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