Thursday, June 11, 2015

Bonus Event 1

I went to the the seminar of the state of the environmental humanities held in the Humanities building in UCLA. It is a seminar which allow professional and also participants to discuss the significance of ecology and raise the awareness of people in society. I have noticed that importance of environmental impact that human brings but I did not know there are connection with feminism, culture and literature as well.

This seminar illustrates the combination of different culture. They talked about diverse culture, literature and environment. They also criticize the environment nowadays, which affected by human activities. Basically, this seminar examines diverse issues but mainly focus on our environment and ecology. The professional made the point that environment actually connect with many other fields such as humanism, culture and geography. I think it is very useful and crucial for students to participate because new generation do not realize the importance and impact of environment and they somehow destroy the environment and affect the next generation. It is essential for them to understand what is happening in our environment right now. Despite those are long terms impact, we have to consider the influence in our next generation but not only our generation. Additionally, the scholars also mentioned how politics connect with our environment, such as policy that possibly protect or damage our environment. The relationship between environment and others deepen my comprehension of the issue in contemporary world. I very much agree with what they said about environment and how interacts with other cultures and literature. I did not know other fields would have so much impact and associated with environment as well.


In my perspective, I think it is very practical and meaningful because environmental issue is one of the huge problem we have to face currently. Through the conference, I am able to understand more about our ecology system and aware of the issue. I think it's a good idea to learn something outside the lecture because real experience can help people to get to know more about the thing you have to learn. 
I do not get the chance to take photo with the staff so I just took the photo in the seminar to prove. 




Event 1

The first event that I went to is "waste matter: you are my future" by Kathy high. This event is basically about immune system of human beings and function of bacteria in our bodies. Kathy high is an artist who combine art with other elements such as science and technology. Her artistic work definitely help me to understand more about the lecture.


For example, we can see the picture with something like our digestive system. She applied medical elements in art, which is similar to our lecture in week 5. The lecture was about how art can be used in medical treatment such as MRI.  In my point of view, it is very interesting to use painting to represent our ecological system because it would be more concrete and easier for people to understand. These three pictures below are very similar, which is mainly about human body function. It demonstrates different part of our body and how they can function in our system. Kathy high used the similar idea to show the interaction between art and medicine. She used imbalance of internal biomes as a mirror to illustrate imbalance ecological sphere. Recall from the article " Magnetic Resonance Imaging as mirror and portrait", the writer also described how MRI functions as a mirror to diagnosis patient. Hence, I would say the exhibition enhance my comprehension about medical technology and art. Those paintings portrait the idea vividly and it is always great to experience the idea from another ways, rather than just reading the articles.



In conclusion, I think this gallery is worth to visit because its art work is very creative and special, which do help people to get to know more about our internal digestive and ecological system. If we just focus on articles or books, we may not able to comprehend what it really means. With the pictures and explanation in the gallery, I am more interested in art and its relations with other science field, and have a deeper understanding of the lecture.

Event 2

The second event that I went to is "making strange" in Fowler museum by Gagawaka and postmortem by Vivan Sundaram. The theme of this gallery is human body and fashion. It comprised different elements such as anatomical structure and mannequin. This exhibition primarily aim at raising public concern of human illness and aging.

According to these photos, we can see that artist attempted to use waste material to create art, with extraordinary creativity. The artist use garment and broken object to make another configuration. For example, this photo remind me of what we have learned about medical technology and art. It divided human body into different part and enable us have a better acknowledge of our own body. There are different internal system in our body and Vivan exactly demonstrate them in a piece of art work. Another photo also illustrate the example between medical technology and art. The placement of the head and our body is very special and capture my attention. In my perspective, this artwork also combines technology and art, which make me fully understand the relations between these two.





















On the other hand, i am also impressed by the design of this dress. Vivan made use of different material to create the dress, which put fashion and waste material together. By using waste material and recycle it, Vivan is able to make a dress, in the meantime, alert the contemporary people that environmental problem is a huge concern in society nowadays. Using a different way to show the issues that we have to concern is more unique and impressive to visitors. This demonstrate the interaction between two cultures.Therefore, I have a better understanding of how two cultures rely on each other. The most important thing is Vivan is not only an artist, he also think of the idea he want to express in his artwork, which is really amazing.

