EVENT 3 BLOG

Event 3
Karina Rodriguez

Reattu Museum - Arles, France

This was just a small portion of where the Pope
lived while staying in Avignon, France.

     For the past two weeks I have been in France playing soccer with the U20 U.S. Women's National Team. On the off days when we are not playing soccer we have been given the opportunity to see two of the cities around where I am staying. The main city closest to me is the city of Avignon. Here the Pope came to stay for a bit years ago and many of the buildings are older but very very cool to see as we do not really have anything like it in the U.S. We walked around the town and enjoyed the life of the people in Avignon.

Our coordinator bought us this ticket that allowed us entry
into multiple sight seeing locations.

     Another city that they allowed us to walk around and sight see was Arles, France. Although Avignon was very beautiful and unique in its own way, I enjoyed Arles much more. There were so many cool things to see. We were given an hour and a half to see the city and walk around where we pleased before we had to meet up again for a team dinner. We were given a ticket that allowed us to visit a few different buildings and locations in the city. First we stopped to see the amphitheater as it is nothing like anything that we have in the U.S. and only something you see in Europe. There we were also able to go up a high staircase that took us to a lookout spot over the whole city. The city view was breathtaking. We then stopped for gelato because who can resist gelato in Europe, I went for the classic chocolate and combined it with a scoop of coffee. Our final stop took us to the Reattu Museum where my friends and I viewed paintings from Pablo Picasso.

This photos was taken in front
of one of Pablo Picasso's paintings
in the Reattu Museum we visited
in Arles, France.

     It was a small museum as all the regular buildings are quite small as well but they had some pretty cool paintings from Pablo Picasso. The paintings are mostly of faces and the faces are very abstract. This reminded me very much of Neuroscience and Art from Week 7. Although Pablo Picasso may not have been under the influence of LSD or anything like that many of his paintings look as though he was. His brain reaches creative places that not many can do on their own. We can only assume that  his behaviors and personalities had an impact on his artwork as the brain ties together many different aspects of a person. Pablo Picasso's art also resembles Mathematics and Art from Week 2. We see the simplicity of mathematics in the portraits he created. The portraits are composed of different shapes and lines of all kinds, none crossing but all connecting to form the end product.

Arles Amphitheater 

          Works Cited

Arles Amphitheater https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/arles-amphitheatre

Avignon http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/en/tourism-provence/avignon

Museum Reattu http://www.museereattu.arles.fr

Picasso in Museum Reattu http://www.museereattu.arles.fr/pablo-picasso.html

Vincent Van Gogh in Arles http://www.vangoghroute.com/france/arles/

Week 9

Karina Rodriguez
Week 9

Space and Art

A Time magazine cover shows the
race between the U.S. and the Soviet
Union to reach space first.

     Space has always been a place that has caught the attention of everyone no matter what age. It is fascinating and the endless discoveries continue to amaze me and so many others. Space is so big that our minds cannot even attempt to try to understand its size. What this large space does is gives us the realization of how small everything truly is. We see this in the power of 10s video. A simple exponent can take something that is as small as an atom and expand it into something as large as a galaxy. This, as well as some other factors, cause for much interest and exploration in the mid 1900s. Space exploration became a two man race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

     Something that I feel the younger generation forgets is that the Soviet Union was the first to successfully put a person on the moon. Even though they were the first to put someone on the moon, before this lecture I had never heard the name of this person, and I don't think many people have. Yet Alan Sheppard, the name of an American astronaut, is a name many of us know and will not forget. This shows just how important it was for America to have superiority and maintain that image. 

The Millennium Falcon in Star Wars
is accelerating to light speed.

     Space is something that although raised a lot of curiosity, also raised a lot of doubt. For example, the Catholic Church challenging Galileos opinions about planets. There were also other scientists who disagreed with Copwenicuos rotation model. Yet people continued to come up with their ideas, and since we didn't have much information about space they needed to be very creative. We see a great example of creativity discussed in lecture. Jules Verne's 1865 novel showcases just how creative his mind is. Verne talked about weightlessness in space almost 100 years before humans actually entered the abyss. 

