Week 9 - Space and Art

           Ending the course on the subject of space and art demonstrates the comprehensive uses of technology and science in space discoveries and travel.  As Dr. Vesna noted in her video lecture, technologies in space research incorporate all the subjects covered thus far from math and biotechnology to nanotechnology.

           

            From Copernicus to the private space travel agency, SpaceX, the world beyond planet Earth has enticed and challenged scientists, engineers, and artists. The “Powers of Ten” video by Charles and Ray Eames really put human beings, Earth, and the galaxy into perspective. For me, the video gave an idea of where human beings are in the scheme of the universe of also created a sense of wonder by allowing me to realize how much we know about the world outside planet Earth.

Looking at the orbits of the planets in the solar system at 10^12 times the distance from a man's hand on Earth. Found here.

Art finds it’s way into research facilities concerning space. The research performed in the Basic Plasma Science Facility at UCLA is breaking ground in the world of plasma science. The images that come out of the facility reminds me of the highly intricate designs from the Mandelbrodt plots in the math unit. Scientific phenomena leads to colorful and beautiful pieces of art. 

Three dimensional field lines taken from a volumetric data set in an experiment at the Plasma Science Facility at UCLA. Found here.

            Science fiction plays a huge role in the intersection of space and art. The innate fascination in space is often satisfied by the stories of novelists and illustrations of artists. Charley Bonstell was a pioneer of astronomical and space art and helped to popularize manned space travel.  In the current time of viral videos, the work of Chris Hadfield has taught the public and popularized manned space travel. 

Commander Chris Hadfield sings David Bowie's Space Oddity in space. 

This work and  drawn interest in manned space travel is especially important during a time when less and less U.S. government funding is being appropriated to space technology.  Despite the cut in funding in the US, I believe the fascination with space will continue to power technology and art as it has in the centuries past.

Sources

 1. Alfed, Peter. "The Mandelbrot Set." (1998): n. page. Print. <http://www.math.utah.edu/~pa/math/mandelbrot/>.

2. UCLA Basic Plasma Science Facility. N.d. Photograph. plasma.physics.ucla.edu, Los Angeles. Web. 29 Nov 2013. <http://plasma.physics.ucla.edu/index.html>.

3. Eames, Charles. Powers of Ten. 2010. Infographic. http://powersof10.com/Web. 29 Nov 2013.

4. Hadfield, Chris. Space Oddity. 2013. Video. Youtube.com, International Space Station, Space. Web. 29 Nov 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo>.

5. Vesna, Victoria, and . Space Part 1. 2012. Video. Youtube.com, Los Angeles. Web. 29 Nov 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZIqTR332l8>.

Week 8 - Nanotechnology and Art

          Nanotechnology is a field of science defined by size. Because of this broad definition, nanotechnology touches a wide range of technologies from chemistry, molecular biology, microfabrication, and semiconductor physics that can be applied to medicine, electronics, biology, and energy production. Ray Kurzweil begins his TED talk, “Announcing a Singularity University”, by noting that information technology (IT), genomic sequencing, and computational data grows at an exponential rate. With nanotech being so broad and it’s impact so intense, it is important to link art and nanotechnology to inform the public of the importance of nanotechnology to learn how common technology like the chips found in our phones are made.

As technology advances, prices of the technologically decrease logarithmically. Found here. 

          Victoria Vesna and James Gimszewski use an image of a single grain of sand  via  a scanning electron microscope and project the image to reveal a mandala. The work combines eastern and western artistic practices—and shows how nanotechnology can be used as art.

Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski uses a Scanning Electron Microscope of a grain of sand. Found here.

           Nanotechnology can also be used to create art in DNA via creative base pairing. Short strands of DNA are designed to link long strands of DNA to create creative shapes explains Paul Rothemund in his TED talk “Paul Rothemund explains DNA folding”. This nanotechnology has greater implications in biological nanostructures as well.

DNA folding makes these smiley faces. Found here.

          Nano-sized particles have even made it into some of our food products, which I found surprising. Low-calorie shakes with silica particles coated in chocolate have been created. These silica particles keep the customer fuller using less fat and carbohydrates. Nanotechnology is one of the broadest sciences we have studied thus far and has far-reaching applications. Art is easily incorporated in this emerging technology.

