Week4 Assignment: Medtech and Art

This week's topic is Medicine, technology and art. An essential interaction of art and medicine is the study of human bodies. And the body dissection is the starting point of everything involved. In ancient Rome and most other civilizations, dissection of human body is heavily forbidden because the tradition, religion reasons. Therefore, the progress of dissection is pretty slow at that time (Arthur). Finally at the late 13th century, increasing number of human body dissections started to show up. And artworks about this controversial study recorded this significant progress. 

Fascicolo di medicina

After improvement in the understanding of human body structure, the painting and sculpture of human started to flourish. Some famous artworks still maintain precious aesthetic value. Like the masterpiece David (1501-1504), which revolutionized previous impression people have about the Biblical hero. The significance of this sculpture is challenging the previous opinion of man with trapped soul but being rational, beautiful and heroic--worthy of happiness and capable of great achievement (Sandstead). 

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

After acquiring necessary knowledge of body structure, people has the reasonable provision discovering ways to change it. During World War One, plastic surgery emerged as large number of wounded people need to be saved by cutting their body parts or repair their skins and muscle. Later as the war ended, this skill has been applied to art and commerce. A artistic example would be Skin trade by Martha Wilson and Larry List. The perception of skin has shifted from "universal solitary confinement" to "a marker of identity" to "a means of communication"(Colucci). Although I don't really appreciate the way these artists express themselves, it is a revolutionizing and impressive approach. 

Exhibition : from the 20th of June to the 20th of July 2013

SKIN TRADE

Reference

Aufderheide, Arthur C. The Scientific Study of Mummies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2003. Print.

Colucci, Emily. "Filthy Dreams." Filthy Dreams. N.p., 30 June 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://filthydreams.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/transcend-the-skin-youre-in-at-p-p-o-w-s-skin-trade/>.
Ketham, Johannes De. Fascicolo Di Medicina. 1493. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Dissection. Venice: Johannes and Gregorius De Gregoriis, 1493. N. pag. Print.
Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Michelangelo Di. David. 1504. Galleria Dell'Accademia, Florence.
Sandstead, Lee. "The Meaning of Michelangelo's "David"" The Meaning of Michelangelo's "David" Sandstead.com, 5 Sept. 2004. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.sandstead.com/essays/david.html>.
Wilson, Martha, and Larry List. Skin Trade. 2013. P.P.O.W, New York CIty. Orlan. Orlan.net, 8 July 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.orlan.eu/>.

Week3 Assignment: Robotics and Art

The topic of this week is robot, but not only robots nowadays or in the future, professor traced the history of robotic history. One popular point of view by Walter Benjamin towards machine and robotics is that Mechanical reproduction destroy uniqueness, culture and even tradition: it eliminates the aura of original artwork, written in his famous paper The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Ch2). Now I realized human has been long imagining the interaction with machine with both curiosity and scare (Part3). However, I don't think development of robotics and machine would damage our culture and art, but generating new ground for art and imagination. People are now creating human-like robots, or the "friendly-looking" robots as described by Japanese professor Machiko Kusahara, since in this way, people won't get scared and may the robotics be part of human life.

One influential application of these kinds of robots is Japanese Animation. While animation gives enough freedom for artists, the success reflects the promising expectations that we have about robotics. I would give one example here--Doraemon. Doraemon is a robotic cat that comes from the 22nd century. He comes to 20th century and stays with Nobi Family. Doraemon always help the Nobis with the devices from 22nd century(IMDb). They made great friends with each other. In the animation, the robotics can sleep, eat, think and have emotions that a human possesses but have incredible devices, cute appearance and machine-like problems.

Doraemen Poster

Human-like appearance and emotions

Doraemen Theme Song

Reference

Benjamin, Walter. "Two." The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Trans. Andy Blunden. N.p.: Zeitschrift Für Sozialforschung, 1936. N. pag. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Feb. 2005. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. <http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm>.

"Doraemon." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069576/>.

Doraemon Theme Song. Prod. Kan Sawada. Perf. Kazuyo Aoki. Shin Ei Animation, 1979. YouTube. YouTube, 17 Apr. 2008. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l-r7_f0CVs>.

Kusahara, Machiko. "Robotics Machiko Kusahara." Interview. YouTube. Uconlineprogram, 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZ_sy-mdEU>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Robotics Pt3." Lecture. YouTube. YouTube, 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkP7oSZVkbg>.

Week2 Assignment: Math and Art

As a junior student majoring in Math/Econ, I was very glad to see the topic of this week! Mathematics eventually gained an approach to stay closer to the real world! It has been a long time that people consider Mathematics and people who study it as arcane and sophisticated while the art department, which is located in the far north of the campus, is usually none-related to math. As several points presented in Professor's lecture, I found the perspective to be the most direct interaction between math and art. Mathematician is not creating features but discovering facts. While we compare the paintings before and after Renaissance, we would see the clear difference in displaying objects since painters don't have the knowledge of projecting 3D object into 2D canvas (Aliar). Besides, the content starts to contain ordinary people instead of religious images. Therefore, the application of perspective in artwork shifted the paradigm of human aesthetic vision.

