Week 5: Nanotechnology + Space + Art

To be honest, prior to this week’s lecture I had no idea what nanotechnology really was nor was I aware of the vast scope of things it encompassed. At first, I found the concepts of nanotechnology and nanoscience hard to grasp because it was on such a small scale and I had difficulty visually conceptualizing this. I agree with Professors Gimzewski and Vesna in their statement, “this new science is ultimately a shift in our perception of reality from a purely visual culture to one based on sensing and connectivity.”

For this reason, I was very interested in the emerging trend that artists seen to incorporate nanotechnology into their artwork by bringing it to sensory level that humans can more easily perceive. For example, Boo Chapple’s work displayed in the John Curtain Gallery attempts to use nanoparticle of bone matrix to produce audible sound to humans (Artabase). Additionally, Professors Vesna and Gimzewski worked on their project entitled the “Nanomandala” which was “inspired by watching the nanoscientist at work, purposefully arranging atoms just as the monk laboriously creates sand images grain by grain” (Nanomandela). In this work, Professor Vesna shows both the physical representation of the sand, but also the sand at the nano-level, giving a whole new sense of definition of the sand to the audience. A video of her work can be seen below.

In terms of space and art, I had no idea of the vast artistic movements that have occurred and are occurring today, except for television and film adaptions of space. Curator Kathleen Forde explains that many of the exhibits in “Dancing on the Ceiling: Art and Zero Gravity” are inspired by the “condition of weightlessness (like that of space) on earth”.  Artist Erin Dekyndt portrays this by showing a suspended, massive ball that seems to defy the laws of gravity in work pictured below.

"Ground Control"- Erin Dekyndt
<http://www.nippertown.com/2010/03/22/artbeat-dancing-on-the-ceiling-art-zero-gravity-empac-31810/>

Engineer and artist B.E. Johnson is a visioneer at the Leonardo Space Art Project which aims to increase awareness of space endeavors and exploration by communicating to the public via art. Below is his depiction encapsulating a moment of history.

"The Shot Seen 'Round the World" B.E. Johnson
<http://imperialearth.com/paintings.html>

Perhaps the most exciting artistic interaction with space, in my opinion, is The Mars Patent's aim of physically sending works of art from earth to Mars. They use a technological device called the HRM_1.0n to "transform the vision of a viable martian place for your objects into reality and the mode of global sharing"(Von Oldenburg, Reiche). It is interesting to think about who might read our information in the future, wether from our planet or not!

 Bibliography:

"Art in the Age of Nanotechnology." Artabase. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2013. <http://www.artabase.net/exhibition/2104-art-in-the-age-of-nanotechnology>.

Forde, Kathleen. "Dancing on the Ceiling: Art and Zero Gravity." Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2013. <http://zerogravity.empac.rpi.edu/>.

Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The nanoneme syndrome: Blurring of fact and fiction in the construction of a new science." Technoetic arts 1.1 (2003): 7-24.

"Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers." Leonardo Space Art Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2013.

"NANO | Nanomandala." NANO | Nanomandala. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2013. <http://nano.arts.ucla.edu/mandala/mandala.php>.

Von Oldenburg, Helen, and Claudia Reiche. "MARS PATENT: Welcome." MARS PATENT: Welcome. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2013. <http://www.mars-patent.org/welcome/welcome.htm>.

Week 4: Medicine + Biotechnology + Neuroscience + Art

I found this week’s topic about “BioArt” to be extremely fascinating, because I had no idea that artists were as deeply involved as many of the scientists themselves in understanding scientific principles for their artistic purposes. Kelty’s Outlaw Biology essay helped me understand the multitude of methods one could participate in science, rather than simply thinking of science as “biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical firms, and research labs” (Kelty, 4).

            As a neuroscience major, I find the possibility of bringing consciousness to artificial intelligence to be fascinating. Ellen Levy’s essay concerning BioArt cites the work of Ken Rinaldo in his work with “autopoiesis” (meaning “bring self life” in Greek). Rinaldo works with robots that are capable of interacting with humans musically and are able to adjust their output based on human feedback. Below is a video briefly explaining his work.

            
Prior to taking this course, I rarely though about neuroscience in terms of art, but after reading Frazetto and Anker’s article, “Neuroculture”, I realize that the two could not be more separate from each other given that it is our brains that have to dictate what we deem as aesthetically pleasing.  The article described this as “neuroaesthetics” which is essentially trying to describe the specific neural circuits that dictate our method of rating what we consider to be artistic. I couldn’t help but think back to week two of the course concerning how math links to art forms such as architecture, and how our brain is able to process images that contain the golden ratio which could possible explain why we find it to be so artistically pleasing.

We recall that the beautiful Mona Lisa is painted according the golden ratio.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa_Golden_Ratio.jpg)

            Perhaps the most intriguing topic of the week is that concerning the unconscious, mainly because as Professor Vesna stated, so much of it is unknown.  I feel that Jung summarizes this intrigue perfectly in his selection, stating, “There can be no doubt that from the beginning of the nineteenth century, the psyche has moved more and more into the foreground of man’s interest with a steadily increasing power of attraction” (Jung, 7). If anything, I believe that our subconscious layers certainly provide us an outstanding medium from which to create art.