Sources

Gerth, John. "Art in the Age of Nanotechnology." Perth International Arts Festival exhibition. (2010): n. page. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.artabase.net/exhibition/2104-art-in-the-age-of-nanotechnology>.

Gimzewski, James. Nanotech for Artists. 2012. Video. Youtube.comWeb. 25 Nov 2013.

Kurzweil, Ray. Ray Kurzweil announces Singularity University. 2009. Video. TED TalksWeb. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzweil_announces_singularity_university.html>.

"Nanomandala." n. page. Print. <http://nano.arts.ucla.edu/mandala/mandala.php>.

Rothemund, Paul. Paul Rothemund details DNA Folding. 2008. Video. TED TalksWeb. 25 Nov 2013.

Week 7 - Neuroscience and Art

             The brain is arguably the most important organ that contributes to our individuality. In addition, society has been studying the brain and mind up to a point in which we understand a vast amount about what contributes to our dreams, emotions, aesthetics, and habits.

Neurotransmitter move across the synapse of the brain. Found here.

             One reason that combination of art and neuroscience is an important contributing aspect to society is that it allows society to further understand the potential up and coming technologies in the future, and contemplate the ethics associated with these technologies. For example, in one of my favorite moves, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, the main characters undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories and the male main character attempts to understand his fragmented memories. This well-executed,  creative plot allows the viewers to contemplate the ethics of such a procedure, and the reactions allow scientists to act based on them.

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind explore technologies associated with memory. Found Here.

            In addition, artists also pursue chemical-altering drugs in the brain and the effects the drugs can have. Frazzetto notes that, “The drugs of choice have changed as culture has evolved”. Discoveries in neuroscience have a huge effect on society as it these drugs have an immense effect on popular culture.

Drugs influence pop culture. Found in Frazetto article, "NeuroCulture".

           Finally, artists can beat scientists to conclusions on the human mind, such as when Proust beat neuroscientists in discovering that memory is faulty and always changing. The line between art and science is no longer so well defined just as we had mentioned in the first week when we studied C.P. Snow's, "Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution". In conclusion, the combination of neuroscience and art  can go beyond art to allow society to contemplate the up and coming technologies, can alter popular culture, and can help discover more theories not formerly thought of.

Sources

Frazetto, Giovanni. "NeuroCulture." Science and Society. n. page. Print.

Gondry, Michael. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. N.d. Movie. n.p. Web. 17 Nov 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/>.

Max, D. T. . "Swan's Hypothesis ." New York Times. n. page. Print. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/books/review/Max-t.html?_r=0>.

"Neurotransmitter." Intro to the Brain. n. page. Print. <http://its.sdsu.edu/multimedia/mathison/neurotransmitter/>.

Snow, C.P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.

Week 6 - Biotech and Art

          The subject of biotech and art is easily one of the more controversial subjects we have covered thus far. Biotechnology is a powerful tool. The video, Animal Biotechnology explains that in genetic engineering, it is a common practice to manipulate the genetic code of bacterial cultures to clone DNA and produce proteins that can fight diseases. 

Altering the genetic code is a common practice in biotechnology. Picture found here.

The food we eat is often genetically modified for various reasons and this is immensely powerful because as Wenk explains, food is a drug that affects the way your brain works.

Food alters the chemicals in the brain.   Picture found here.

            From food to medicine, biotechnology is being used on a massively commercial scale and there are a number of critics. On the other side, there are admirers to this technology that have learned the techniques of biotechnology and these artists seek to use technology to produce another genre of art. Symbiotica, an artistic research lab at the University of Western Australia looks at biology from an artistic point of view and has been used to execute contemporary art and science. Eduardo Kac created a bunny genetically altered to glow from the genes of jellyfish.

Picture found here.