The image above is one of the many artistic
representations of what a Virgin Galactic
aircraft may look like in space one day.

     Space was also talked about in many movies and television shows; the Jetsons, Star Wars, Star Trek. These films grew the fascination of people, as well as mine. I grew up watching the Star Wars series and was always fascinated with light years, traveling space, the spaceships, and just the movie in its entirety. One of my favorite parts had to be the spaceships. Beautifully designed space ships have the potential to shuttle regular humans to space and back. I may not ever get to step on the moon and I may not be able to drive a rover, what may be possible is me hurtling around the Earth. I don't know about all of you, but that seems quite exciting to me. It is the creativity to come up with these ideas that makes the dreams we had as kids one day become a reality.

Works Cited

1) "Dragon Resupply Mission (CRS-11)." SpaceX. SpaceX, 29 Jan. 2016. Web. 04 June 2017.

2) History.com Staff. "The Space Race." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 03 June 2017.

3) Langewiesche, William, and Jonas Fredwall Karlsson. "Everything You Need to Know About Flying Virgin Galactic."The Hive. Vanity Fair, 31 Mar. 2015. Web. 04 June 2017.

4) MARS PATENT: Welcome. The Mars Patent, 2015. Web. 04 June 2017.

5) Tate, Karl. "How Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles Work (Infographic)." Space.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 02 June 2017.

Week 8

Week 8

Nanotechnology and Art

This is a representation of a possible
nano-robot.

     The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of nanotechnology is robots. No, not those big robots that are probably coming to your mind right now. I am talking about those little ones that are super tiny that you see on science blogs and other mediums of information. Although those little robot gadgets are cool, I also think about the everyday information that we learned in this weeks lecture.

     The first thing that blew my mind was the mere thought of a nanometer. A nanometer is only 1 billionth of a meter, also known as the length of a glucose molecule as Professor Jim Gimzewski would describe it. Gimzewski talked about a specific quote by Richard Feyman, "The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom."  The idea of taking the smaller things in the universe, an atom, and manipulating is an idea that is way beyond its years. We can see this occur at times in our everyday lives. Graphite or graphene has been manipulated and shaped the way we want it to be.

This is an application of quantum dots
that can be used during counterfeiting.

     Gimzewski also discussed in his lecture the applications in medicine. To be more exact, he talked about how different colors could be seen through quantum dots depending on particles size. This meant that you could potentially highlight parts of a certain cell to find a disease.

This is an art piece that looks like flowers and was created through
the manipulation of nanoparticles.

    

       Yet one of the most impressive attributes was a person's ability to be artistic with nano tech. It could be atoms that can spell put different words, self replicating molecules that can make shapes and figures, and so many other things, the possibilities are endless. It is so simple yet so complex at the same time. No brushes and no paint yet has the complexity of dealing with things at the microscopical level.

Works Cited

"Art in the Age of Nanotechnology." Art.Base. N.p., 2013. Web. 28 May 2017.

"EWG's 2017 Guide to Safer Sunscreens." EWG. EWG Sunscreen, 2017. Web. 28 May 2017

"Introduction to Nanotechnology." Introduction to Nanotechnology RSS. NanoTech Institue, Sept. 2016. Web. 28 May 2017.

M.C. Roco 1 American Society of Mechanical Engineers. "National Nanotechnology Investment in the FY 2016 Budget." AAAS - The World's Largest General Scientific Society. ASME, 12 May 2015. Web. 27 May 2017.

"National Institute for Experimental Arts." NanoArt | National Institute for Experimental Arts. NIA, 01 May 1970. Web. 26 May 2017.

Week 7

Week 7

Neuroscience + Art

This is a good representation of a true
mix of science and art through axons
and neurons.

