WEEK 4: MED TECH + ART

I found this week’s material extremely fascinating. The level of curiosity of that the human species has for their own bodies really shows how advanced as a species we are. In the lecture, seeing the human splicing and the human cadaver installations ignited my interest to see more art pieces as those. I found a powerful installation where a human cadaver was carved into a dead chicken, resembling the current power and cultural relationships we have with animals.

(http://smileshappen.org/these-artists-are-using-real-cadavers-to-make-sculptures-the-reason-is-a-bit-creepy/)

  

I haven’t explored or been exposed to how innovative our medical technology has become and I would really want to delve further during and after this course.

(http://kyttenjanae.com/)

This artist, Kytten Janae (who may be a DESMA alumni actually) is a graphic designer that conceptualizes  human interaction in a unique and artistic way using human anatomy and digital imaging to create such characters with high definition. In one of the images she uses the classic skeleton model but painted in gold. 

Her digital imaging technique is no stranger to the medical world, either. Although it captures predominately the outer silhouette of a person, the imaging technology itself is used fairly often in medicine. Programs as shown below are becoming more efficient and effective at analyzing the human body. 

(https://www.biodigital.com/education)

Lastly, I would like to mention how Tesla's contribution to the world is still used in an infinite amount of ways today even in medicine. I think it's important to be reminded about the way things were designed and created in both the artistic and scientific world. 

Vesna, Victoria. “Http://www.youtube.com/v/Ep0M2bOM9Tk.” Lecture. Medicine pt1 . Youtube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Http://www.youtube.com/v/FIX-9mXd3Y4.” Lecture. Medicine pt3. Youtube, 22 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX-9mXd3Y4>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Http://www.youtube.com/v/psjnQarHOqQ.” Lecture. Medicine pt2 . Youtube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2016. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psjnQarHOqQ>.

Muftuler, L. Tugan. Quantifying Morphology and Physiology of the Human Body Using MRI. Boca Raton, FL: CRC/Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. Web. <https://books.google.com/books?id=knzRBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA10&dq=human+body+imaging+software&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP0ZDMkqnMAhWCmoMKHb08BlkQ6AEIOTAB#v=onepage&q=human%20body%20imaging%20software&f=false>.

Bourne, Roger. Fundamentals of Digital Imaging in Medicine. London: Springer, 2010. Web. <https://books.google.com/books?id=Fd-BixYzukMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=use+of+digital+imaging+in+medicine&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjj4MiNlKnMAhVHl4MKHYxpBhAQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=use%20of%20digital%20imaging%20in%20medicine&f=false>.

"These Artists Are Using Real Cadavers To Make Sculptures, The Reason Is A Bit Creepy." Http://smileshappen.org/. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://smileshappen.org/these-artists-are-using-real-cadavers-to-make-sculptures-the-reason-is-a-bit-creepy/>.

WEEK 3: ROBOTICS & ART

In Walter Benjamin’s, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, he describes, “the nineteenth-century dispute as to the artistic value of painting versus photography” that I see is still prevalent, if not more distinguished today.

Art and industrialization have created new mediums of creating works of art over time. The pace of technological advancement has facilitated a global art community to form but has also caused certain artistic “rituals" to become oversaturated.

  (http://www.samuelburns.co/2011/06/02/wedding-photographers-film-vs-digital/)

For example, take film and digital photography. Film photography, in my opinion, requires more calculation and thought since film rolls can only hold so many photos per roll. Today with the industrialization and mechanization of the digital camera, I believe there are lots of complacent photographers out there who spend less time calculating each shot due to the convenience of memory cards and the immediate image editing or deleting functions that digital cameras have.

I came up with this observation after I started simultaneously using my film and digital cameras, and noticed how much more accurate were my raw film shots to my imagination than those of my digital camera.

 (http://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/interstellar-review/)

A relevant film in the conversation of art and technology is Interstellar by Christopher Nolan. The accurate use of technology, robotics, science, and acting, reinstates the importance of science and the creative aspect of engineering to the mainstream audience. The film shows a futuristic portrayal of a world that exists on a crumbling infrastructure (our planet) and how the hunger and famine will destroy human life. Throughout the film, the protagonist and his daughter, Cooper and Murph, named after “Murphy’s Law”, try to solve gravity in order to save humanity. The creativity they have counters the rest of the society they live in, a place full of farmers who are purposely motivated to be “machine-like” farmers. If it weren’t for the protagonists love for science and for each other, they wouldn’t have been able to accomplish their goals.

(http://blog.uat.edu/blogs/technology-and-society/)

Finally, in terms of society’s response to industrialization, I believe there is no turning back to simpler technologies and so were just going to keep expecting and producing more innovations by the hands of those unique individuals who find newer and more efficient mechanizations. I believe those of the “Third Culture” coined by C.P Snow that we discussed in our first lecture would be the ones, ideally.

Citations

Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Canlas, Jonathan. "Film Is Not Dead: A Digital Photographer's Guide to Shooting Film." N.p., n.d. Web. <https://books.google.com/books?id=Hk5eFfV98r8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=film+vs+digital+photography&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZzZmTwZfMAhUK12MKHVYaCr0Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false>.

Collin, Robbie. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/interstellar/review/>.

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

Wu, Tim. "As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse? - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., 06 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. <http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/as-technology-gets-better-will-society-get-worse>.

WEEK 2: Math + Art

(http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/rule-of-thirds.htm)

As an artist myself, I’ve subconsciously used mathematics, primary geometry in most or if all of my work. Learning about the relationship between mathematics and art is insightful on how to gain more perspective in viewing and creating work. In photography, the ‘Rule of Thirds’ applies to the composition of a photo by aligning the subject with guidelines and intersection points. This technique provides perspective to the artist in creating the image, as well as the observer receiving it. Famous artists in the past such as Leonardo Da Vinci have used the “Golden Ratio”, a number that explains the relationship of lines and their distances to one another, as a method in creating a different perspective of viewing reality, as do modern artists such as myself use today.

(http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/color/color-cmyk.html)

Delving deeper into the use of Mathematics in photography with its relation to art, is the use of photo editing applications like Photoshop or InDesign, that operate on a system of values in not just scale and sizing, but also in creating color and altering light. The system of values is based on ratios from 0-100 that serve as different editing functions. Artists of all sorts who use computers to design, especially architects, have no choice by learning how to qualitatively express their creativity in their work.

(http://www.thephotophore.com/babel-tower-shirin-abedinirad/)

Let’s take for example, these art pieces by Shirin Abedinirad, photographs that juxtapose art, mathematics, architecture, and science. The mirror effect of reflecting an image with the use of light was a developed by experimentation and the symmetry of the subject was created with ratios and measurements. The appeal of the image is the artistic component that makes this piece as a different perspective of reality. As the author of Art of the Golden Ratio, puts it, “Mathematics is full of mystery and beauty.”

(photographed by me)

Citations

Paine, David P., and James D. Kiser. Aerial Photography and Image Interpretation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2003. Print.

Brown, Blain. Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors. Burlington, MA: Focal, 2012. Print.

Hollos, Stefan. The Art of the Golden Ratio. Abrazol, 2015. Web. <https://books.google.com/books?id=l1ANswEACAAJ>.

Gardner, Robert. Experiments with Light and Mirrors. Enslow Pub Incorporated, 2006. Web. https://books.google.com/books?id=8nvDBGcphkIC&q=mirrors and light science&dq=mirrors and light science&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinooye6YXMAhUJs4MKHWJ4DBMQ6AEIIjAB

WEEK 1: TWO CULTURES

                                       (http://codysperber.com/art-vs-science/)

C. P. Snow’s view on the two “separated” cultures, humanities and science, has been especially prevalent in Western culture and poses a major hindrance to the world’s problems because of its short sighted viewpoint created over history with stereotypes. I interpreted Vesna’s “triangulation” of third culture that incorporates arts, humanities, and sciences is truly a move away from segregated intelligence and in my opinion, towards optimal intelligence.

                 (http://darussophile.com/2012/06/the-5-types-of-russian-american/)

In terms of "two cultures" I grew up as first generation Russian citizen, attending American school while living in a Russian-speaking household. Many sociologists study the second generation for assimilation patterns, to see how well people do relative to another. 

 (http://balancedaction.me/2012/07/04/the-bhagavad-gita-part-3-the-art-of-action/)

I always felt that art and science go hand in hand. Personally speaking I study Geography but I started my educational career pursuing acting in a BFA conservatory program that would so restrictive on time that learning other disciplines were not advised. I was confused and for or this reason, I decided to change the path of my education towards a more worldly and general major as Geography.

(http://nintendonews.com/news/wii-u/art-vs-science-splatfest-north-america/)

I paint and do photography; in fact I make some of my living from it. I also read about physics and other sciences as I feel they are necessary to understanding reality and life in more theoretical sense and quantitative. These new perspectives change my thinking for the better, since I am always feeling stuck in between choosing one or another. Since I am not a financially wealthy person naturally, I always felt I needed to sacrifice one dream for another in order to secure my survival. 

(http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/183102/Is-the-Nursing-Profession-an-Art-or-Science)

These new ideas will benefit me to begin putting both my left and right side of my brain together and perhaps excavate a hidden genius in me. I can hopefully connect my artistic vision to my scientific studies. I want to be a well-rounded journalist who is not limited to a certain expertise but is eloquent in all disciplines. 

Citations

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

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-25. Web.

Kasinitz. "The Next Generation: Russian Jewish Young Adults in Contemporary New York." Philip Kasinitz Hunter Web. <https://www.russellsage.org/sites/all/files/u4/Kasinitz,%20Zeltzer-Zubida,%20%26%20Simakhodskaya_The%20Next%20Generation.pdf>.

"A New Physics Theory of Life." Scientific American. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-new-physics-theory-of-life/>.

"The Art & Science Of Storytelling As Told By Journalists." Search Engine Land. N.p., 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <http://searchengineland.com/the-art-and-science-of-storytelling-as-told-by-journalists-150795>.