Professor Vesna starts this week’s topic by introducing to us idea that as technology progresses so does our perception of our bodies as well (Vesna Lecture 4). As a reoccurring theme in the course, we see how art is assisting in the progression of other fields of study and this week it’s medicine and technology. We have learned of various artists and medical practitioners who have contributed to this movement such as Orlan and Henry Gray. Orlan went through actual surgical procedures to recreate beauty while Henry Gray provided body visuals for the medical community. We see other artists starting to change the perception of certain medical procedures and assistance to be something unique and highly interesting as well. For example, Marc Ecko has completely transformed the image of having a prosthetic limb. He showed others it can be a canvas therefore changing the empathetic perception of having a prosthetic limb usually entails.

We see the importance of art slowly making its way into the evaluation of potential medical students. Robert Glatter discusses how medical schools valued critical thinking, but brings up an argument in which “right brain characteristics may actually hold greater value in the eyes of some experts” (Glatter 2013). He states that exhibiting right brain qualities helps individual’s succeed in the developing world of medicine because visual imagery. The digital world is becoming the main tool of diagnosing an individual (Glatter 2013). We see this to be true with the introduction and constant development of the MRI and CT scans.

The integration of art into medicine and technology contributes to a larger system that helps society develop and function. We can tie this into Donald Ingber’s article The Architecture of Life (1997). He goes into detail of self-assembly and tensegrity structures. Effecting one aspect of the structure/system will affect the other parts that make up the whole structure (Ingber 1997). He outlines the connectivity of individual parts working harmoniously to take on constant change and transforming to become something new. Tying this back to art and medicine, we see how if either art or medicine advances so the other does.

A prime example presented in class is the Hippocratic Oath (Tyson 2001). We see how the classic oath has transformed to include this assistance of medical suicide but still upholding much of the classic values. Additionally Tyson’s article gives us percentages of different variations of medical oaths (2001). 

Citiations:

Glatter, Robert. "Can Studying Art Help Medical Students Become Better Doctors?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2013/10/20/can-studying-art-help-medical-students-become-better-doctors/3/>.

Ingber, Donald. "The Architecture of LIfe." Scientific American (1998): 48-57. Print.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html>.

Templeton, Graham. "World’s Most Powerful MRI Can Lift a Tank like Magneto, or See Deep into Your Brain | ExtremeTech." ExtremeTech. 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/169526-worlds-most-powerful-mri-can-lift-a-tank-like-magneto-or-see-deep-into-your-brain>.

"TENSEGRITY." Simple Tensegrity Structures. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.tensegriteit.nl/e-simple.html>.

"Tuvie." Tuvie Ecko Prosthetic Leg Project Modern and Stylish Artistic Prosthetic Leg for Graffiti Artists Comments. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.tuvie.com/ecko-prosthetic-leg-project-modern-and-stylish-artistic-prosthetic-leg-for-graffiti-artists/>.

This week’s topic we covered robotics and art. Heather Dewey-Hagborg uses 3-D printing to recreate the facial structures of random DNA samples collected through random hair strands or used gums (Ghose 2015). Here we see how robotics and art interact to produce an interesting art exhibit.

Professor Vesna goes into great detail regarding how knowledge was dispersed throughout the world. With the creation of the printing press we see that books, knowledge, can be mass produced and therefore reaching to people around the world (Vesna Lecture 3). The printing press allows individuals to take up a specific task and repetitively carry them out without any meaning. Workers mindlessly recreate without any attachment to what they are producing. As a sociology major we have learned this to be called alienation. According to Marx, workers go through four steps of alienation where the worker gains a new identity, becomes an extension of the product, his actions belong to production and he/she no longer interacts with anyone (Cox 1998). Although knowledge and products are going to reach many people across the world, it comes at a cost to the individual making it. Machiko Kushara argues that this type of production is the emergence of a new culture.

We can tie in what Walter Benjamin was arguing in that mechanical production puts an end to uniqueness of art (1936). It separates how art is traditionally made but most importantly how authentic it is. Benjamin says that instead of art being produced due to ritual, it’s being reproduced because of politics (2). Mass production devalues what is being made but most importantly reshapes the meaning behind art. However in film mechanical production is significant. It requires individuals to be more emotionally invested into what they are viewing and can capture various emotions and perspectives that can’t be captured through picture. 

Citations:

Aswitha. "Robotics." 4CAST. CAST, 16 July 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.the4cast.com/robotics/>.

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." (1936): 1-7. Print.

Cox, Judy. "AN INTRODUCTION TO MARX'S THEORY OF ALIENATION." AN INTRODUCTION TO MARX'S THEORY OF ALIENATION. International Socialism, 1 July 1998. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj79/cox.htm>.

Ghose, Tia. "Bio-Art: 3D-Printed Faces Reconstructed from Stray DNA." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.livescience.com/50146-art-genetic-data-privacy.html>.

"Henry Ford’s Assembly Line Turns 100." Here Now RSS. Trustees of Boston University, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/10/16/assembly-line-anniversary>.