     This topic is very interesting as the brain is the source of all we think and of all of our opinions and memories and so much more. It is evident that art has a very close relation to art as our mind/brain is responsible for creativity and imagination. The brain itself is very interesting and draws the attention of many people out of curiosity. Joseph Gall is someone who was interested in how the brain works in order to help continue to progress as a species. He is the founder of phrenology, in simpler words brain mapping. His idea was that if he could identify specific characteristics from the outside then maybe it would help with making predictions of a persons' personalities. Now this may not be possible but it can help spark ideas for other neuroscientists like Remona Khall and her brain mapping.

This neuron tree resembles that of a
family tree.

     When we look at our genetics lineage and who our past relatives are we typically see it as a family tree. It is the same when we look at at the neurons in our brain, they too appear like a tree. When we think about creative comparisons we can also look at Suzanne Anker. She was very creative and was able to use sea sponges to draw connections. The fact that she was able to use a sea sponge to create an image for what the brain looks like, one of the most complex organs, is amazing.

Just one of many creative pieces of
artwork created on drugs.

     The brain is a place where we go to gather information, gain creativity, grow our imagination, store our experiences and memories, and so much more. Unfortunately one of the most effective ways to create a strong stimulation in your brain is the use of drugs. Many of the mosts famous artists use cocaine or LSD to fuel their ideas. Drugs are illegal and I am not saying that we should do them, all I am saying is that the brain truly does some of its best work when stimulated to that extent. 

Works Cited

Deutsch, David. "A New Way to Explain Explanation." David Deutsch: A New Way to Explain Explanation | TED Talk | TED.com. TedX, 2009. Web. 22 May 2017.

Landau, Elizabeth. "What the Brain Draws From: Art and Neuroscience." CNN. Cable News Network, 15 Sept. 2012. Web. 22 May 2017.

"Sponges: Nothing like SpongeBob." The Wonders of the Seas: Sponges. Ocean Research Group, 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 May 2017.

"Swann’s Hypothesis." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Nov. 2007. Web. 22 May 2017.

Wighton, Kate. "This Is Your Brain on LSD." Neuroscience News. Imperial College London, 12 Apr. 2016. Web. 22 May 2017.

EVENT 2 BLOG

Event 2

LACMA

The security guard and I
from LACMA.

     I never truly realized how many museums there are in LA. LACMA, short for Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is a fairly large museum with plenty for people to see and experience. What I really liked about LACMA is they really tried to include everyone and give everyone a chance to experience the art. They do this by having a few sculptures outside of the museum so that those who can't afford to go inside can still see some art. 

Behind me is the lamppost artwork.

     One of my favorite things on the outside of the museum was the famous lamppost art. There is a symmetric shape to the artwork with the lamppost starting small on the outside and getting taller in the middle then proceeding to get smaller on the outside once again (if you planted the lamppost on a graph you could even say it's unimodal). We can clearly see math in the structure of the lampposts and the way they were arranged. Also, when you look at it from different directions you get to see different dimensions of them.

You can see the different shapes in
the artwork.

     Once inside of the museum there is a large variety of artwork ranging from paintings to sculptures to other extravagant things that you can find. I came across another piece of artwork that embedded mathematics into it. The entire piece of artwork is made using geometry and shapes. We can see a moon shape, a triangle, an oval, and many other pieces coming together to form the art piece and create a creature that looks like a snake. When we learned about mathematics in art in week two, we researched some of the art on ART+COM. Many of the pieces from ART+COM used different shapes in different positions to create a sculpture.

Week 6

Week 6

BioTech + Art

     BioTech is best stated in a single line stated by James Watson, "It was simple, you can explain the ideo to anyone." And when you think about it, it is simple to explain to someone what it is. The one thing about BioTech that is not simple is the question of whether or not it should be done, and how. When other living organisms become involved, what should be there artistic license.

An example of genetic engineering for the far future.

