Unit 6 Biotech + Art

Like professor talked about in lecture, nature has always been a fascination for artists. Whether, it’s in the lab working on animals and gene mutations, to agricultural technology, or human biology inventions and cloning, biotechnology was, and always will be, a vast area of study and interest for artists and scientists.

This week the resource I found most interesting was the video interview with Michael Pollan for “Food Inc.” I think that agricultural mutations are really interesting because it is something that directly affects every single person, yet, so little has been done about the legitimacy of manufactured food. For example, Pollan talks about the dominance of corn in the American food system and claims that we aren’t aware of this huge problem because we don’t see it. It’s indisputable that technology has helped mass create the American food system supplying food at incredible rates, but is this mass production created at the cost of healthy, trustworthy, and natural non-modified food?

I also found Ellen Levy’s article on “Defining Life: Artists challenge conventional classifications,” interesting. Given the ongoing advancement of science and technology in our society, it is no surprise to me that artists are continuing to push the limits and boundaries of the accepted classifications of life. I find the issue of cloning, whether it is ethical or not, to be most interesting. Levy suggests that cloning is particularly interesting because “nature is as much the author as the human artist.”

In addition to raising serious ethical issues, advances in biotechnology have had countless positive aspects that benefit human life. Craig Venter, in his Ted Talk “Watch me unveil synthetic life,” announces the recent scientific breakthrough of fully functioning reproducing cell that is controlled by synthetic DNA. As controversial as synthetic DNA can be, this amazing breakthrough could very well be the beginnings of a new era of science, which could provide a new understand of human life.

Works Cited

Venter, Craig. "Watch Me Unveil "synthetic Life"" Ted Talks. TED Conferences, n.d. Web. 09 May 2015. 

"POV | Food, Inc. | Interview with Michael Pollan | PBS." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 09 May 2015.

"Food, Inc." TakePart. TakePart, n.d. Web. 09 May 2015.

"What Is Cloning?" What Is Cloning? University of Utah, n.d. Web. 09 May 2015.

Levy, Ellen K. "Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications." N.p., n.d. Web.

Silvia Casini in the article “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Confrigurations between Science and the Arts,” investigates the concept of MRI as an art, and idea that MRI shares the same look that a portrait has. I thought this was a really interesting concept, and began picturing what it would actually look like. I researched this concept of MRI as a performativity portrait, and came across a website and art gallery by Nick Veasey. Nick is an artist who seeks to inspire viewers to look past surface level appearances. He challenges the mainstream obsession of external imagines by creatively and artistically revealing our inner beauty through x-ray portraits.

(Photo by Nick Veasey)

(Photo by Nick Veasey)

This past week I went to the Art/Science exhibition “Waste Matters: You Are My Future,” by Kathy High. Kathy is an artist who also specializes in technology, science, and medicine/biology. As a Sociology major, this exhibit was like nothing I have ever experienced. Kathy has Crohn’s disease, and has investigated the idea of fecal transplants to help with the disease. The exhibit that I attended displayed some of her art portraits, and more shockingly, her “shit” was literally on display. Fecal transplant research continues to develop and grow as scientists continue to explore the possibility of fecal bacteria as being beneficial to some individuals. I thought that Kathy’s ability to expose this new medical field to viewers in an artistic and unique way was not only informative but also very creative.

(Picture from KathyHigh's art exhibit)

The most profound resource I found from this weeks class was from the video, “Medical Avatar.” The “Medical Avatar,” founded by medical experts at Cornell University, is a 3D, easy to understand, virtual picture of your health that can be accessed through your phone, or computer. Basically, the “Medical Avatar,” takes all your health records and converts them into an interactive tool in which you and your doctor can access and examine all current health problems, past health issues, as well as potential future health concerns. This video blew my mind with not only how advanced the medical field is, but also it’s groundbreaking ability to connect with people in a creative and interactive way like the “Medical Avatar” does.

(The Medical Avatar) 

Works Cited 

Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts." Configurations 19.1 (2011): 73-99. Web.

