Unit 4 - Medicine and Art

This week, we learned about the human body and how artists have had a fascination with it since the beginning of recorded history. The complexity and intricate design of the body has fascinated humans, for the simple reason that we love learning more about ourselves. It was interesting to me how Professor Vesna was talking about how hospitals used to be places of art, and how people saw healing as a form of art and felt like developing technology and science had no place there. As different technologies (including X-Rays, CAT scans, and MRIs), surgeries, and medical science advance, they have obviously been incorporated into hospitals, but have also been ingrained into the artistic world. With studies like the Human Genome Project and the Visible Human Project, artists are able to take real, viable data and apply it to their projects in unique and interacting ways.

There is beauty even in the construction of our bodies

From Donald Ingber's article, "The Architecture of Life," I learned about the type of architecture called tensegrity, which he describes as, "a system that stabilizes itself mechanically because of the way in which tensional and compressive forces are distributed and balanced within the
structure." (48) I found this idea fascinating, and am astounded by thinking about how molecules self-assemble into cells, tissues, muscles, and bones, creating beautiful creations. The fact that a body is driven by different genes in an embryo to assemble themselves into a full human body is incredible. This article has expanded my view of how beautiful the body can be, and how science has expanded that beauty by letting us non-invasively see inside ourselves.

I also learned about the Hippocratic Oath, which has been passed down since Hippocrates, an ancient Greek philosopher and "father of medicine." I found it interesting that in the oath, it states, "I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug." I had never known that the medical community, in which almost 100% of medical school graduates swear to this oath, valued the artistic side of medicine this much. I can see this emotional and sympathetic aspect to medicine present in many of the doctors I've had throughout my life, and have seen how that can many times that kind of care can be even more valuable than medication.

What I found interesting in Diana Gromala's Ted Talk was her usage of technology, specifically virtual reality modules, to heal her own chronic pain. She has used her degrees in interactive art and computer science to create compelling intersections between health sciences and art, including fonts that react to the breathing patterns and skin reaction of humans, a virtual reality module based on her own MRI, and a jellyfish meditation virtual program that allows the patient to meditate effectively. She believes that the jellyfish serves as an inner mirror, and enables awareness and helps focus inward. I believe that this holds great implications for the future of our understanding of mental health issues, and serves of an example of how art can be used in a therapeutic and medically valuable way.

Orlan uses plastic surgery to create
art that critiques and exposes
how we view the body

Orlan is a French artist who has been doing performance art using her body since the 1990s. She engages in surgical procedures that were streamed live and recorded, and has engaged in 9 performance procedures, including adding horns to her head (pictured to the left), getting swollen lips, and making her skin translucent. Her art is controversial and cutting-edge, but I believe that she has maybe gone too far in her manipulation of the body. I understand that she is pushing the envelope and desires to make people uncomfortable, but I think that the body naturally desires to survive and be healthy, and I see these extraneous surgeries as counter to that goal. When art borders on actual danger to the humans they seek to depict, I believe it shouldn't happen.

Overall, it is clear that medicine was actually born of art, but with the introduction of new technologies that association isn't so clear. I see art as a new frontier of healing and medicinal solutions for many illnesses, especially mental, and I look forward to seeing how medical professionals and artists continue to bring them together. However, I feel that the body should not be extremely manipulated, and that an appropriate caution should be taken when creating art with actual human bodies.

Citations

Calvetti, Leonello. "Human Foot Anatomy Showing Skin, Veins by Leonello Calvetti." Fine Art America. N.p., 7 July 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Glatter, Robert. "Can Studying Art Help Medical Students Become Better Doctors?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Gromala, Diana. "TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty." YouTube. TedX, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Ingber, Donald E. "The Architecture of Life." Scientific American Jan. 1998: 48-57. Web.