     Along with the question comes a range and variety of answers. My person opinion and answer to the question is simple and follows the same belief of Eduardo Kac. I feel that as long as no living organism is feeling prolonged pain then the genetic mutations that they are performing are acceptable. There is caution and care when it comes to Kathy High's creation or any of the other various projects at Simbiotica as they always do their best not to harm any of the living organisms. 

A project currently being engineered
at Simbiotica.

A genetic modification done to a bunny to
make it fluorescent green.

This research and artistic expression may have more value than you think. In a way it may be able to de-stigmatize some of the negative views of genetic engineering. When Eduardo Kac creates a fluorescent bunny, it can become much more approachable and acceptable to many people rather than seen as unnatural or a wrong doing to a living organism. Yes, in McDonald's decomposition video you may see a few negatives to genetic engineering, but when artistic expression is involved, there is always some positive things that result.

Works Cited

"SymbioticA." SymbioticA : SymbioticA : The University of Western Australia. University of Western Australia, 2010. Web. 14 May 2017.

Griffin, Kathy. "Ethical Issues in Genetic Engineering and Transgenics." ACTION BIOSCIENCE. N.p., Nov. 2013. Web. 15 May 2017.

Mayer, Jorge. "Golden Rice Project." The Golden Rice Project. Golden Rice Humanitarian Board, n.d. Web. 13 May 2017.

"Industries." Home | AMSilk. Gates Foundation, 2012. Web. 15 May 2017.

Swaminathan, Nikhil. "Good and Evil: A Cancer Vaccine from Tobacco Plants." Scientific American. N.p., 22 July 2008. Web. 15 May 2017.

Week 4

Week 4

Medicine plus Art

         Being an athlete, I endure many injuries that require all sorts of care and attention. When I learned that X-Ray, CT scan, and MRI are all forms of art, I was a bit shocked. I have seen many teammates and family members endure injuries, therefore unknowingly interacting with art. My older sister has torn her ACL and gone through plenty of MRI's. My brother has broken his clavicle four times in the same place, so X-Rays are nothing new to us. We experienced art in ways we didn't even realize. The procedures are similar to choreographed performances and I am in awe of this realization.

        As I think deeper about it, it blows my mind that medicine and art can blend together. In society it is such a profound thing that art and medicine are two very different things. Medicine belongs to the sciences and the numbers, you must follow a set of rules and guidelines. Whereas art is creative and there are no limits and there are no rules. So how is it that they can both be found in one moment? And how can they be similar?

       Science and art do have one thing in common, the power to heal, whether physically or mentally. People all around the world express their feelings through art. In turn, this helps mental psych even more than ever nowadays.

       Modern medicine is all about advancements. We are only at the beginning of a long trail of medical breakthroughs and advances that can save millions of lives. With creativity in the medical world we see doctors coming up with new treatments and stepping out of boundaries. Recently, scientists have attacked a type of leukemia in young people with stem cells that attach onto cancer cells and destroy them. This is a marvelous break through that people back then would have never thought was possible, but with the combination of science and art, it is.

         We all know that science makes up the sea, land, the universe, everything. Every object in our world has a basic scientific make up of small atoms and elements. Few people know that art makes up everything too. It produces creativity enlisted into man. It helps us create great ideas to aid our countries and our world. It creates technology that empowers us to do more than we are possibly capable of. It lets us express ourselves.

Works Cited

Lecture "Medicine Part 2" https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=psjnQarHOqQ

MRI image. https://www.slocumcenter.com/magnetic-resonance-imaging-mri

Scientists experimenting image. https://siop-online.org/blog/balancing-clinical-work-with-academia/

"Understanding MRIs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5q79R9C-mk

