Event 3 -Singular Spaces

         

Singular Spaces is an exhibit of photographs by Jo Park Hernandezd in the Fowler Museum. She documented the works of 8 different artists across Spain. Many of these photographs contained sculptures, gardens, and houses that these artists made without any formal architectural plans.

One artist I really enjoyed was Peter Buch from La Pobla de Benifassa, Castello, Spain. He created small building from rocks that he found near is home up in the mountations and added dirt and small stones to smooth out the shape. He covered his structures and buildings with bits of broken tiles for decorations. Because he added the tiles his work reminds me of Antonio Gaudi’s work. His buildings are also very funny! Some of his buildings are people or monsters and he made the front door the opening of the mouth. I thought this was very clever and unique.

Another artist I really enjoyed was Francisco del Rio Cuenca from Montoro, Cordoba, Spain. The photographs were of his house that is covered in shells. Apparently a truck that was loaded with clams accidently unloaded the cargo near his village and he took advantage of the situation. He covered the walls, floors, ceiling, flowerpots, and even trees with hundreds and hundreds of shells. His property has over 116 million shells! People bring shells from all over the world as gifts since his house has become a tourist attraction. This collection of pictures were my favorite because I absolutely love houses and anything that makes a house look unique is very interesting to me. A house can really tell you a lot about the person or people living in it and I think adding shells really shows Cuenca’s personality. 

Event 2 -Making Strange

                       

 Making Strange is an exhibit at the Fowler Museum that includes two bodies of work by Vivan Sundaram. He is one of the leading artists working in India today. The first portion of the exhibit was Gagawaka, which consisted of clothes and outfits made out of recycled materials and medical supplies. The garments he made included surgical masks, bandages, pill wrappings, and many more. The clothing was my favorite part about the exhibit because I thought he had an interesting take on fashion and adding “going green” to his work was inspiring. One interesting garment that caught my eye was a dress made out of ties, especially because traditionally men usually wear ties. Gender roles and sexuality have been a hot talk in the media lately and I think that this particular dress is his way of expressing his opinion about these issues.

Medical supplies were a common theme throughout the exhibit. Sundaram had multiple garments made out of surgical masks and bandages, and he also used anatomy and medical diagrams in Postmortem. This portion of the exhibit included a collection of manikins and sculptures made of wooden props and anatomical models. He had many hollow manikins that he stuffed medical props in. During this portion of the exhibit I got the sense that he was conveying concerns about illness and aging. To me, I think Sundaram is in support of the medicine and believes that it can help people as they grow old or become sick. Having the makinins be hollow stuffed with medical supplies suggest that our body is just a shell and only medical professionals can understand what is going on inside.

Making Strange fits perfectly into our Medicine + Art theme this quarter. Sundaram utilizes medical models, props, and clothing to create art with a message.

Event 1: Kathy High -Manipulating Art and Living Systems

In Kathy High's lecture on manipulating art and living systems, she presented us with some every interesting projects that combined biotechnology and art. She started with photography of speculative design. She showed us artists that connected humans and animals together. For example, the photograph "Life Support" which showed a genetically altered sheep with the same genetics as the human patient being used as a dialysis machine. The sheep filters the blood through its kidneys and then is pumped back into the human. This image was actually very disturbing to me, and I was distraught when thinking that this was actually possible. I don't think it is right to use an animal that way when we have machines and more sanitary ways of helping people with kidney failure. Later in the speculative design portion of the lecture, she showed us Pinar Yoldas' work called plastic sea. She created sculptures in the water that represent a new ecosystem that developed from all the plastic in the ocean. Our oceans are filled with garbage and plastic that people do not recycle and we hear stories everyday about how dolphins get stuck in plastic soda rings or birds covered in oil. I believe that Yoldas’ work has a great message to show the world and an interesting take on the trash problem. Do we want animals to adapt to the plastic and create a whole new species based on chemicals? Or do we want to prevent animals dying through natural selection because they can’t adapt to the plastic?

Kathy also showed us some of the projects she is working on. One of her biggest projects is her work with rats and trying to understand rat laughter. Rats register a sound that goes beyond our hearing capacity. She observed that rats chirp almost like giggling when tickled and that the rats seem to enjoy being tickled. She is working with a specialized recording device to document these ultrasonic sounds of laughter to create a rat laughter concert. She would like to loop and compose the recording together for the rats.

Her lecture tied into the week 6 BioArt lecture. Kathy High was actually mentioned in one of the

lectures for her empathy rat piece with hybrid rats and how she took care of them until the rats became healthy again. This piece was used as a message towards the medical community and how they treat animals in scientific experiments. I believe that most of the artists that work with life as a medium are trying to send a message about our sustainability problems, mistreatment of animals, or the different ways animals can be useful to us. I really enjoyed Kathy High’s lecture all together and learned some pretty interesting things about bio-art.

