Space + Art (week 9)

This week's topic of "Space" is the perfect concept that embraces all the ideas that we've studied throughout this quarter. Cosmos is the most complexed entity we are involved in. Its single organism works highly complicated and accurate cosmic system -- many scientist indicates that the cosmos is the "complexity machine". Human beings have awed its existence and continuously tried to explore the mysteries it has. Since long time before even the science technology couldn't have developed yet, people made several efforts in quest of outer space. Professor Vesna introduced Copernicus as the prominent astronomer back in the days. His devotion to the study for space is admirable and several theories (such as Heliocentrism) he developed against conventional studies eventually brought the space age forward.

heliocentrism by Nicolas Copernicus

After the Soviet Union invented Sputnik in 1957, this caused the whole new era scientifically and politically as well. The space science research in the United States had been accelerated tremendously in the US out of the fear of the Soviet Union. This period of space race between the US and the Soviet Union brought another big progress in space studies. During the Cold War, the political containment policy against Soviet Union and vice versa encouraged both countries even though it was originally to prepare for the war to destroy each other.

Cosmos is the most mysterious and unknown space even until today. The curiosity that human beings have had was expressed through many artists' films, writings, paintings, and photographies. Firstly, artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand -- who took a picture of both earth and space, then compared its similarities -- says that there's a certain pattern of beauty across the earth and the whole universe. When we carefully observe the photographic patterns, the universe and earth look alike in some ways. It seems somewhat contrived. Even though, the great observation and original interpretation from different perspective produced an unique work of art. The artist is well utilizing art, nature, and science as the source for another artistic work.

Second artistic interpretation is "Powers of ten (1977)" by Eames. It shows the macro and micro world zooming in and out the world. The camera took the whole universe in one frame. This video encouraged me to realize that a human being would be another entity of the universe. The organisms of cells and molecules look like the universe as we've observed above that the universe is also similar to Earth and nature. It means that eventually we are connected to the universe at the end, the space organism isn't different from the ones that consist of our bodies.
It is generally very hard to recognize how we are small part in the humongous universe, or we have never recognized the bigger assemblage that we are involved. We might be a part of another human body. Apparently, the universe and the human body doesn't relate to the other, it makes a certain harmony in a mathematical mechanism; powers of ten. The designers Charles and Ray Eames (who took the Power of tens) are the representative artists who are applying third culture ideas to their design who combine the scientific ideas with their artistic desire.

Ciatations:

"The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, Tech." 'The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, Tech' N.p., 23 Jan. 2015. Web. 31 May 2015. <http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2015/01/the-universe-is-a-complexity-machine-intelligent-life-and-technology-may-be-common-in-the-cosmos.html>.

8 Space Pt1. Dir. Victoria Vesna. Lecture, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/6ZIqTR332l8>.

8 Space Pt2. Dir. Victoria Vesna. Lecture, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/hLZMDpoP-u0>.

Heaven and Earth. Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/lj7_zkk6i4o>.

Powers of Ten. Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/0fKBhvDjuy0>.

NanoTech + Art (Week8)

Nanotechnology is seemingly very difficult and complicated field to dig into as a political science major student. This is never familiar for myself and many other of my fellow students who are not studying science. Watching the lecture videos this week, Dr. Gimzewski explained how nanotechnology originated, developed, and utilized in many parts of our lives today. Even though it is always near to us, we don't really recognize the existences of those. Nevertheless, it seems hard to collaborate nanotechnology to art, but there has been evidences of nano (nanoparticles) utilizations.
                                   

Stained glass art that you can easily find in church is a good example of the utilization of nanoparticles. Firstly, in the lecture, nanoparticles are introduced to have diameters between 1 and 100 nanometers. Using this nano-sized small particles, of course they didn't know the nanotechnology at that point, medieval artisans conducted alchemical experiment adding gold chloride to molten glass. This is the beginning of the stained glass; analysis of the stained glass revealed that gold and silver nanoparticles, acting as quantum dots, reflected red and yellow light, respectively. Different size of the nanoparticles affect the color of the gold particles. Nano-metallurgy played a role in medicine and religion. Both gold and silver nanoparticles were utilized in Biblical times and probably much earlier than that. The famous scientist, Michael Faraday, deduced that the unexpected color was due to the extremely small size of the gold particles.