X-Ray image. https://www.cleverpatch.com.au/products/details/x

EVENT 1 BLOG

Event 1 Blog

Hammer Museum

I’ve driven by the Hammer Museum many times on my way to UCLA or even just around Westwood, but I am just now experiencing all the museum had to offer. The Museum has a free entry but you are given a blue sticker that says Hammer on it so they know that you are there to see the museum and not a straggler. I was pretty surprised by the different pieces of artwork and some of them were even interactive. I was able to see a lot of the science and math in the art pieces from learning about it in Unit 2. Normally I would not have noticed any of this but I am now more aware of it. One of the pieces that drew my attention was a piece called “Unspeakable.” This piece had three parts to it. One part of it was a video of forty-four sunsets all compromised onto one wall projected on a screen. While the video of the sun is setting there is a voice over of the legendary drag queen Lady Bunny delivering a message of her ranting about life. At the same time there is a huge clock that corresponds with the forty-four sunsets and the voice over. The digital clock counts down from eighteen minutes to zero which is the approximate length of time it takes for the sun to set. We see the science of sunsets and the science behind time correlating all into one piece of art. The two pieces complement each other and together make the art piece what is it, embracing the magic of time and sunsets.

The museum also had some simpler art pieces with motivational take home messages. On a huge canvas in one of the hallways there was a painting that said “Give More Than You Take”. As jaw dropping as the other art pieces were and the beauty of science, simple phrases like these I always have a lot of appreciation for. They are simple reminders to be a better person and think about others and everyone could use a little dose of that. This museum was quite fun and they had a couple other interactive art pieces that my sister and I enjoyed.

 

Week 3

Karina Rodriguez

Technical Reproduction

Technical reproduction allows us to reproduce all transmitted works of art. Although that may sound like a good thing, there are negatives to reproducing one work of art.

Walter Benjamin talks about how a piece of art can have the most perfect reproduction but it lacks one thing about it, it doesn’t have the authenticity of the time and place. It doesn’t draw in the environment around the artwork and what was happening in history at that time.

What was happening in society helps elevate the artwork and make it more profound and meaningful. We may see a piece of art at this moment in time and we may enjoy it for what it has to offer at this moment in time, but the original piece of work brought so much more. Not only because of what the piece had to offer on its own but also because the impact the piece made on society and major controversial issues. Technical reproduction also takes away from other aspects of the artwork. It fails to capture the change and transformation of a piece of art over time. Time is a part of art as it changes a lot about it with the more time that passes. The physical condition of the art work may have changed either by aging or damage. The ownership of the piece could have changed as well, but with technical reproduction we aren’t aware of any of this.

Technical reproduction does have its benefits, it is a way to share art and what the art has to say. Yet, technical reproduction takes away from the authenticity of the piece and what the original true art had to offer.

Works Cited

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." 

"Walter Benjamin - The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility." https://sites.nd.edu/visconsi-holland/2017/01/31/walter-benjamin-the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-its-technological-reproducibility/

"Summary: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." https://frankfurtschool.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/summary-the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-mechanical-reproduction/

"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. p1." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzMULfXbguI

"Walter Benjamin - The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Part 1)." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYUhKo47SaE

Week 2

Karina Rodriguez

Mathematics and Science in Art

Many of times we can see mathematics embedded in the artwork of many artists, sometimes on purpose and sometimes without even meaning to. Maurits Cornelis Escher is one of many examples of an artists who uses mathematics in their artwork. Escher had many admirers of his work and amongst the many were mathematicians. Even though Escher did not have any background in mathematics, the mathematicians “recognized in his work an extraordinary visualization of mathematical principles.” 

As time passed, Escher grew in his work and dove deeper into mathematics and the different ways he could use it in his artwork. One of the more prominent math topics found in his work was geometry. He focused on plane and projective geometry, the essence of non-Euclidean geometries, and the geometry of space.

When I researched a bit of the artwork from ART+COM I learned that many of the pieces were created by a combination of science, art and mathematics. I looked specifically at the piece called Symphonie Cinétique - The Poetry of Motion 2013 that “is a kinetic composition that exploits the poetic synergy of music and mechanical motion in space.” You get the full effect of the piece when you experience the interaction between music, light and movement.

