Week 9

Ever since I was 10 years old, space was an intriguing entity, mostly because of its infinite size and at the same time our somewhat little knowledge of it. I grew up dreaming to be an astronaut, as stereotypical as that may be, as I read many books and comics of tales to the moon and space adventure. I even had the typical glow in the dark stars on my ceiling to look at as I fell asleep. We do know how little the Earth is in comparison to the rest of the universe. Carl Sagan says in his A Pale Blue Dot, "our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light." In other words, we hold ourselves to be a influential part of the universe, yet we could hold no significance in the larger picture.

Many artist's work have been inspired by the uncertainty and popularity of outer space, one being Robert Rauschenberg, who was invited by NASA to witness the Apollo 11 launch. He was inspired by all things NASA, from buildings to vessels, and you could see it in his work. His 1950's work anticipated the pop art trend, as he took nontraditional mediums and used them in new and original ways. 

Movies have been exploring the possibilities and also market, most notably recently. Interstellar and Gravity are too box office hits within the past two years that have explored the potential of space. I particularly enjoyed Interstellar,  as astronauts travel through a "wormhole" in search of a new home for society. The movie proved to be popular and controversial, as people disagreed as to what the force to propel Matthew McConaughey through the dimensions. It was a ground breaking film and got people thinking of the many possibilities of space travel. 

Cites

Sagan, Carl. "A Pale Blue Dot Quotes." Good Reads. N.p., n.d. Web. 309May 2016.

"SFMOMA | SFMOMA | Explore Modern Art | Our Collection | Robert Rauschenberg | Space (Tribute 21)." San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2016.

Rauschenberg, Robert. Stoned Moon. Digital image. Rauschenberg. Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 May 2016.

"Interstellar (film)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 29 May 2016.

"Interstellar Plot Holes." Movie Plot Holes. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2016.

Week 8

Nanotechnology has been a different topic than what we have discussed so far as it being an art form and being able to see the with the naked eye. It is working on a molicurler level and a atomic level, it is far to small to see without instruments such as a microscope. Old scientific methods become out dated and no applicable. The nanotechnology has the influence to change the world socially. It is a collaborative effort, just like the artist are becoming.

An interesting part of Dr. Gimzewski's lecture was his discussion about the first to conceptual talk about nanotechnology in 1959, Mr. Richard Feynman. He gave a talk called, "There's plenty of room at the bottom," where he suggested how much room there was at the atomic level to create new technology, that could change the world. Feynman was very interested in manipulating things at an atomic scale, and was determined to prove that there was infinite room for growth. One of his challenges was for someone to write 25,000 pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica on a pin head. He would later find that it is possible to write 260,000,000 pages of the Encyclopedia on a pin head. He also realized that on the "nanoscale," the laws of physics change, as thermal jittering and surface tension dominate gravity, and quantum mechanics takes over for Newton's classical mechanics. 

 Richard Feynman

Self assembly or self organization are key to nanotechnology but are not new in terms of nature, as nature has always self organized. There are examples, such as the snowflake, which assembles into unique and beautiful patterns from frozen water molecules or the fractal nature of trees as each tree has a unique fractal nature. These are all composed of atoms and have some how been directed into complex patterns by simple self organization. The Blue Morpho butterfly is an example of this on the nano scale. The fluorescent blue wings of the Morpho butterfly are not made up of a pigment but instead made up of "christmas tree" like structures that are surrounded by air and protein, which manipulates light on the nanoscale and reflect back the fluorescent blue color.  

Sources

"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

Curtin, John. "Art in the Age of Nanotechnology." Art.base. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2015. <https://art.base.co/event/2104-art-in-the-age-of-nanotechnology>.

"Richard Feynman Introduces the World to Nanotechnology with Two Seminal Lectures (1959 & 1984)." Open Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

"Morpho." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

"Research and Innovation Communications." How Butterfly Wings Can Inspire New High-Tech Surfaces. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

week 7

Neuroscience is an growing in technology and we are gaining more comprehension of the human brain with every discovery we go through as humans. The brain is responsible for the most functions within the body, the body relies heavily on the brain to make vast decisions that could hurt or help its own body. Neurons play a major role in the nervous system while they are responsible for connection between cells, The illustration bellow was made by Camillo Golgi, calling it the "Golgi's Method".