Panda, Sadhu C. "Medicine: Science or Art?" Mens Sana Monographs. Medknow Publications, 2006. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Pescarmona, Denee. "Who Is Orlan?" English 114EM. University of California, Santa Barbara, 2003. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine Pt1." YouTube. UC Online, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine Pt2." YouTube. UC Online, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine Pt3." YouTube. UC Online, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Unit 3 - Robotics and Art

A cyborg is a combination between humans and robots

This week we focused on the convergence of technology and art, and I was specifically interested in the personification and human connection with machines. On a base level it is incredible to me that we can see a bunch of metal and wires and bolts, and assign emotions, feelings, and values to them. This can be met with fear, as we seen in many movies and in pop culture, like robot revolts or nefarious cyborg half-humans. On the other hand, robots are portrayed as helpful, efficient, and even adorable. This dynamic view of robots fascinates me.

One of the most interesting ideas about mechanization and art entering the digital world is how originals can be copied so easily. In his article, Douglas Davis discusses this idea and explains various sides of the issue. The issue cruxes on the value one places on originality. He explains, "often the forger - of Rembrandt, of Vermeer, of classical Greek and Roman art - argues that his work brings pleasure in the same measure as the copied master." (Davis 383) To me, much of the value that I find in art (when I've visited art museums around the country) comes from its originality.

Walter Benjamin expands on this idea when he states, "even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be." (Benjamin 1) He goes on to explain how the intersection of these two disciplines doesn't always induce creative achievement, and explains how sometimes they can even work against each other. For example, one can see that mass-produced paintings and photographs, sold at places like Target and Walmart, are essentially value-less (monetarily, but most would say creatively as well). In art, creative uniqueness is highly valued, whereas in disciplines like mathematics and robotics the same formulas and theorems are repeated in new ways.

Wall-E is a perfect intersection of
robotics and art

The other concept that interests me about robotics was personification and how humans can attach to them like a living being. As robotic science becomes more and more advanced, scientists can make them approximate humans and animals more closely, which allows humans to assign emotions and relationships to them. This can be seen in the phenomena of robot dog funerals in Japan, because people have become so attached to their robotic canines that they feel the need to mourn through having actual services. This can also be seen in how much people love and adore the Pixar lamp in the opening credits of Pixar movies. Audiences laugh and adore this inanimate lamp, which conveys sheepishness and cuteness.

One of the best examples of personifying machines is the Pixar movie Wall-E, which is a marvel of robotic humanization and creating art out of machines. First of all, machines are used in the production and creation of the movie, and secondly the plot and main characters are focused on machinery and artificial intelligence. The themes of love, loneliness, and survival are present in this movie, which resonate with human viewers and somehow engage viewers to see this box of metal as an adorable and sympathetic character. Wall-E takes a dramatic stance on industrialization, by portraying the future of mechanization as essentially a spaceship with a bunch of overweight people.

Citations

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

Davis, Douglas. "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction." Leonardo 28.5 (1995): 381-86. JSTOR. The MIT Press, 20 Oct. 2007. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

Funeralwise. "Japan Embraces Robot Dog Funerals." Digital Dying. N.p., 27 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

"In Japan, Robot Dogs Are for Life -- and Death." YouTube. AFP News Agency, 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Kac, Eduardo. "ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF ROBOTIC ART." ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF ROBOTIC ART. N.p., 1997. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

McGovern, Bridget. "Wall-E: Pixar's Lasting Tribute to the Power of Art." Tor.com. Tor, 19 June 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Munkittrick, Kyle. "On the Importance of Being a Cyborg Feminist." Humanity+ Media. Humanity+ Media, 21 July 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

Osborne, Peter. "Walter Benjamin." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Scott, A. O. "In a World Left Silent, One Heart Beeps." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 June 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Robotics Pt1." YouTube. UC Online, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Walker, Lauren. "Japan's Robot Dogs Get Funerals as Sony Looks Away." Newsweek. Newsweek, 8 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

"WALL·E." IMDb. IMDb.com, 27 June 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Unit 2 - Mathematics and Science

Brahmagupta was an Indian
mathematician who greatly
expanded the idea of "zero"

This week we learned about the interrelationships between mathematics and art. I had never thought about how critical math is to true art, and how it is in fact necessary for all design. One of the most interesting things in the lecture was the concept of zero, and how it came to be. I had never thought about how one would, without knowledge of zero, conceive of a number to signify nothing. Brahmagupta created many rules to understand basic mathematics, which revolutionized that time. Then, Descartes developed those ideas and propelled the concept of zero into the future. We also learned about the Golden Rule, which is an aesthetically appealing ratio, and began to be used for art in ancient Egypt.