  The creation of this bunny was to challenge the notions of genetic purity and to draw attention to the set of relationships between family, scientific procedure, interspecies communication, ethics, and art.  In many ways, the creation of this bunny challenges the ethics of biotechnology as well. Was there a greater good aside from creating a dialogue? How else does the GFP gene affect this living creature? Despite the controversy of this creation, connecting biotech and art is an important contribution to society. It gives society an opportunity to take a step back and question the drugs, food, and biotechnology practices of today. When is it ethical to use genetic manipulation? For me, as long as the public is given all the information it needs to make informed decisions about the ethics of biotechnology, biotechnology is a powerful and useful tool. Art and biotechnology opens up an infinite number of doors that can be beneficial to society.

Sources

1. Animal Biotechnology. 2008. Video. University of California TelevisionWeb. 9 Nov 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCIvAuwaf-o>.

2. Kac, Eduardo. "GFP Bunny." Telepresence, Biotelematics, and Transgenic Art . 2000: pp. 101-131. Print. <http://www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html

3. Schuler, Barry. Genomics 101. 2008. Video. TED TalksWeb. 10 Nov 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/barry_schuler_genomics_101.html>.

4. "Symbiotica Biological Arts." n.d. n. page. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. <http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/research>.

5. Wenk, Gary. "This is Your Brain on Food." Seed. (2010): n. page. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/this_is_your_brain_on_food/>.

Week 4 - Medicine, Technology, and Art

           The topic of this week’s material is medicine, technology, and art. In today’s world, medicine is seen primarily as a practical, scientific-driven field used to heal, treat, and prevent disease. Upon first thought, art is seldom matched with medicine. However, Virgil Wong elegantly recalls his mother advising him that, “Medicine helps us live longer lives, but art is about why we live.” When art is combined with medicine, there is a larger focus on the individual experience, and less on data, facts, and diagnostics.

"Medicine helps us live longer lives, but art is about why we live." 

            For example, Silvia Casini takes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a powerful diagnostic technology that gives different information about structures in the body, and describes the technology in terms of the experience. Casini reflects that while in the MRI machine, she can witness her thoughts without the distraction of the outside world for ten minutes. The MRI, according to Casini, is capable of enacting a process of identity-construction and mirroring.

MRI machine. Link to picture.

            Another example of art adding a component of individual experience to medicine is Diane Gromala’s solution to chronic pain. Gromala speaks about having tried an infinite amount of medical solutions to fight her chronic pain that ultimately didn’t work. Instead, she combines computer science, media art, and design to create an immersive virtual reality to fight her condition. Her solution combines technology and art to create an experience-based solution to fight chronic pain.            

The various solution Gromala tried to handle her chronic pain. TedX Talk can be seen here.

            Virgil uses art to explain the mass amount of data that patients obtain from the doctor’s office to make diagnosis more comprehendible. Art is important to help patients understand the complicated, technical medical diagnoses and jargon so that the patients can have a greater understanding of their health.

Sources

Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts."

Gromala, Diane. TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty. 2011. Video. TED TalksWeb. 27 Oct 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdarMz--Pw>.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 2004. Photograph. Greene Medical ImagingWeb. 27 Oct 2013. <http://www.greenemedicalimaging.com/services/mri.html>.

Virgil , Wong. Virgil Wong and the Medical Avatar. 2011. Video. TED TalksWeb. 27 Oct 2013. <http://virgilwong.com/virgils-ted-talk-the-medical-avatar/>.

Week 3 - Robotics & Art

            Robotics in the 21^st century is a subject that is not only fascinating to today’s society, but important. In robotics, the imaginations of artists and scientists can culminate to make the ideas of science-fiction blockbusters, like iRobot, into a reality.

The 2004 blockbuster IRobot trailer.

The movie is set in the year 2035, only about 20 years from today, but how close are we to the mass production of robots? The answer is, surprisingly, not far at all. The series of TED talks in this week’s resources show that advancements in materials, mechanization, and computers are quickly accelerating the development of robotics. From Hod Lipson’s self-aware robots, to David Hanson’s robots that show emotion, robots are already infiltrating today’s industrialized era.  

The uses of robots are only limited by our imaginations. Today, sign-waving mannequins are replacing the sign spinners we often see on the corners of busy streets.

Sign waving manneqin. NPR Article

 Google has already created a prototype for autonomous cars.