Exploration of Space

Space has always been a fascinating thing to me. The stars, moon, and planets are some of the most beautiful sites in the universe. It makes complete sense that the ancient roman astronomers named constellations and planets after Greek gods and goddesses. Space has been a very intriguing topic for many scientists for many, many years. Copernicus was one of the first scientists that had scientific evidence that the sun was in the middle of the solar system. Because of his discovery and theory his face has been put on Polish money and has a crater on the moon named after him.

Scientists, astronomers, and astronauts are not the only people interested in space. Virgin galactic airlines are interested in commercializing space flights in the next two to three years. Each ticket would run for about $200,000 to $300,000. They licensed the technology from the spacecraft that won the X-prize. This was a space competition that offered 10 million for a non-government organization to launch a reusable man spacecraft into space twice, within two weeks. Some believe that commercializing space lights is space exploitation and making space move into the private sector.

Space is also being looked at for planetary resources. Companies are applying commercial innovation to robotic space exploration. The water from asteroids could be turned into liquid

oxygen and nitrogen, and they have started to look at mining asteroids to obtain nickel, cobalt, and platinum. I never knew that mining could take place in space or that we had the technology to do such a thing, but since natural resources are becoming limited on Earth this may be a solution. The moon has been called the Persian Gulf of the 21^st century because the possibility of mining helium-3 for fuel.

This technology shows how far we have come with our exploration of space since Copernicus’s time.

Images:

• Moon mining: NASA's Plans for Mining Water From the Moon. Digital Image. The Higher Learning. Web.
• Plasma Mythology. Digital Image. Web.
• Spaceflight is Ready For Blastoff. Digital image. Spacebio.com. Web.

Resources: 

• "Helium-3 Mining on the Lunar Surface." European Space Agency. Web. 29 May 2015.   
• "Human Spaceflight." Virgin Galactic. Web. 29 May 2015.
• "International Space Hall of Fame :: Inductee Profile." New Mexico Museum of Space History. New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. Web. 29 May 2015.    
• "Market for Metals in Space." The Asteroid Mining Company. Planetary Resources. Web. 29 May 2015.
• Vesna, Victoria. "Space Exploration + Art Lectures." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 29 May 2015. Lecture. Online

Nanotechnology + Art

Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology that deals with the manipulation of

individual atoms and molecules conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers. Nanotechnology is applied to medicine to conduct research in the medical field, which is called nanomedicine. It has been very helpful in the cancer research because it can be applied to
pharmaceuticals to create drugs to target specific tumors. For example, these nanodrugs can be used to lessen the toxicity for breast cancer. Nanoshells are also being used as antibodies to detect and recognize cancer cells.

The makeup industry is also taking advantage of nanotechnology. Quantum dots are particles that can change colors when the particle is nanosize. The material could be all one substance, but different colors because the smaller the size the redder the color and the larger the size the blacker the color. Because nanoparticles and drugs helps with toxicity, these particles are non-toxic. L’Oreal has been

investing a lot of money in nanotechnology for their skin products and are starting to look at using it for pigments. This technology could vastly change the game for makeup artists because there have incidents where actors have been sent to the hospital because they were allergic to an ingredient in the makeup or getting burned from materials heating up from the stage lights. Schumacher said it the best, “ Wisdom requires a new orientation of science and technology towards he organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant, and beautiful” (Gimzewski & Vesna, 6). 

Artists use nanotechnology to create beautiful molecular

landscapes of nanoparticles. Nanoart represents natural molecules that exist in nature blown up make the idea of nanoparticles more visual and easier to comprehend. Their artwork can be used as research and
learning tools because being able to visualize something the naked eye cannot see helps scientists understand what is going on in a world that is practically invisible to us.


Images:

• Fluorescence Imaging with Quantum Dot Nanocrystals. Digital image. Semrock. Web. 
• Simon, Virginie. Nanomedicine. Digital image. My Science Work. 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 
• Tranquilin, Ricardo. Extraordinary Beauty of the NanoArt World. Digital image. Discovery News. 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 

References:

• Baker, Silvia. "Makeup History." Makeup for the Stage Lecture. Los Angeles. 5 May 2015. Lecture.
• Gimzewski, Jim. "Nanotechnology + Art Lectures." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 18 May 2015. Lecture. Online
• Gimzewski, Jim., & Vesna, Victoria. "The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of fact & fiction in the construction of a new science." (2004): 1-8. Print.
• "NANOART." NANOART 21. Web. 22 May 2015.
• "What Is Nanotechnology?" Nano.gov. United States National Nanotechnology Initiative. Web. 22 May 2015.

Psychological Psychedelic Relief

It’s crazy to see the transformation of opinions on the topic of hallucinogenic drugs. In the 1950s LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, was believed by some people to be a psychiatric miracle drug that cured depression, schizophrenia, addicts, and criminal behavior. It was commonly used as an accepted practice for psychology students in training to understand what the patient was going to go through. 