This video about the Mandelbrot Fractal was fascinating. It is incredible that such a simple equation (to the left), can produce such an incredibly complex and intricate design. I was initially intrigued because of what I've heard of fractals, but when the video began to zoom in and allow me to see how nature, which is widely considered to be the pinnacle of beauty, was present in this fractal, I was astounded. The trees, rivers, and lakebed I was able to see in the fractal were shocking, and studying this fractal expanded my understanding of how mathematics is built into the very DNA of what we consider to be alluring. 

One eye-opening thing I learned was about perspective in art, and how parallel lines need to converge on the same plane in a painting. It was a Muslim scholar, al-Haytham, in around 1000 B.C.E. that first posited that vision occurred in the brain, and not in the eyes, and he revolutionized the field of optics and how geometry is used in art. It is so interesting to see how something I take for granted in art had to be actually studied and discovered to be implemented successfully. It also changed my view of the value of geometry, because it can create such beautiful things.

Di Vinci described perspective by saying, "Images of
all things are transmitted to the eye by pyramidal lines."

This week I learned a ton about how mathematics, art, and science interrelate and are essential to each other's success. The readings and videos altered my understanding that artists just wanted to be free and create whatever came to them. I learned that the fourth dimension of geometry actually "was primarily a symbol of liberation for artists," (Henderson, 205) which I had never thought about. I now see that the juxtaposition of these three disciplines actually fuels each to new depths of creativity and imagination.

Citations

Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. New York: n.p., 1963. Print.

Das Ji, Ram. Brahmagupta. N.d. N.p.

Di Vinci, Leonardo. The Last Supper. 1948. Santa Maria Delle Grazie, Milan.

"Golden Ratio." Golden Ratio. Math Is Fun, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Henderson, Linda D. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion." Leonardo 17.3 (1984): 205-10. JSTOR. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Scripter, Carl. "Fractals - Mandelbrot." YouTube. DJ DlimitR, 17 June 2006. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov." YouTube. UC Online, 9 Apr. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Weisstein, Eric W. "Mandelbrot Set." Mandelbrot Set. Wolfram Alpha, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Unit 1 - Two Cultures

Me studying abroad in China last summer

Hi everyone! My name is Ryan Reimers, and I'm a senior Business Economics students with a minor in Accounting. The idea of "two cultures" and the split between North and South campus has always been one that I feel distanced from, because I feel like my major doesn't really fit into either of them. I study the effects of human behavior and those social sciences, and at the same time empty mathematical models to better understand markets and economies. I would say that I have experience in both sides of campus, yet art not science have been of much academic interest to me in the past. I am excited to expand my understanding of both disciplines in this class!

I feel right at home in the middle of the campus!

The video by the RSA really spoke to me, and challenged the way that I think about education. One point that I thought a lot about was how he disliked the fact that children are educated in groups by age, which is an idea that has always made sense to me. If kids should be educated in groups based on ability/intellect instead of by age, then much of the education system needs to be changed. I wonder what the gap between science and art would look like if they kids were encouraged to pursue what they were passionate about, even at a young age, versus forcing them to engage in all kinds of standardized tests that they won't care about.

Snow's article also made me think about how I let ideas of science and art affect me, and how since I have never had a massive interest in either, I have always thought that I wasn't capable of understanding or engaging in either discipline, because they both require a lot of discipline and talent (or so I thought). I look forward to seeing how my perspective, which doesn't fall in either camp, can be used to see this disciplines uniquely. 

Citations

Ryan in China, Great Wall. Personal photograph by author. 2014.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.

The RSA. "RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms." YouTube. YouTube, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.

UCLA Campus Map. 2010. Biochemistry Department, Los Angeles.

Vesna, Victoria. "TwoCultures Pt2." YouTube. UC Online, 31 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "TwoCultures Part1." YouTube. UC Online, 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.