. Art is not just paintings of still life and portraits, art is what invokes the human spirit, our inner most questions and desires, a representation of our unbounded curiosity.  As seen throughout history, humans have had an intrinsic desire to understand themselves, both mentally and physically. With past and present advances in technology, we come closer and closer to truly understanding the makeup of our being.

Kevin Warwick's progression in his pieces shows what art can do for medical technology. Using himself as a subject to create art pieces, as well as impact other's lives, Warwick has impacted the medical community with '“the most significant recent advance in biomedical engineering”' (Warwick). This showed me that art provides a medium of organic creativity, which allows the unimaginable to become reality. Because of artists' creativity, many scientific fields have benefitted and have been influenced by works of art. 

Microtubule fibers with molecular
motors dynein and kinesin

Art can also serves as a different presentation of knowledge. Drew Barry's work Body Code," was designed for museum and art gallery exhibition, with the goal of reaching public audiences who do not usually seek out or are exposed to the details of scientific knowledge" (Barry). This artwork allows for completely different audiences to become educated and gain knowledge in a different location, and in a way that may be more effective or interesting for them. Seeing biology displayed in a way completely different from that of a textbook gave me a different depth in many different biological concepts. Art shows a different view of a certain knowledge, and to truly understand a topic, all perspectives must be considered. 

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations Between Science and Arts.” (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.

Kevin Warwick, www.kevinwarwick.com/.

“Kevin Warwick, World's First ‘Cyborg," on Artificial Intelligence.” Becoming SuperHuman, 30 Nov. 2017, becomingasuperhuman.com/kevin-warwick-worlds-first-cyborg-on-artificial-intelligence/.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine Parts 1-3.” Lecture. Web. 26 Oct. 2012

Walter, and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. “Body Code.” Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, 12 Sept. 2017, www.wehi.edu.au/wehi-tv/body-code.

Week 3: Robotics and Art

The Cowper & Applegath printing press.

This week's readings allowed me to reflect on many everyday luxuries people of today often take for granted. The industrialization of mechanics has allowed for works of art to be accessible in ways that were previously thought to be impossible. With that came the increased accessibility to culture. As mentioned in the lecture, the advancement of the printing press allowed for the transition of spoken word to books of worship. Soon, nearly all people could have access to materials that could help them advance both spiritually, and intellectually. Today, a great number of works of art can be accessed digitally. Plays have transitioned mostly to films, and many paintings and pieces of literature can be viewed digitally, creating a society of which nearly everyone can view artwork at their leisure, all thanks to previous industrialization.

Andy Warhol MARILYN MONROE

Andy Warhol: Campbell’s Soup Cans

While reading Walter Benjamin's piece, I instantly thought of Andy Warhol's works. Benjamin's idea that "Mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art", was greatly challenged by Warhol and his works. Warhol, who believed "'art should [not] be only for the select few, but for the mass of American people'", mass produced many copies of the same piece using a silk screen, which both dehumanized and replicated his pieces with ease (Mathilde). In the 1960's when most of these pieces were produced, many critics were outraged by this production of art, and many even failed to consider it as such. However, as society has come to accept this artwork to the highest regards. In a world where everything in one's home was produced by an assembly line and original items are few and far between, people have come to accept this industrialization of art, and even value it as has increased the ability for everyone to enjoy the luxuries that art brings.

Works Cited

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction.” The MIT Press, 1995. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1576221?uid=3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101286048881>.

“From Gutenberg’s Movable Type to the Digital Book, and Other Studies in the History of Media.” Relating the Rapidly Changing Present to the Distant Past as Far as Book History Is Concerned, www.historyofinformation.com/narrative/index.php.

Mathlide. “An Analysis of Andy Warhol and His Work.” World of Art, 5 May 2014, worldartworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/interlude-in-pop-art-an-analysis-of-andy-warhol-and-his-work/.

Vesna,Victoria. “Lecutre Part 2.” Math + Art. 12 Oct. 2012. Lecture.

Collective Bread Diaries: A Taste of Protest.

I initially chose this event to attend because I was extremely curious about the title of the exhibit. I was intrigued how bread related to both protest, as well as technology. However, the artist Haytham Nawar did an astounding job of guiding the viewers through his story by using technology as his medium.

Nawar utilizes a paper cutter with a pen that replaces the blade. The cutter is programmed to receive photos of bread that are sent in from all over the world. The machine interprets these images and displays them using the knife-like strokes. The result: sheets of paper depicting breads from all over the world, displaying the variance among cultures.

This piece exemplifies the necessity of binding the two cultures together. Through technology, an art piece can unify multiple countries to one room. In many countries, bread is seen as a sign of protest, and is held up in riots as a symbol of the right to live. The machine is culturally ambiguous, allowing it to be the perfect medium to merge several cultures into one piece. To me personally, it was representative of how the combining of both the arts and science provides a passageway for the blending and communication between cultures.