An interesting topic that invokes the human brain revolves around drugs and hallucinogens, in the mid 1900's LSD was a big part of the though that it was a psychological marvel that could help take down depression and cases of schizophrenia. LSD also was supposed to help recovering alcoholics. The artist can theoretically portray images of what is going on inside of their brain and can give little restirciotns or guidelines. The following portraits are by the sam artist and one is before the consummation of LSD and after the Consummation of LSD.

The "Day of the Dead" is an interesting ritual in Mexico which takes the common fear of saness of death and turns it around to be a great spiritual up lifting for those who are about to pass and those who have seen their loved ones pass. Families create great sceneries of their loved ones photos and put them up on altars and make them vibrant. The shrines to commemorate their passed family members are put on display for all to see. The tradition brings the community of the people who have died together and they rejoice the passing of death. 

Sources


Szalavitz, Maia. "LSD May Help Treat Alcoholism." Time. 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 15 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience + Art Lectures." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 11 May 2015. Lecture. Online

"Day of the Dead - Dia De Los Muertos - Contemporary Altar - Azcentral.com." Day of the Dead Altar. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2015.

"Neuroscience." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 15 May 2015. 

"The Effect of an Acid Trip on an Artist’s Drawings." 22 Words The Effect of an Acid Trip on an Artists Drawings Comments. The Effect of Acid, n.d. Web. 15 May 2015.

BioTech and Art

As BioTechnology, and technology in general expanding at a rapid rate on the cellular level, the artists have began working with biologists and live tissue, organisms, and life processes. This has raised discussion as to what "BioArt" entails. Furthermore, their are ethical debates about artists "meddling with the genetics structures of natural systems." (Vesna)

Joe Davis was the pioneer of BioArt as he had an idea of putting sounds to light information, in which he called the Audio Microscope. The Audio Microscope allows for one to "hear" living cells, as each cell was given its own signature sound. He then took this idea farther to look at how E. coli responded to jazz, in efforts to create sound waves that would act stressful to bacteria. He would later use E. coli as the vehicle to send a sign of human intelligence and to "send a message in a bottle" to the extra terrestrials. He chose E. coli because it is essential for human digestion and survived through five years of deep space exposure. His message was microvenus, representing both life and female genitalia in response to all the male phallic images in space. Davis was able to translate microvenus into a string of nucleotides and in-between the genes of the bacteria E. coli. He was able to publish via genetics, a truly impressive feat.

Like Davis, artist Eduardo Kac featured the genome in his work, but focused on the human genome in particular. He genetically altered a petunia flower with the DNA in his own blood to create what he called the "Edunia." The flower became a hybrid of Kac and a petunia, where his DNA was expressed in the red veins of the flower. The "Edunia" is a representation of the contiguity of life between different species in a visually significant fashion. The flower has the ability to impress a sense of fascination towards the phenomenon of "life."

Both Davis and Kac were able to impress a sense of fascination towards the public about the phenomenon "life." BioArt is unique in that it can make one question the very meaning of his/her existence and what the relationship is between different species and genomes. 



Citations"

"Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture." Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2015.
Vesna, Victoria, narr. “BioTech Art Lectures I-V.” N.p., . web. 5 Nov 2012.
Kac, Eduardo. “Natural History of the Enigma.” Ekac. 2009. Web. 08 May. http://www.ekac.org/nat.hist.enig.html 
 “Barry Schuler: An Introduction to Genomes.” YouTube. 23 Jan 2009. Web.
Kac, Eduardo. "Bio Art." Bio Art. Kac, n.d. Web. 05 May 2015. 

Event 1 - Hammer Museum

Today I went to the Hammer museum and searched for exhibits that were fascinating and incorporated our unit's such as MetTech and Art. The designs that surrounded me captured my eyes because the abstract paintings and sculptures encapsulated what art I think means. The beauty of the showcases that were put on display under glass cases still allowed you to get up close and see individual paint marks by the artist. If you want to see the whole piece there was plenty of room to step back and see the whole meaning of the painting or sculpture.

This is a art showcase of David Oppenheim eating a gingerbread cookie and showing how it is being digested. He was a pioneer of body art, and earthworks. The picture on the bottom right shows that the gingerbread cookie will digest to become waste. He states here that anything created or morphed by the body of the artist including byproducts, can be art.

This picture relates to technology and Art, creating an art form using a  camera and the beauty of the other beauties if captures. This museum was very eye opening to me to show how art museums can change your perspective on how to look at someones else art form. One main factor I took away from the Hammer Museum was that you can create art with your own body no matter what form it may come in. 

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https://hammer.ucla.edu