  

Lycurgus cup is another example of combination between nanotechnology and dichroism in ancient years. Its method of fabrication and the exceptional workmanship involved, and unusual color effect makes this extraordinary. What is important this cup has is dichroic effect achieved by making the glass with tiny proportions of nanoparticles of gold and silver -- Dichroic effect is caused by dichroic material of which visible light is split up into different arrays of colors. Alchemist experimented mixture of gold and silver alloys with several different proportions. The Lycurgus Cup illustrates a short-lived technology developed by ancient Roman glass-workers. They discovered that glass could be colored red, and unusual color change effects generated by the addition of a precious metal bearing material when the glass was molten thanks to the development of nanoparticles. However, the inability to control the colorant process meant that relatively few glasses of this type were produced, and even fewer survive, which brought great impact on red-green dichroism.

Citations:
Chan, Chi. "From Nanotech to Nanoscience | Chemical Heritage Foundation." From Nanotech to Nanoscience | Chemical Heritage Foundation. Chemical Heritage Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/media/magazine/articles/26-2-from-nanotech-to-nanoscience.aspx>.

Freestone, Ian. "The Lycurgus Cup – A Roman Nanotechnology." The Lycurgus Cup – A Roman Nanotechnology (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.arne-lueker.de/Objects/work/Surface%20Plamons/lycurgus.pdf>.

Gilleo, Ken. "The Alchemy of Nanotechnology." CircuiTree (2006): n. pag. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.et-trends.com/files/The_Alchemy_of_Nanotechnology.pdf>.

Nanotech Jim Pt3. Dr. Gimzeweski. Lecture. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/X0HCNiU_108>.

Nanotech Jim Pt4. Dr. Gimzeweski. Lecture. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/yHCuZetAIhk>.

Sciau, Philippe. "Nanoparticles in Ancient Materials: The Metallic Lustre Decorations of Medieval Ceramics." The Delivery of Nanoparticles (2012): n. pag. Web. 24 May 2015.

Neuroscience + Art (Week 7)

The study of Neuroscience and brain is one of the field that has a humongous and countless potentiality of future biology. When it comes to the combination of Neuroscience and Art, the book, The Age of Insight, says that human brain takes a huge part of artistic creativity to produce great artworks. In other words, it means that all art follows the rules of visual art. The pioneer of the Neuro-aesthetist, Semir Zeki, indicates all the artists as tacit and potential Neuroscientists giving us an example of Mondrian's art that based on straight line before the discovery of brain cell that only reacts with straight lines. He believes that the artistic intuition is a result of internal and instinctive appreciation of human brain activities.

Mondrian's Paintings

In the lecture, professor Vesna explains main two concept of brain activity; consciousness and unconsciousness. And then, she introduces two prominent psychologists, Jung and Freud. Even though two scholars have different point of view toward details about consciousness and unconsciousness, both claim the artistic expression is definitely related to a certain neurological activities. Especially, Freud argues that artists' paintings or any other forms of artworks are the result of unfulfilled need. Unconsciously, individual artists put their hidden desires or blurred memories of their early years(childhood years) into the drawings. 

Leonardo Da Vinci could be the best example of an artist that explicitly expressed his unconscious desires through his art. He was born as a illegitimate child in noble family and raised under step mother. His entire childhood was full of lack of fatherhood. He kept dreaming of an eagle that pecks his lips; which implies the passive sexual activities. Actually, the lack of the father led to the obsession for motherhood and homosexual inclination. He would have picked some pretty-boys as pupils by their appearance rather than drawing skills. Also, he had drawn "Mona Lisa", and "The Virgin and Child with St. Anne" during the highlight of his career trying to reproduce the benevolent smile of mother in the memory.

Based on the theories, art has been developed and created by many painters in many types. In modern days, Art Therapy is another form of collaboration of brain and art. Art therapy is one type of therapy to treat patients emotions and internal anxieties through drawing something, which many experts believe that the art is the main medium that human beings can express themselves. That is originally derived from both theories by Freud and Jung. According to Freud's therapy method, patients are required to draw anything that comes up with their minds and then, they get to explore their unconsciousness in the drawings. On the other hand, Jung emphasizes the connection of the drawing from our unconsciousness to our consciousness eventually, which can be accomplished through conversation about the drawing.