The artwork “is a kinetic installation composed of triangular mirrors that move vertically and rotate around two axes in a complex choreography of flowing three-dimensional structures.” We can clearly see the incorporation of science and mathematics in the art when you read the description of the piece and learn how it is made and how the interaction of the science and mathematics come together to create the artwork.

The artwork of origami also contains mathematics in its art pieces.

The construction of origami uses mathematics in the complexity of the folding patterns and the exact sizes of each fold. Mathematics is also used when turning a piece of paper into a 3D model. There are three main mathematical rules that are followed when creating flat-foldable origami crease patterns. Mathematics, art and science are all very different but when combined together they can create a masterpiece. Mathematics and science can help elevate the artwork to make it more complex and can also be the reason the artwork is what it is.

Works Cited

CsuriVision, http://www.csurivision.com

“Fine Artist Playing with Interactivity, Math, Code.” Nathan Selikoff, https://nathanselikoff.com

“Robert J. Lang Origami.” Robert J. Lang Origami, http://www.langorigami.com

“Symphonie Cinétique - The Poetry of Motion, 2013.” ART+COM Studios | Symphonie Cinétique - The Poetry of Motion, https://artcom.de/en/project/symphonie-cinetique/

The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher, http://platonicrealms.com/minitexts/Mathematical-Art-Of-M-C-Escher/

Week 1

Karina Rodriguez

Two Cultures

When reading over the different articles posted for this week’s readings I found a common topic between them all. They focus on the two culture concept and how that in turn creates the idea of a third culture concept. In Professor Vesna’s article, “Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between”, she touches on the two main cultures; humanists and scientists.

The idea of Two cultures was credited to Charles Percy Snow who explains that “The ‘two cultures’ now refers to the divide between the sciences and literary humanities and frequently excludes what was originally analogized to science - art.” We then learn that once you step in between those two cultures you then create a third culture where you are not one or the other. The Third Culture “is not composed of the scientific elite as some propose, but will emerge out of triangulation of the arts, sciences, and humanities.”

On the other hand John Brockman refutes C.P. Snow’s prediction and instead states “that contemporary scientists are the third culture and that there is no need for trying to establish communication between scientists and literary intellectuals whom he calls ‘middlemen’.” We find that artist are the key between building and stabilizing the gap between the two cultures and that without them there would be no bridge or very much communication. Artists stabilizing the bridge between the two by utilizing new technologies and being active in dialogue. “By utilizing tools familiar to scientists and collaborating with the scientific community, we are getting closer to an atmosphere of collaboration and mutual respect.

As I reflect upon the UCLA campus and think about the idea of two cultures, I have come to realize its presence amongst the students and their interactions. I look specifically at the Student Resources building in Sunset Village. There are a couple of TVs set up in the room and every time I walk in there is always multiple interactions happening with the TVs. Sometimes there is people playing video games or watching TV, or sometimes there’s both happening at the same time. This made me realize how prevalent the connection between science and art is and the presence of the Third Culture.

Works Cited

“C.P Snow.” Goodreads , www.goodreads.com/author/show/16027416.C_P_Snow .

“Design as a Third Area of General Education.” Design as a Third Area of General Education , 5 July 2017, designobserver.com/feature/design-as-a-third-area-of-general-education/39616.

Graham-Rowe, Duncan. “John Brockman: Matchmaking with Science and Art.” WIRED , WIRED UK, 3 Oct. 2011, www.wired.co.uk/article/matchmaking-with-science-and-art .

Kelly, Kevin. “The Third Culture.” The Third Culture | Edge.org , 13 Feb. 1998, www.edge.org/conversation/kevin_kelly-the-third-culture .

Snow, Charles Percy. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution the Rede Lecture 1959 . University Press, 1962.

“UCLA Magazine.” UCLA Magazine , 1 Apr. 2009, magazine.ucla.edu/features/how_green_your_campus/index3.html.

Vesna, Victoria. Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between . 2001, links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0024-094X%282001%2934%3A2%3C121%3ATATCBI%3E2.0.CO%3 B2-3.

Wilson, Stephen. Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology