Week 8 - Nanotech and Art

This week I discovered through the readings, lectures, and TED talks how Nanotechnology and art work together to become the new medium of art. Through the development of new computer software’s and technology we can view art in a different way than we used to be able to.

For example a form of nanotechnology art that I thought was very amazing is Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau’s invisible sculpture that they created. This sculpture is only accessible through touch, which is a whole new concept in itself. Their sculpture idea is by wearing a magnetic ring so you think you are touching a physical object, but in reality you are only feeling the magnetic force the ring is propelling. This idea is very innovative because it uses not just artistic skills and background but incorporates science and technology as well. This medium of art is becoming more common especially with the exponential growth we have had in technology over the past couple of years.

We also see art in molecular programming and nanotechnology of DNA. In Paul Rothemund’s TED talk he explains in how strands of DNA he can make alternative forms of art, like he did with the smiley face, or it can even be possible to make a person drawing out of long and short DNA strands. He explained also that you can encode words into DNA. Dr Gimzewski explained in his lecture that one of his students also wrote UCLA with the scanning tunneling microscope. Gimzewski also stated "Astronomers look at stars and discover something new. We looked at atoms and saw a landscape you can't imagine."

Art is progressively getting more and more technologically advanced as time goes on, and as computing programs keeps growing exponentially.

Dr. Gimzewski

DNA Strand

Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau

Works Cited

“Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau." Viewing Space. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w05/somm_mign.htm>.

“DNA folding, in detail." TED. Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_rothemund_details_dna_folding?language=en>.

“DNA." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA>.

“James Gimzewski." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gimzewski>.

“Paul W. K. Rothemund." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_W._K._Rothemund>.

Week 9: Space & Art

This week we explored the parameters of space and art. When learning about space this week I discovered through the lectures and readings a lot about the history of space and how art is incorporated into the science of space.

During the space race, the world was fascinated with the idea of space and who could fly into it. The buzz around the world was about Laika the dog and the chimpanzee that attempted to go to space and it was displayed in the papers. From the 50s on the world was fascinated with space exploration and many TV shows displayed the publics fascination. Some shows and movies that have influenced popular culture and thinking about space are Planet Stories, Lost In Space, Star Trek, and even the Flintstones. These shows became popular based on the demand of curiosity people had during this time period.

It was a monumental moment when the first man landed on the moon and the United States was greatly taken by surprise because we thought we were more ahead of Russia in developing space rockets. People fed off the idea of space travel and artists fed off of this idea. One artist in particular was Chelsey Bonestell who received many awards and was nominated into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the International Hall of Fame. He helped to popularize the idea of space even stating "In the years to come, it is probably destined to fire many imaginations, and therefore change many lives" (Bonestell). Artists like Chelsey were fascinated in exploring the mysterious concept of space similar to the public. Now we have recorded artwork documenting space exploration and embedded history.

Image of a space nebula

Image of the Rainbow Nebula

Image of the Milky Way Galaxy

Works Cited

“Chelsey Bonestell." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChelseyBonestell>.

“Chelsey Bonestell Biography." Nova Space Art. Web. 30 May. 2015 <http://www.novaspaceart.com/Artists/ChesleyBonestell.html>.

“Lost In Space." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LostInSpace>.

“Planet Stories." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlanetStories>.

“Star Trek." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarTrek>.

Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

I thought this weeks topic was the most interesting to date. Exploring the conscious and unconscious has peaked my interest in the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Freud focused on sexuality through the unconscious while Jun believed the unconscious was a form of creativity. Jung created the idea of Archetypes and believes that everyone has an archetype from birth, which are predetermined patterns of thoughts that are programmed from birth and not learned. Vilayanur Ramachandran in his TED talk spoke about the 3 clues to understanding your brain and in doing so he displays the mind and body relationship. He explained the Capgras syndrome and how "you can no longer recognize peoples faces" (Vilayanur) and delusion, the phantom limb, and synesthesia. These 3 concepts reiterate how self-awareness is the holy grail of neuroscience and that the mind-body connection depict human actions and functions. Franz Joseph Gall originated phrenology, which was a model that was used to decipher mental functions and how certain characteristics were regionalized in specific parts of the brain.

Carl Jung

Sigmund Freud

Brain on LSD

This week’s topic is so important because it is relevant to us everyday considering the brain is the main organ we use every second of every day.  Our brains control every motion we make and every thought we think. The miraculous topic of neuroscience can be expressed through any artistic medium or form. Some examples of how neuroscience can be expressed is through artwork like the brainbow,  or through scientific organization, like phrenology, or even incorporating drugs like LSD and Cocaine to create a psychedelic experience. No matter how you look at neuroscience and art, they are incorporated into your life everyday.

“Carl Jung." Wikipedia. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CarlJung>.
“Sigmund Freud." Wikipedia. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund Freud>.
"Vilaynanur: 3 clues." TED. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://www.ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind?language=en>.
"Franz Joesph Call." Phrenology. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://www.phrenology.com/franzjosephgall.html>.
"Five Fun Facts about the CIA and LSD." Cracked. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://www.cracked.com/blog/five-fun-facts-about-the-cia-and-lsd/>.

Week 6 Biotech and Art

I do think that biotech and art wavers on a very fine line when considering the social and societal impacts of selective breeding, mutilation and mutation. Starting with selective breeding, I do believe that in the future we will certainly face a dilemma of selecting certain genes to be carried on to offspring to improve aesthetics and appearance while also being faced with other parents who wish certain genes to be carried on to avoid mental and physical handicaps. While many will argue that selective breeding will become an art and that we should be trying to create humans that will be as aesthetic as possible, others will consider that now we are playing God and are creating humans in vein of ourselves. Will this eventually lead to a sort of arms race in various countries trying to create a superhuman with parents mating and choosing for their offspring to receive the greatest height genes possible? Will the governments of countries force some citizens to mate to again create a sort of superhuman? All of this is possible and foreseeable in the future. I just hope that there is some sort of intervention that limits the possibility of this chaos. There will be a disparity of riches and wealth as I am sure this process will be expensive. I am all for eliminating genes that can cause autism or other handicaps, but when humans are being chosen or created for the means of another person or another government, I believe that our society will be faced with an interesting challenge.
Further, mutilation and mutation for artistic means is another fascinating subject. I do not think that it is proper for artists to proceed to do such acts on animals such as rats. I understand doing so for the sake of testing to be able to advance medicine for humans, but doing so soley for artistic purposes is not admired in my point of view. One area of 3-D printing for mutation I actually do like. I believe that this is definitely an advancement that crosses both borders that would help our human population if someone was to get severely injured and this would help them recover. That fact that it is possible to "analyze the DNA for identifiable traits, she used a computer model to predict the faces of the people who left them and used 3-D printing to recreate those faces" (Ghose, 1) inspires me. Overall, biotech and art are definitely going to be interlinked for a long time. There are certainly advancements in the future that we will see and will make this a very interesting crossover.

Ghose, Tia. "Bio-Art: 3D-Printed Faces Reconstructed from Stray DNA." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, Web. 

Miranda, Carolina. "Weird Science: Biotechnology as Art Form." ARTnews. 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 May 2015.

Motherboard. Experimenting With Biochip Implants. 2013. Web. 10 May 2015. Youtube.v

“Selective Breeding." Wikipedia. Web. 10 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SelectiveBreeding>.
Vesna, Victoria. "Mind Intro." YouTube. UCLA, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <https://youtu.be/RF0Qt7L2-kM?t=37>.