From the above explanations, we could figure out that the each artwork could be better understood if we take our brain activities of unconsciousness and consciousness into account. Human brain technology and art has amazing potentials to create synergy effect when our brain is well-appreciated by artists and well-utilized by them.


Citations:

Huang, Mengfei. "The Neuroscience of Art." The Neuroscience of Art (n.d.): 24-26. Stanford University. Web. 17 May 2015.

Jung and Freud 1. Youtube. N.p., 11 Nov. 2012. Web. 17 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/_OXGd_mHut4>.

Jungian Art Therapist. Youtube. N.p., 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 17 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/BBjVB3SalBk>.

Kandel, Eric R. The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain: From Vienna 1900 to the Present. New York: Random House, 2012. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Neuroscience-pt1.” 17 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/TzXjNbKDkYI>

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Neuroscience-pt2.” 17 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/TFv4owX3MZo>

What Is Art Therapy? Youtube. Southwestern College - Santa Fe, 27 May 2013. Web. 17 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/E5tgfOBqwMk>.

BioTech + Art (Week 6)

As the development of biotechnology, human beings have been hugely benefitted in many ways; clone techs supports organ duplication, or GMO foods help starvations all around the world. Food coloring and shaping and DNA manipulation technology (Stem Cell) are also regarded to be a form of art.

Yellow Watermelon

Stem Cell Technology

In this regard, UCLA anthropologist professor, Chris Kelty, expected our future form of biological culture of DIYbio (do-it-yourself biology), which was encouraged to explore experimental attempts in garage or college lab believing in power of outlaws. As a result, aligned with the DIYbio idea, many artists are motivated as well in order to express their artistic desires utilizing life beings, especially such as animals, humans, or foods. They are actively participating in this movement as likely to be Victorian Gentlemen. The group, Symbiotica, is one example you can find easily tries out the combination of biotechnology and art.

Victimless Leather: Tissue Culture & Art

This is a representing illustration of artistic biology, created by Oron Catts, who cultivated "jacket" from mouse tissue inside of glass ball as an artistic experiment. Their work goes back to the Joe Davis's first type of transgenic art. Art is basically pursuing the creation of beauty from something. The more original source you use, which no one imagines, the better effects you will extract. The use of living organisms as a material for an artwork would be a shocking trial. With respect to this, mutilation, mutation, selective breeding, or transgenics are the diverse methods they use to derive best beauty from the resources just as you drive, bicycle, or walk to get to the destination. For example, George Gessert, who selectively bred and recombined flowers, then he discovered aesthetics of shape or color from the result.

However, their efforts to create a beauty, their biotechnological conducts might bring about the ethical or social problems. The DIYbio that was mentioned above encourages the public's active participation using biotechnologies. Because of incautious usage of it, technologies were abused and caused some illnesses to the society. The technology inversely harms the ones who developed it. Firstly, the movie, Gattaca, criticized the gene manipulation. The development of human technology of selecting superior genes from the inferior ones produce a horrible future. In fact, there are some scientific skills that make possible to create a baby in favor of parents' interests. That is morally supposed to happen and hugely selfish idea that misused science technology in behalf of themselves. 

      

It is definitely obvious to try many attempts on science-artistic experiments, of course in favor the expression of a certain type of beauty but also the development of biotechnology. However, as the emergence of aesthetic plastic surgery aggravated lookism to the society, especially Asian cultures, the combination of biotechnology and art produces some unwanted result; unethical gene manipulation, or obtainment of human egg cells for the clone experiments (Hwang Woo Suk incident in 2005, later cinematized: "Whistle Blower"). In this regard, their trials must have ethical guideline and limit to the point at which prevent social problems but still promotes the originality of art. 

Citations:

Feuer, Jack. "Outlaw Biology - UCLA Magazine." UCLA Magazine. N.p., 1 July 2010. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://magazine.ucla.edu/features/outlaw-biology/>.

Gattaca - Trailer. Dir. Andrew Nicole. Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2015. <https://youtu.be/PC6ZA1dFkVk>.

Kelty, Chris. “Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology?”. Web. 10 May 2015.

Miranda, Carolina. "Weird Science: Biotechnology as Art Form." ARTnews. N.p., 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.artnews.com/2013/03/18/biotechnology-as-art-form/>.

Vesna, Victoria, narr. “BioTech Art Lectures I-V.” N.p., . Web. 10 May 2015.

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