Wong, Virgil. "Introducing The Medical Avatar." Virgil Wong. N.p., 24 Apr. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

Veasey, Nick. "GUNS 'N' ROSES X-RAY NICK VEASEY EXHIBITS IN PARIS." Web log post. Nick Veasey. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

High, Kathy. ""Waste Matters: You Are My Future"" UCLA Art | Sci Center + Lab. UCLA Art | Sci Center, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

"Research Projects." The Fecal Transplant Foundation. FMT, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

Unit 3 Robotics and Art

Hod Lipson, in a TED talk, discusses the new revolution of building robots that are “self-aware.” Ultimately, Lipson predicts that these robots will have the ability to evolve like animals, learn like children and grow, adapt, and self-repair.

(Self-Aware robot that Lipson created)

This concept of robot production, continuing to evolve and be placed into jobs and production, is a scary idea for me to grasp. I used to work in a restaurant and for a period of time we test ran the use of a small computer at tables, which customers could order their food and pay their bills from. Having a robot place the food order and pay the bill did indeed eliminate human error, however I found this extremely sad for society as it is clearly straying from human interaction. In 2013, a restaurant in Harbin, China opened up which has a staff of 20 robots that deliver, cook, greet, and entertain customers. Although the initial cost of producing these robots is highly expensive, the manager boasts of the robots productivity and efficiency.

(Robot restaurant in China)

Although I personally am having a difficult time adapting to robot industrialization as it can take away from human interaction, I think society is responding positively to the success and progress these inventions and robots bring. For example, as Professor Machiko Kusahara discussed in the lecture video, robots are beginning to take on the role of a friendly face rather than a scary object. I recently watched the movie “Interstellar,” and fell in love with the sarcastic and witty robot TARS. This robot ends up being one of the surviving crewmembers and heroes in the interstellar movie. As science continues to advance and industrialize, I believe that society will continue to positively respond to industrialization as it will continue to make work and jobs more productive.

(Interstellar robot hero TARS)

Ward, Alex. "Mechanic Masterchef: Robots Cook Dumplings, Noodles and Wait Tables at Restaurant in China." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

"Summary: The Work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction."Introducing the Frankfurt School. N.p., 28 Feb. 2008. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

Acuna, Kirsten. "The 'Interstellar' Robot Was Actually A 200-Pound Puppet An Actor Had To Carry On Set." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 05 Dec. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

"Building "self-aware" Robots." TED. TED Conferences, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

"Hod Lipson Builds “self-aware” Robots." Our Progress. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

Conflicting Interests

Like I mentioned in my previous blog posting, my time spent in the Sociology major at UCLA has taught me to think of art, history, and the social sciences in terms of relativity versus concrete truths. Like our professor mentioned in the video lecture posts this week, mathematics tends to communicate with combinations, generalizations, signs, signals, and calculations, while art tends to take shape and communicate through color, emotion and senses. But how is it possible to do this? In order to paint and sculpt these into creation, we need to measure their dimensions and volumes, which are mathematical in nature.

For example, Four Dimensions, which was performed by the Orlando Philharmonic, brings together art and math by combining together the aesthetically pleasing qualities of art with the lines and dimensions of math to bring together a beautiful performance. Also, fractals by Ron Eglash are another example of how "a pattern repeats itself at different scales" and how this combines to creates the "third world" through the use of technology. 

Nathan Selikoff, on the other hand, has showed through his art pieces to express emotion through visual stimulations with computer and 3D technology. Even he admits that mathematical algorithms are out of his control, but are important to his work in order to express his work. This artist and his work help show how entangled art and math actually are and though this, I’m beginning to learn how you can’t have one without the other.

This juxtaposition of the areas of math, art, and science although very different when compared side by side are actually overlapping in the world we live in. When we look at the wood slab below, for example, we might originally think of it as art and feel a sense of a pride to be an American. But at second look, this creation results from shapes and lines sized to create this emotion we feel.

Works Cited:

"African Fractals." African Fractals. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

"Four Dimensions - Real-time Audio-visual Performance - Nathan Selikoff." Nathan Selikoff. N.p.,  2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

Frantz, Marc. 'Lesson 3: Vanishing Points And Looking At Art'. 2000. Presentation.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. AAAS, 13 Feb. 1998. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.

"Music and Computers." Music and Computers. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.