Aldous Huxley wrote “Doors of Perception” about the experiences of this hallucinogenic trip, which eventually lead to the naming of the band, The Doors. This rock n roll band was apart of the psychedelic rock genre that focused on the message of transition and transformation. The in 1967 song “Break on Through” by The Doors talks about breaking barriers and crossing over to the

other side where things are better. Victor Turner outlines the three steps of transition: detachment from one’s former self, the liminal period where nothing resembles the past or future, and finally the transition is complete and the person is in stable state (Turner, 4). An LSD trip can be described the same way, where the act of taking the acid is escape the former self or psychological abnormality, the liminal period is the acid trip itself, and then finally the person sees reality in a different light after the trip but completely stable. Some psychologists at the time thought the transition that occurs during a LSD trip was the key to help people overcome their psychological suffering.

Because LSD has been documented to change people’s behavior, for example helping AA participants stop drinking, it is believed to tap into one’s subconscious. Freud believes
that the unconscious is processes of the mind that are not available to consciousness and where all the repressed feelings, thoughts, and urges live. The idea of consciousness and unconscious give artists the freedom to portray people’s wildest dreams in their artwork.

Images:

• Dalí, Salvador. Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. Digital image. Park West Gallery. 1 Jan. 1944. Web.  
• Harris, Dave. "Rare Footage of 1950s Housewife in LSD Experiment." YouTube. Web. 16 May 2015.  
• Usher, Melanie. Keep Calm and Break on Through to the Other Side. Digital image. Pinterest. Web.

References:

• Bansal, Gaurav. "How Consciousness is Classified." (2009): 1-4. Print.
• Fink, Robert. "Psychedelic Rituals." Music History 5 Lecture. Los Angeles. 27 April 2015. Lecture. 
• Szalavitz, Maia. "LSD May Help Treat Alcoholism." Time. 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 16 May 2015.
• Turner, Victor. "Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage." The Proceeding of the American Ethnological Society. (1964): 4-20. Print.
• Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience + Art Lectures." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 11 May 2015. Lecture. Online

BioArt

         

Many types of “life” itself have been used as an art form. We see live art where people themselves are apart of the art display, animals used in art pieces, and live neurons used to create art. I believe that life can be a valid medium for the expression of art if used ethically and the organism is not hurt in the process. For example, the art piece “Fish and Chips” done in the SymbioticA lab used goldfish neurons to power a robotic arm that to create drawings. The neurons were grown in the lab, but an actual fish was not used. I personally thought this piece was very creative and could be an insight to how fish think. Hackers, on the other hand, do not protect their life forms while using them as a medium. Hackers use their knowledge of since to impress others to show that they understand the system well

enough to control it and to make it do something it wasn’t meant to do (Kelty, 1). In my opinion, Marta de Menezes could be categorized has a hacker when she did her butterfly piece. Genetically altering the wing patterns ended up hurting the butterfly by creating holes in the wings, and the butterfly’s life and well-being is more important than artistic needs.

          In Kathy High’s empathy rat piece with hybrid rats was used as a message towards the medical community and how they treat animals in scientific experiments. None of the rats were hurt or mistreated during her exhibition; she took care of them until these rats became healthy again. Because the rats were not harmed and actually treated better, the use of life as an art medium is valid and actually got a message across. This being said, I do think there should be firmer restrictions on artists using biotechnology than for scientists.

Using non-human life forms in scientific research is different than using them for art pieces because it is usually for academic purposes to further our knowledge about disease, medicine, and the brain. Medicine would not be where it is today without animal testing. There is no substantial gain from manipulating living organisms for an art piece, except for the praise or criticism of the artist.

Images:

• Bio-Art: The Ethics behind the Aesthetics. Digital image. Nature. 2009. Web. 
• The Steve Potter Lab. MEART -The Semi Living Artist. Digital image. ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show. Web.
• Summers, Alex. An animal rights argument for biomedical research. Digital image. SciScoop Stuff. 15 Nov. 2011. Web

References:

• Kelty, Chris. "Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology." 1-8. Print.
• McRae, Emma. "A Report on the Practices of SymbioticA Research Group in Their Creation of MEART – the Semi-living Artist." University of Western Australia. Web. 9 May 2015.  
• Stracey, Frances. "Bio-art: The Ethics behind the Aesthetics." Nature.com. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, June 2009. Web. 9 May 2015. .  
• Vesna, Victoria. "BioTech + Art Lectures ." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 9 May 2015. Lecture. Online.
• Zurr, Ionat. & Catts, Oron. "The Ethical Claims of BioArt: Killing the Other or Self-Cannibalism?" University of Wester Australia. Web. 9 May 2015.