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. 

This week’s lectures were very interesting this week and caught my attention for multiple reasons. I always knew that the body has been an art focal point for many years; nude art classes for example has been shown in many movies. I did not think of magnetic resonance imaging scans to be art of the body though. Because MRI scans create images of soft tissues and organs, it allows artists to work with the brain, which cannot be done with live art. The brain is considered to be the heart and soul of a person, so the brain has been an increasingly popular topic. The brain is responsible for personality and thoughts, which are traits that artist like to portray through art. 

Other medical techniques have been used as art mediums, as we see through Orlan’s surgery art series. She would undergo plastic surgery while be conscious on the table to explore the different realms of her body. In five years, she underwent nine surgeries to make certain parts of her body look like figures in Western history, like Francois Boucher’s Europa, Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, and Botticelli’s Venus.  Many people consider her surgeries as a way of combining medicine and art, but others believe it is a cry for help and signs of psychological disorders. Click here for more. I personally believe that undergoing surgery is not art. There are extreme risks to any surgery and exposing yourself to those risks is not artistic, but dangerous.

On the topic of plastic surgery, I believe that the surgeon performing the surgery is an artist. It takes a lot of skill and creativity to give a person a look that they will be happy with. Plastic surgeons also can recreate burned ears from taking tissues from other parts of the body and give burn victims skin again. Surgeons come up with new procedures and techniques to leave less scaring, find less invasive ways, and to continue their art as technology advances. We have also seen medicine and art go very wrong in plastic surgery. Some people end up with horrifying results and look a little to plastic. In any type of art, there are good artists and not so good artists.

Images:

• Botched. 
  Digital image. Evolution Media. 24 May 2012. Web.
• The "Weird Science" of Plastic Surgery Art. Digital image. Ienhance. 24 May 2012. Web.
• Tompkinson, Geoff. Coloured Mri Scan Of Brain In Sagittal Se. Digital image. Fine Art America. 8 May 2013. Web.

References:

• "Burn Reconstruction and Plastic Surgery." Burn Reconstruction and Plastic Surgery. John Hopkins Medicine. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/burn/adult/clinicalservices/reconstruction.html
• Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts." Configurations 19 (2011): 73-99. Print.
• Jeffries, Stuart. "Orlan's Art of Sex and Surgery." The Guardian. 1 July 2009. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jul/01/orlan-performance-artist-carnal-art>.
• Rose, Barbara. "Orlan: Is It Art? Orlan and the Transgressive Act." Art in America 81.2 (1993): 83-125. Print.
• Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine + Technology + Art Lectures ." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 23 Apr. 2015. Lecture. Online.

Art Robotics

Ever since the industrial revolution artists have turned to robotics as a medium for their art. Robotics can include, computers, sensors, and mechanical motors. Many of the art installations seen a music festivals or at concerts can be characterized as art robotics because they are made to move with the music. The term robot means “a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer” (Google Dictionary). For little boys robots can seem like a fascinating creation, but some other people warn against the artificial intelligence technology. Many people think that in years to come robots will become very common in our life. Stephen Hawking fears that the technology will become so advanced that the computer may surpass human abilities and end the human race. Click here for full article.

 


We see that robots can match human intelligence in the movies series Transformers. The autobots and decepticons have their own planet, understand English, and fabulous disguises on Earth. In order to create the transformers, artists had to use different mechanical motors, tools, and parts to make them a car, but also to create the weapons built into the transformer. Bumblebee’s feelings were made from a regular radio. The transformers would have never come alive unless it was for computers. Each individual transformer is a unique piece of art with different strengths, mediums, and parts. I believe the plot of movie is a very interesting take on how society sees robots and the advances in technology. Because the transformers came to Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf) for help, it illustrates that humans will always superior to robots. Even though the transformers are certainly capable of taking down the human race, making the autobots nice calms the fear that robots will take over Earth. By not having the movies be about robots taking over the world also illustrates that as a society we are not worried about the technological advances in robotics.


Images:

• Crestodina, Andy. Human vs. Robots. Digital image. Orbit Media Studios. 1 Feb. 2013. Web.
• Bumblebee Autobot. Digital image. Fan Pop. Web.
• DEADMAU5′S MAUS-HEADS FEATURED IN LIVE DESIGN. Digital image.Robotic Arts. Web.

References:

• Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”. 1936. Print.
• Brooks, Rodney. "Robots Will Invade Our Lives." TED Talks. 1 Feb. 2003. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ted.com/talks/rodney_brooks_on_robots>.
• Cellan-Jones, Rory. "Hawking: AI Could End Human Race." BBC News. 2 Dec. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540>.
• Sullivan, Matt. "Transformers: The Best Special Effects Ever?" Popular Mechanics. 2 July 2007. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/a1839/4218826/>.
• "What Is…robotic Art? Art Radar Explains." Art Radar. 9 May 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://artradarjournal.com/2014/09/05/what-is-robotic-art-art-radar-explains/>.

Art + Math

At first it is not obvious that mathematics is intertwined with art. Of course it is! Artists use all different types of shapes in their work to get a point across, especially seen in modern art. There are a lot of straight edges and corners. Click here for examples. For example, painting a house includes a five-sided figure or pentagonal which points back to how mathematics produces the ever day things we see (Abbott). Artists use geometry to make sure that what they are painting or drawing becomes life like.

 

In Sonia Landy’s consciousness piece, we again see how mathematical shapes can be seen in every day objects. Her piece as a bigger picture is a book, but while looking at it in parts you see the ovals, curves, triangles and straight edges. She writes, “The images here are of a scientific nature… they have confirmed that I am not mad and that others are pursuing similar ideas.” Her quote signifies that what we see in our consciousness can be explained in concrete, mathematical ideas. She is not mad when she sees all the different shapes around her.

I learned that artists use mathematics to create something real or something that would never happen on its own but looks realistic. By controlling the geometry they can create a picture that looks exactly like what we see in our head or a picture that is far out of consciousness, but can seem like the real thing.

Juxtaposition: placing things close together to compare and contrast. It is obvious why mathematics, science, and art are looked at as a contrast because the end goals are different. The arts are a form of expression and entertainment almost, while the sciences want to explain why something happens. It is by comparing the two that creates something completely new. Buckminster Fuller said children are born both art and science geniuses, but are degeniusized during their first years of life. Artists are now going back and looking at combining art and science to create masterpieces.

Images:
Compare and Contrast Blank Venn Diagram. Digital image. Teachers Pay Teachers. Web.
Islamic Geometric Patterns. Digital image. Al Hambra Contemporary Art Projects. 28 Aug. 2013. Web.
Landy, Sonia. Consciousness. Digital image. Sonia Landy Sherida Generative Systems. 2003. Web.

References: 
Abbott, Edwin. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Champaign, 1884. 1-69. Print.
Henderson, Linda. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art:                                     Conclusion." Leonardo 17.3 (1984): 205-10. Print.
"Influence and Impact of Math on Art." Influence and Impact of Math on Art. Mathematics Independent             Learning. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://nyghmathsia06-influenceandimpact.blogspot.com/>.
Vesna, Victoria. "Math + Art Lectures ." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 1 Apr. 2015. Lecture. Online.

Two Cultures

Two cultures: the intellectuals and the scientists. To every average person this can be seen as –Two cultures: the left and right brain. These writers want to stay clear of the disconnect between these two types of people and try to find the bridge that connects them. Some say it is the contemporary scientists and others say it is the artists that play an important role to bridge the gap. As a whole, I believe these authors consider the fact that creativity plays a part in the way scientists think as well as the artists, but in different ways. There is no left and right brain; everyone uses both sides just in individual ways.

Since I am a transfer student, the whole north vs. south campus debate was new to me. I am a psychology major and for the longest time I had no idea which side of the campus to identify with. Franz hall is pretty much in the middle of campus. For me, psychology is a hard science because I am interested in the neuropsychology field, but to others psychology is seen as a soft science because some say it is all "talk." I looked it up and technically psychology is a north campus major, but I honestly don’t identify with either side of the campus. For more opinions on the north vs. south campus debate click here.

I am on board with finding the “Third Culture” and connecting the point of the triangle. I never truly thought about the combination of arts and science as a whole, but I think this is where the next big thing is going to come from. Instead of dividing ourselves up, coming together could create something incredible. These new perspectives could really benefit me in the “real world” after graduation. Believing that there is a middle ground between artists and scientists is opening your mind to something that hasn’t been accepted yet. Being on the forefront of this new change could put me ahead of some people that haven’t caught up to modern thinking.  

Citations 

Forward Thinkers Stay Ahead of the Curve. Digital image. Forecast: Innovations. 9 Dec 2012. Web.

Kaykas-Wolff, Jascha. Communication Breakdown: Left Brain vs. Right Brain. Digital image. Mindjet. 11           May 2012. Web.

Phi Mu Alpha Fraternity. North Campus. UCLA Campus: North and South. Digital image. Michael                   Mohlman. Web.

References 

Bohm, D. "On Creativity." Leonardo 1.2 (1968): 137-49. JSTOR. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.

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 34.2 (2001): 121-25. JSTOR.            Web. 5 Apr. 2015.

Wilson, Stephen. "Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology." Presented                   at College Art Association Meetings (2000). Print.