Art and Medical Technology

Initially, art and medicine may not appear to be related to one another at all. However, after this week's lecture about the creation and development of the MRI, the origins of plastic surgery, and Ingber's discovery about the architecture of life, Professor Vesna convinced me of the overwhelming presence of art in medicine. 

To me, the technological leap that humans have made from human dissections to the MRI really astounds me. We normally do not stop to think of all the complicated metabolic processes that allow humans to breathe or eat, or how a MRI machine works; we take it for granted. However, the MRI does not have to do with science and medicine alone; it is also a form of art. Silvia Cassini's paper about the MRI really brought my attention to the relationship between medicine, technology and art. I agree with how he states that the MRI has the same "look" that a portrait has; it has the capacity to be performative, and using the MRI actually takes quite a bit of artistic skills. It seems that medicine and technology has opened up many possibilities to create art. Below are a few examples of the use of MRI to make art: 

Or, if you check out this website, you will see many examples of MRI and art: http://www.radiologyart.com/

On the other hand, I had never thought about plastic surgery as an "art"; merely a procedure to enhance one's appearance for future selfish career goals (Michael Jackson and many K-pop stars). Therefore, it stunned me to learn that plastic surgery actually originated 4000 years ago, and has since developed, until recently, as a way to "give form to" brave and scarred soldiers coming back from war. Before today's cutting edge technology in medicine, I could only imagine the challenges that injured soldiers returning from war would have to face in their every day lives. With the development of prosthetics and plastic surgery, however, soldiers can be skillfully "recreated" and can acclimate back to society. 

It is quite exciting to imagine the development of art, science, and technology in the future. I feel that only now, humans are beginning to discover the relationship between art and medicine/technnology. We can now alter our bodily image in so many ways, and we can also see, down to the microscopic level, of all our cells. For instance, Ingber in his "Architecture of Life" paper proves that the universal set of building rules based on tensegrity architecture guides the design of the organic structure. In other words, this kind of architecture forms the basis of everything, even things we cannot see cells. Shown below is the comparison of the brain cell and the universe, and how similar they are.

As an aspiring doctor, I had never stopped to think about the relationship between art and science. Now that I think about it, this week's lesson has taught me the close relationship between science, technology, and art, and how the advancement of one will open infinite possibilities for other fields. 

Citations:

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI
Configurations Between Science and Arts.” The John Hopkins University Press
and the Society for Literature and Science. (2011): 19:73-99. PDF File.

Furness, Hannah. "Pioneering plastic surgery records from First World War published." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 13 July 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/9396435/Pioneering-plastic-surgery-records-from-First-World-War-published.html>.

Miller, Mark. Brain Structure Mirrors the Universe. 2007. Virgo Consortium for Cosmological Supercomputer Simulations, Brandeis. Exohuman. Web. 13 Aug. 2008.

"Radiology Art: x-ray art." Radiology Art: x-ray art. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. <http://www.radiologyart.com/>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture 1.” Youtube. 22 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk>

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture 2.” Youtube. 22 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psjnQarHOqQ>

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture 3.” Youtube. 22 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX-9mXd3Y4>

Art, Industrialization, and IROBOT!

Professor Vesna’s lecture this week allowed me to glimpse into the history linked to industrialization and the concept of mass production behind the creation of robots. This all started in the Industrial Revolution, an age when society was greatly affected by new manufacturing processes.

Today, in American society, it seems like there is an everlasting debate about robots and their use in the real world. While robots may greatly assist with performance of arduous and dangerous tasks, there is always the risk of robot autonomy that exist. However, according to our guest speaker Professor Machiko Kusahara, she talked about the difference in perceptions between Western society and Eastern society on robots. She mentioned that in Japan, engineers are all interested in creating humanoid robots who are friendly and may even be used to care for the elderly people. In many ways, robotics combines two of Japan's biggest cultural crushes: animation and technology. Many experts even mention how "humanoid robots may be even seen as living things and desirable members of families."

Above are pictures of the latest Japanese "supermodel" robot that was unveiled recently. Although its main use is currently in the entertainment industry, it is quite exciting to think of all the endless possibilities that robots may possess in the future! 

In contrast, Kusahara believes that the West casts robots as forces of evil that pose as a threat to world peace and job security. I feel this represents the general concensus of American society, as most of the things I hear about robots in the media are all negative. One film that demonstrates such negativity about robots is I-Robot, which I'm assuming everybody has seen. 

Judging from the plot of this amazingly violent film, I believe that the film producer is trying to tell us that we should be careful of what we create. Much like the atomic bomb, it may really push mankind to the next level of technological innovations. However, at the same time, it can be very hard to unmake, and has the potential to destroy us all. This represents the Western view that Professor Kusahara mentions: the distrust and fear of robots.

Without doubt, robotics has advanced our technological capabilities greatly. At the same time, though, it has erased the uniqueness, perception, and the aura from original pieces of art. Artists now are using robots and technology into helping design and creating art. Walter Benjamin argues in his paper that technology itself such as film and photography has erased the originality and authenticity of a work of art that has not yet been reproduced. I believe that using robotics via computers has allowed artists to even explore freedom and creativity without having to worry about a single mistake. Robotics has not corrupted art; instead it has allowed for innovation and creation.