The existence of the collaboration between math and art has lasted for centuries which had astonished me in this week’s topic. This is evident when Professor Vesna discusses perspective within art. Initially when we think of perspective in math, we have to calculate the height of the building given the length of the parallel flagpost and the shadow it casts. In contrast when we think of art we see how depth is captured by the surrounding environment. Typically we kept these ideas of perspective in their respective fields. However it is wrong to keep them divided. Artist throughout the centuries have challenged the connection of math and art which further developed the theories and their works.

Today we see how works are still developing by challenging the number of dimensions that actual exist. Linda Henderson goes into the depth of the history of the 4^th dimension. In her piece we see how certain art genres have accepted, denied, and further pushed the idea of the 4^th dimension.  This dimension challenges the idea of space, geometry, and perspective.  She quotes Tony Robin to conclude her piece which I believe accurately portrays the works of four dimension artist (Henderson 2006). “We are motivated by a desire to complete our subjective experience by inventing new aesthetic and conceptual capabilities” (Henderson 2006, 209.) Arguably the idea of math and art has developed to incorporate experience.

A prime example of this is an audio and visual performance of the Four Dimensions (Selikoff 2012). In this performance we see how our visual and audio senses are aroused by the geometric patterns presented in the background while an orchestra performs live. Arguably we see how this idea of the 4^th dimension includes experience as well. The visual math representation in the back physically creates this dimension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_d8pMxm8Ns

Going back to the history of math and art, an artist that was presented in lecture that portrayed this relationship was Brunelleschi. I recall learning about his works in middle school for being progressive due to the fact he introduce the idea of perspective in his pieces. The surrounding buildings typically portrayed this. He introduced the idea of the vanishing point and understood that there should be a single vanishing point in which all the lines merged.

We see how the idea of the mathematical plane aided, challenged, and further develop theories in both math and art. Painters studied used mathematical knowledge to assist them in creating pieces that further challenged how we view things and the extent of their mediums.

Citations:

Henderson, Linda. "Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion." Leonardo 17.3 (2006): 205-10. Print.

Hundreds, Bobby. "TRIP OUT. | The Hundreds." The Hundreds TRIP OUT Comments. 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://thehundreds.com/trip-out/>.

Pickover, Cliff. "The Fourth Dimension by Cliff Pickover." The Fourth Dimension. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/fourth.html>.

Selikoff, Nathan. "Four Dimensions - Real-time Audio-visual Performance - Nathan Selikoff."Nathan Selikoff. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://nathanselikoff.com/works/four-dimensions>.

"Giotto Di Bondone - The Complete Works." Giotto Di Bondone - The Complete Works. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.giottodibondone.org/>.

Throughout my whole life science and art have always been kept in separate categories. Coming to UCLA this divide is prevalent with the separation of our campus. Me being a sociology major, I fall into the category of humanities or in other words a North Campus major. Whereas the hard sciences are the South Campus majors. Also the surrounding buildings reflect this divide. Walking around North Campus we have the four original buildings of UCLA and the beautiful sculpture garden. On the other hand, I have heard critiques of South Campus arguably looking boring and dull. It is debatable the surroundings reflect what's expected out of these fields of research and people who work in them. This constant reinforcement that art and science are meant to be separate is what C.P. Snow brings to attention. He argues the reason these fields remain a part are due to the curriculum of schools and universities, and eventually a third culture will emerge that will close this divide and integrate them once again.

http://www.tracygallagher.com/tag/ucla-sculpture-gardens/

C.P. Snow originally says these two cultures are divided into two groups of people, literary intellectuals and scientists. Which of course made complete sense to me, however when Kevin Kelly and Victoria Vesna go in depth about the third culture it introduced to me a foreign idea that I have never thought of but is becoming ever more prevalent with the advancement of science and the emergence of new artists. 

Victoria Vesna backs up Snow's claim on the emergence of a third culture and argues that artist using technology as a medium are helping to bridge this gap among literary intellects and scientists. We see this today in contemporary art and there's no better example than Jeff Koons. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/arts/design/jeff-koons-a-retrospective-opens-at-the-whitney.html?_r=0

His unique and lavish art pieces goes without question his use of technology to produce his enormous pieces. Careful calculations need to be conducted in order for him to produce these pieces that are quite a wonder to see. Additionally Kevin Kelly reminds us that this third culture is more about creation and experience rather than creativity. Additionally experiences mean more than what he calls "rational proof". 

 http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/3dprinting.jpg

The two distinct culture that have constantly remained separated have been slowly integrating into a new culture that have been brought to my attention when I furthered reflected on the changing technology around me. 

Sources

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 1998

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 (2001): 121-125. Print. 

Haselton, Todd. "3D Printers, 4K TV, Wearable Tech: What to Expect in 2014." TechnoBuffalo. 30 Dec. 2013. Web. 5 Apr. 2015.

Smith, Roberta. "Shapes of an Extroverted Life." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 June 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2015.

Gallagher, Tracey. "UCLA Sculpture Gardens | Tracy Gallagher - Travel Journalist." UCLA Sculpture Gardens | Tracy Gallagher - Travel Journalist. Web. 5 Apr. 2015.