Madonna and Child (c.1300)

Young Woman With Unicorn. 1506

Besides the application of perspective, there are a lot more links between art and math, like the golden ratio, dimension. Even the technology of computer is heavily based on mathematical calculation, which is prevalently used in modern artwork.

Furthermore, there is a point of view stayed in my mind that mathematical formulas itself are artworks, some of them are even masterpiece! One famous example is Euler's Formula:



It was discovered in 1748 by Leonard Euler (1707 - 1783). No one could tell how it was created, maybe only god can interpret it. an equation connecting the fundamental numbers i, pi, e, 1, and 0 (zero), the fundamental operations +,* , and exponentiation, the most important relation =, and nothing else (Weisstein). I don't know what non-math major student see from this formula, but it gives me the same enjoyment of beauty and impression those amazing painting and sculpture has given me. It is a perfect union of the simple numbers, just like the great mountain combined every elements in the nature world.

I don't separate art and math as individual subject, but a different focus in discovering the world. Everything that inspires me and brings me the enjoyment of beauty would be considered an artwork to me, including the formulas and numbers that do so.

Reference

Aliar. "19 | November | 2012 | Alia's Site." Alias Site. IICS, 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.           <http://aliar.iics-k12.com/2012/11/19/>.
Buoninsegna, Duccio Di. Madonna and Child. 1300. Greatest paintings of the Medieval era.             The Stroganoff Madonna New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York CIty.
"Duccio Di Buoninsegna (c.1255-1319)." Duccio Di Buoninsegna: Sienese Painter, Maesta                Altarpiece. Visual-arts-cork.com, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. <http://www.visual-arts-                    cork.com/old-masters/duccio-buoninsegna.htm>.
Da Urbino, Raphael. Young Woman With Unicorn. 1506. Oil Paint. 65 cm × 61 cm. Galleria            Borghese.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Woman_with_Unicorn. 12, 10, 2013.
Weisstein, Eric W. "Euler Formula." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.                         http://mathworld.wolfram.com/EulerFormula.html

Week1 Assignment: Two Cultures

    I would agree with professor Snow's point that people had gone too far in pursuing differentiated achievement in art and science and causing misunderstanding between these two group of people, which he described as "a sheer loss to us all"(Snow 12). In Sir Ken Robinson's video about changing education paradigms, art is described as victims, and contemporary education system is modeled on the interest of industrialization (RSA Animate).

    However, the idea of third culture gets most of my enthusiasm, called the "nerd culture" by Kevin Kelly in his article "The Third Culture", that "nerd"starts to generate culture and impact. It reflects spirit of both science and art. I would consider it as a negating example of Snow's point because it shows the barrier between science and art is nonexistent. The third culture abandoned restricted approach of classical scientists and reject the abstract and irrelevant artwork. J. Brockman,a literary agent to many bright scientists, writes, “Unlike previous intellectual pursuits, the achievements of the third culture are not the marginal disputes of a quarrelsome mandarin class: They will affect the lives of everybody on the planet.”

    Moreover, these nerds are having great impact on the world. A famous example is the Internet we are using. Specifically, Facebook, the world's largest online social sites, is launched by Mark Zuckerberg using the efficient algorithm and advanced technology support. Now, 70% of U.S. population has a Facebook account with 1.1 billion active users (Facebook.Inc). Online social network has developed their own culture, which penetrates our lives to every aspects. Tesla, a booming automotive company, combines technology and art perfectly by making their electric cars. People start to realize that science is not that far from our lives, technology can also make pretty stuff.

Source from www.recinet.org

Nowadays, no many people can isolate from social media completely

Tesla Model S : 2013

www.autoweek.com by Jake Lingeman

Also, the artist starts to accept this third culture and mix it into their artwork.

Ring of Fire

chamber of mystery

    These two pictures above are the artwork by Mathieu Briand in Glow on Santa Monica Beach. Inside the chamber, it created varying psychological experience when we approach the screen. And the ring above the chamber represents the sun.

Reference

C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution(Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1959). 

Facebook Inc., Annual Report. Menlo Park: Facebook Inc., 2012. Dec. 31st, 2012. http://investor.fb.com/annuals.cfm

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. Science and Society, 13 Feb. 1998. Web. 04 Oct. 2013.

J. Brockman, The Third Culture (1996). Available at www.edge.org/3rd_culture/index.html.

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms. Adapt. Abi Stevenson. Perf. Sir Ken Robinson. YouTube. YouTube, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 05 Oct. 2013.