Google's self-driving cars. Link

With this new era of autonomous robotics quickly approaching, it is important for society to analyze the ethics of robotics in our society.  For me, autonomous cars would largely be beneficial to society, as human errors would no longer be a major cause for the thousands of deaths caused by automobile accidents. However, the use of these cars would have huge implications to our society. The biggest impact would be that society would gain a greater trust in the autonomy of inanimate objects. From this, we would rely more and more on technology to complete the tasks humans historically have done, from babysitting, to our soldiers at war. It is important that we continue to analyze and become aware of these technologies as we experience this up and coming shift to robotics. Just as art was largely influenced by the industrial revolution, art will just as largely be influenced  and influence a robotic revolution.

Sources

Hanson, David. Robots that Show Emotion. 2009. Video. TED TalksWeb. 19 Oct 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_relate_to_you.html>.

Hong, Dennis. My Seven Species of Robot. 2009. Video. TED TalksWeb. 19 Oct 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/dennis_hong_my_seven_species_of_robot.html>.

Lipson, Hod. Building "Self-Aware" Robots. 2007. Video. TED TalksWeb. 19 Oct 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/hod_lipson_builds_self_aware_robots.html>.

Mahal, Steve. Self-Driving Car Test. N.d. Video. GoogleWeb. 19 Oct 2013. <http://www.google.com/about/jobs/lifeatgoogle/self-driving-car-test-steve-mahan.html>.

Schmidt, Alex. "There's a New Kind of Sign Spinner in Town." 16 OCT 2013: n. page. Print. <http://www.npr.org/2013/10/16/232105767/there-s-a-new-kind-of-sign-spinner-in-town>.

Week 2 - Insights to Math and Science

          This week, we examined the juxtaposition of mathematics, art, and science. An interesting insight that I found was that math and science influences art but art can just as easily influence math and science.

          For example, the Mandelbrot set showed me how something as methodical as a simple math equation, Z = z²  + C, can be turned into art. These fractals display patterns in which a detailed representation of itself could be reproduced by “zooming” in. The idea is so systematic; that its aesthetically pleasing patterns create a sense of wonder.

The Mandelbrot Set
Picture found here 

While math can easily become art, art can just as easily become an applicable technological model. Robert Lang explained in his TED talk that origami was once an ancient Japanese paper-folding art form. However, with the advance of technology, computer codes could facilitate the transformation of single pieces of paper to complex artistic structures.

Origami facilitated with the use of mathmatical algorithms.
Screenshot from this video.

The idea of creating a complex structure from a single piece of material could then be utilized in the sciences as far reaching as medical devices to satellites in outer space. Lang transformed art to mathematics, computational algorithms, and a solution to many technological problems. The combination of Lang and Mandelbrot’s creations showed me that artistic and scientific findings do not have to be boxed into their respective worlds, but when the two are allowed to expand – even more amazing creations can be made.

          The Floating Numbers display in the Jewish Museum Berlin, seen here, further proves that science can enrich art, and vice versa, that art enhances the sciences. In this piece, the artist depicts numbers on a table via a touch-screen tabletop. When touched, the numbers display their greater meaning. 

Floating Numbers Display

This artistic piece tells the story of many scientifically significant numbers, while simultaneously; the technology enhances the experience of the viewers. Floating Numbers is neither distinctly scientific nor distinctly artistic. Imagine the piece without the technological aspect of a touch screen, or imagine a bunch of numbers on a touch screen without the artistic elements of music and design. This piece further emphasizes that the juxtaposition of science and art can be combined into a tool that enhances our creations.

Sources

 1. Alfed, Peter. "The Mandelbrot Set." (1998): n. page. Print. <http://www.math.utah.edu/~pa/math/mandelbrot/>.

2. "Floating Numbers." (2004): n. page. Print. <http://www.artcom.de/en/projects/project/detail/floatingnumbers/>.

3. Lang, Robert, perf. Robert Lang: The math and magic of origami. TED , Film. 5 Oct 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html>.

4. Lang , Robert. "Science, Mathematics, and Technology." n. page. Print. <http://www.langorigami.com/science/science.php>.

5. Weisstein, Eric W. "Mandelbrot Set." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.http://mathworld.wolfram.com/MandelbrotSet.html