Citations:

Media Speedway: How the Assembly Line  Produced Mass Media. 2011. Photograph. http://maggieschneider.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/industrial-revolution.jpg w=300&h=232. 15 September 2011.

Benjamin, Walter. The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. London: Penguin, 1936. Print.

"Photo in the News: Ultra-Lifelike Robot Debuts in Japan." Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News . Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

"Industrial Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 20 Oct.

Professor Machiko Kusahara on japanese robotics. Dir. Victoria Vesna. Perf. Machiko Kusahara. UCLA, 2013. Film.

Unit 3. Dir. Victoria Vesna. Perf. Victoria Vesna. UCLA, 2013. Film.


Image from Irobot. 2011. Photograph. http://www.jamiemaing.com/wpcontent/uploads/irobot.jpg Web. 11 June 2011. 

Math+Art, and the Mona Lisa

Before taking this course, I thought math was only about patterns, ratios, and shapes. In contrast, I realized this week that there is actually a large amount of math involved in art, and that in fact the intricacies of art can be described using math. One of the commonly seen ancient creations, the pyramid, can be seen as strongly correlated to the special right triangle that corresponds to the golden ratio: 

This ancient creation exhibits how mathematics produces art, and how mathematical tools have always been used to create art. As Professor Vesna mentioned in lecture, a lot of artists create their works based on mathematics, such as Leonardo Da Vinci. To me, especially after watching the Da Vinci Code, I really found his drawing of the Mona Lisa as an attempt to recreate the golden ratio quite intriguing:

Professor Vesna pointed out in lecture that math is critical in the study of art, and how if you want to draw irregular dimensions, then you will have to use math to calculate it. Leonardi Da Vinci studied perspective, and used it to a great extent in order to recreate the golden ratio. He was a great scientist and artist, as he successfully integrated art and math both as an artist and a mathematician. I believe that what made him stand out the most from the other artists is his ability to make art and math contribute to each other: His art pieces were influenced by his mathematical research, while his mathematical research was facilitated by his artistic expressions. 

On another note, Linda Henderson's article The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion referenced the two concepts of space beyond immediate perception that were central to the development of modern art. I found Tony Robbin's quote interesting, as he attempted to recreate his work integrating the idea of the fourth dimension. Here is his website: http://tonyrobbin.net/

I have learned that mathematics is critical to both science and art, because it acts as a critical barrier to connecting these two fields. Leonardo Da Vinci would never have been able to research the golden ratio if he hadn't been passionate about art, and vice versa. Mathematicians and artists are similar in the fact that they are both driven by the same passion to know how practical things work in the world. However, what they are different in is that while mathematicians are restricted by formulas and theoretical thinking, artists are free to explore their own ideas in abstract ways. 

Citations

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Kheops-Pyramid.jpg/800px-Kheops-Pyramid.jpg

Vesna, Victoria. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg&feature=player_embedded>

http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/beyond/articles/Art/monalisa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFTSAjZEqPw

Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. “The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion.” Leonardo. 17.3 (1984): 205-210. Print.

http://tonyrobbin.net/

Week 1 Blog

One of the most interesting questions of this course was brought up when Professor Vesna asked “Where did art and science separate?”

To me, as a Psychobiology major taking this class to fulfill a GE requirement, I was greatly intrigued about the relationship between the two. I had always loved classical or any kind of art, but my ultimate career choice path was science. C.P. Snow’s famous lecture the “Two Cultures” really allowed me to view the gap between the arts and sciences.

This very same gap we see today at UCLA like the divide between North and South campus. Common stereotypes include how north campus students normally major in “easy” topics, while south campus students major in “nerdy” topics. Below is a link that demonstrates the humor between the two campuses!

C.P. Snow laments the intellectual divide between the natural sciences and humanities, especially the literary arts, two seemingly elite intellectual disciplines. Snow mentions that the disparity between the rich and the poor is causing this wide gap, and how there was a real different way people thought. On the other hand, Professor Vesna disagrees with this statement, as she argues that that there are moments when the two polar sides intersect. 

This video demonstrates the power of music and its connection to the body, brain and world of nature. Another pep talk given by Adam Steig, one of the science directors here at UCLA at CNSI really demonstrates the power of science and how it has expanded the boundaries of art. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrCIIEyaL_o

I agree with the statement that there exists a middle ground between the two. Being a science major allows to explore all the "artsy" disciplines outside of science, while being a humanities or art major also allows for exploration of science classes. I feel like these two cultures definitely intersect here at UCLA, and that both cultures definitely relate to exploration of new knowledge. At the same time, I believe that like Professor Vesna's statement, there are many disciplines that are actually the so called "third culture."

       Citations: 

1. Pre-Med Memes. 2012. Photograph. https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/554476_228429083941152_1600908644_n.jpg Web. 29 May 2012. 

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

3. Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.

4. Mannes, Elena. "The Music Instinct: Science & Song." Animation. YouTube, Los Angeles. Web. 9 Jan 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZmMF6cprC0>

5. TedxTalks. "The Third Culture: Science, Art, and Ideas: Dr. Adam Steig." Animation. Youtube. Web. 29, Aug 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrCIIEyaL_o>