Artist Brenda Ferrimani draws inspiration from her dreams. This piece is inspired from the dream she had the night after 9/11.
(http://www.brendaferrimanidreamart.com/)

Citations:

Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. "Neuroculture." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10.11 (2009): 815-821.

Jung, Carl Gustav. The spiritual problem of modern man. 1931.

Kelty, Chris. Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology?

Levy, Ellen K. Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications. Rep.

" Nano Drug Crosses Blood-Brain Tumor Barrier, Targets Brain Tumor Cells and Blood Vessels ." The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. N.p., 15 July 2013. Web. 22 July 2013.

Week 3: Medicine + Tech + Art

The way in which we see ourselves, our self-portrait, is a concept that has been artistically portrayed in a plethora of ways by artists. Based on what I have learned from this week’s topic, I believe that the best self-portrait is one that depicts who we are beneath the skin. By using medical technology, these portraits tell the story of our health, which largely defines who we are.

Artist Lisa Nilsson uses a technique called quilling (rolling and shaping narrow strips of paper) to portray different cross sections of the body. She claims that quilling is an ideal technique to display “the densely squished and lovely internal landscape of the human body”.  Her art is able to therefore portray an accurate view of our internal bodies. Below is some of her work.

Nilsson's artistic portrayal of internal anatomy.

A closer view of Nilsson's quilling method.

Visual artist and medical cognition researcher Virgil Wong uses interactive medical art in hopes that showing people their personal virtual aging (provided that their current lifestyle habits remain the same) will encourage them to change their unhealthy habits.

An iPhone app shows the health of your future self.

This x-ray of a child shows adult teeth below the gum line.

I personally found interesting the fact that internal artistic images not only provide us with certain medical knowledge about ourselves, but they also have service to us long after we are dead. Forensic scientists use x-rays of teeth as a means to identify deceased bodies. In this way, self-portraits of our internal selves that are made possible by medical technology can be seen as our everlasting, immortal portrait.

Citations:

"Adult Orthodontic Treatment." HubPages. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2013.

"Digital X-rays." Trenton Dentists. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2013.

Jain, Anil K., and Hong Chen. "Matching of dental X-ray images for human identification." Pattern recognition 37.7 (2004): 1519-1532.

"Lisa Nilsson - Tissue Series." Lisa Nilsson - Tissue Series. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2013.

"Virgil Wong | Artist and Health Cognition Researcher, Columbia University | Cofounder and Inventor, Medical Avatar." Virgil Wong. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July

Week 2 Mathematics/ Robotics + Art

It is interesting to note that many artistic representations in architecture model the golden ration, and I gained many insights from this. As a neuroscience major, I was concerned about why we, as humans, find this ratio to be so aesthetically pleasing. Adrian Bejan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University proposes that the human eye is capable of processing an image containing the golden ratio faster than any other. He believes that our brain takes pleasure out of seeing the golden ration because we are able to interpret it more quickly, and we subsequently call this pleasure beauty.

Even the human eye is proportioned according a golden ration of circles!

It is evident that the use of mathematics to create art has evolved based on our own evolution for how we perceive the world in which we live. Artists are very aware of this perception and use it to manipulate our brains into seeing a 3-D image on a 2-D surface.

After listening to this weeks lecture concerning robotics and cyborgs, I couldn’t help but wonder how much we already manifest the idea of a cyborg.  Though (arguably) lacking a physical connection to technology, my opinion is that we are already quite connected to technology. Cyborg anthropologist Amber Case of National Geographic states that in way we are already cyborgs, shedding in and out of artistically designed, manufactured clothing on a day-to-day basis.

The concentrations of cyborg anthropology.

In the following video, current head of Google, Ray Kurzweil, displays his invention at only 17 years of age:

Clearly, the use of mathematics and industrialization has truly become so powerful that it is even capable of producing its own form of musical art! In Kurzweil’s book The Singularity is Near he even discusses what he believes the ultimate reality of humans-that we all will eventually become cyborgs. According to him, computers will reach the size of red blood cells and will be programmed against disease and we can expect a longer life span, and a potential disease-free world.

With these ideas in mind, I believe that the juxtaposition between science, art, mathematics and industrialization is very close indeed. While seemingly unbeknownst to most people, after really thinking about it,  it can be seen that art has developed in parallel with industrial advancements.

Citations:

Case, A.. N.p.. Web. 8 Jul 2013. <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/amber-case/>.

Kurzweil, Ray. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

McVeigh, K.. N.p.. Web. 8 Jul 2013. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/dec/28/golden-ratio-us-academic>.

Meisner, G. N.p., n. d. 8 Jul 2013. <http://www.goldennumber.net/face/>.

N.p.. Web. 8 Jul 2013. <http://cyborganthropology.com/What_is_a_Cyborg?>.