I would recommend this event because it was amazing to watch the machine print the images right in the exhibit. It brings a sense of awareness to the viewers because the piece utilizes the commonly unnoticed value of bread, and allows them to realizes the experiences of other cultures.

Week 2: Art and Mathematics

'Interior of Antwerp Cathedral', Pieter Neefs the Elder, ca. 1640. 

Prior to this course, I had always thought the basics of mathematics was just human nature. I had no idea that its influences, such as perspective, was something that was consciously studied, and was a revelation when first applied at that time. Learning about vanishing points opened my eyes to the complicity of the relationship of mathematics and art. I was previously oblivious to the meticulous calculations artists constructed in their works. I had always thought realistic artwork came from artistic talent and practice, and had yet to realize the process of creating naturalistic art. Frantz’s lesson on vanishing points presented how vanishing points influence art, and the impact on the viewer. I was drawn to the example of Peter Neeffs the Elder’s Interior of Antwerp Cathedral, which when viewed from about 24 inches away, gives the sensation of being in the cathedral to the viewer. The use of math in this work gives an actual life-like quality to the work and increases the impact on the viewer.

Multiple viewpoints and impossible stairs: Relativity, 1953

Escher took the idea of vanishing points to 

create scenes that would not happen in nature. Instead of applying mathematics to create realistic art, he decided to utilize mathematical scheme of vanishing points to give viewers a different reality of the world. Through his art and his application of math, Escher creates “impossible images” to test the limits of human perception.

Full Fathom Five, 1947 - Jackson Pollock

From previous art classes, I was familiar with Pollock’s work, and had the very common view on his works as being random and haphazard. Ouellette’s article in Discover explained the works in terms of fractals, and exhibits how these works remain to be favorites, and exceed beyond simple splatters. The application of fractals and mathematics produces art that reflects both nature and harmony.

Through the readings of this topic, I have learned the essential relationship between science, mathematics, and art. Math creates the common ground between science and art, and leads to both realistic and impossible views of the world. Math generates, inspires, and constrains art and science.

Works Cited

Abbott, Edwin. “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.” N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. <https://cole.uconline.edu/content>.

Frantz, Marc. Viewpoints: Mathematical Perspective and Fractal Geometry in Art. Princeton University Press, 2000.

The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher, platonicrealms.com/minitexts/Mathematical-Art-Of-M-C-Escher/.

Ouellette, Jennifer. “Pollock's Fractals.” Discover, 1 Nov. 2001, discovermagazine.com/2001/nov/featpollock.

Vesna, Victoria. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg&feature=player_embedded>

Week 1: Two Cultures

The winning project of the category
Hybrid Art of the Prix Ars Electronica
 2015: Plantas Autofotosintéticas
 from Gilberto Esparza 
Courtesy of:  https://www.aec.at/aeblog
/en/2015/06/02/es-gibt-keine-bio-art/

As an individual who has always been fascinated by science, I have grown up feeling slightly limited as to what range my interests can contain. From a relatively young age, I have felt the restrictions of these two cultures, true to Snow's claim.  I have further felt the division of Snow's assertions as a Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology major, and have fallen victim to the barrier of South Campus. Even while selecting my General Education classes, which have the purpose of providing students with a diverse understanding of humanity, I have felt a certain pressure to still choose classes that I view would fit better with my major, instead of opting to expand my knowledge in other fields.

Victimless Leather created
 by Tissue Culture & Art Project
 (Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr), 2004.
Courtesy of: http://www.artnews.com/2013/03/
18/biotechnology-as-art-form/

However, by reading "Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between", I became aware that a bridge between these two cultures is possible, and may be necessary as a way for our society to move forward. As I have always wanted to expand my creative mind, this ideology has provided me with a sense of inspiration that perhaps I am not as limited as I once thought. A particular piece that provoked my interest was mentioned by Wilson. Artist have begun to use nature's simplest form of life as their art medium, the cell. As this directly correlates with my own major, this eased my transition from my fixed mindset about two rigid cultures, to one that is open to a blend between the two. The idea of bioart is promising to me in the sense that it allows artists and creative minded people to help accelerate the research on biological systems. The utilization of this third culture will be essential for both science and art to reach their maximum potentials.

Results obtained from the art work
with fluorescent bacteria
in which genes that produce fluorescent
 proteins have been inserted.
Courtesy of: http://www.ricardomutuberria.com/open-labs
/bio-art-lab-school-of-visual-arts-new-york-city/

Artists can have a unique influence on scientific fields because they recognize that science is essential to our current age, and can apply their creative talents to further evolve the fields. Wilson affirms that artists becoming more literate in research fields can vastly develop the way that science is perceived and executed. With the movement of artists increasing their knowledge of sciences arises, I feel particularly influenced to do the reverse. I now believe that increasing my personal knowledge of the arts can be essential to my success in this field.



Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 1998
Wilson, Stephen D. “Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology.” College Art Association Meetings. New York, New York, 2000. Print

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.

"John Brockman: Matchmaking with Science and Art." Interview by Duncan Graham-Rowe. Wired UK. N.p., 3 Feb. 2011.