Generally, this exhibition is really good for student to visit because it can let us know more about human body and how it relates to art. The art work show how art can be used with human body, which enable people to have a new vision towards art. Therefore, it would be a great experience for those who have interested in research in human body. For this reason,I absolutely recommend students to take a look in the exhibition, in order to have a brand new idea toward art, fashion and medical technology.
I cannot take photo inside the museum so I take photo with the staff outisde.

Event 3

For event 3, I went to the exhibition of singular spaces: from the eccentric to the extraordinary in Spanish art development in Fowler Museum. It was presented by Jo Farb Hernandez. The exhibition comprised lots of photos of buildings, sculptures and garden. It made use of what is available in our surrounding. Something interesting about this exhibition is that all artwork are placed on the wall so you have to walk around to appreciate different art.

This photo exemplifies the interaction between art and math. The pattern and geometry of the artwork remind me of the lecture in week 2. The lecture mainly focus on the relations between math and art, as well as how people can make use of math to create art. It reminds me of something we have learned in week 2. Math and art can be linked together and it is able to create another meaning of the art. Before, I would not notice the pattern of art when I appreciate a piece of art work but now I would take a look of the form and shape of an art work, rather than just the appearance of it. If we pay attention to each artwork, there are actually many deep meaning behind the artwork.

This photo includes different words and shapes. There are flowers and words formed by words. I am impressed by this artwork because it is special to make use of the nature (stone) to produce the artwork. I think it comprises art with other cultures, which recall my memory from two cultures. In fact, artist always apply different cultures, rather than using art alone. When they combine different cultures together, it makes the artwork more impressive and interesting. Hernandz illustrate the example of two cultures. His artwork is absolutely inspiring.


It was a great experience for me to visit the gallery and I think it is worth to go to spend some time to understand more about art culture. Generally, we would not notice the connection between art and math because we think these two filed are totally not related. After the lecture and visiting the exhibition, I definitely have deeper acknowledgement about math and art.

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Space + Art

When we talk about space, most of the people would think of astronomy or space between objects. It is very abstract and untouchable to us, not to mention it is very difficult to describe . I am pretty sure we will not think of something related to art. Yet, the lecture in this week give me a new thought of the relationship between art and space.

I have read several articles and website in this week and I found the articles very useful to get to know more about the definition of space. Among those articles, I am impressed about Cultural Space Program. The articles basically illustrate the interaction between space, art, science and humanities and how they are interdependent on each other. This program encourage development and research of space. Additionally, it enables application of art in space such as human methodology. KSEVT realized that it is crucial to implement artistic practice in space according to the trend. It can also create a technological-cultural environment. This article influence me the most since it explained different aspects of space and why people think space actually connect to art. I have never thought that space is related to art because it does not seem like they have correlation. Through the article, I have some new vision about space and art. I realized that we can use other method to comprehend space such as cultural and artistic way. When we use another view to look at space and art, the result could be different. As a matter of fact, technology, science, humanity and art influence each other. This article exactly exemplify the connection between each other and make me acknowledge that we can educate the youth about the new perspective of space. It isn’t just about science and technology, but also cultural and humanism. In fact, science and art have inseparable relations, which we may not notice before.   


Generally speaking, space is a deep knowledge and it certainly requires intelligence of human to discover more and more mystery inside it. Meanwhile, it also indicates tremendous improvement of human beings and how they are able to apply existing technology to explore our universe. 



Sources:
1. Space and NASA news <http://www.space.com/>
2. Art in the outer limit<http://hyperallergic.com/81222/art-in-the-outer-limits-a-look-at-nasas-space-art-program/>
3. Elements of art: space  <http://www.sophia.org/tutorials/elements-of-art-space>
4. Art of space <http://www.space.com/27726-space-art-illuminates-science-and-imagination.html>
5. The art of space in light <http://spaceandlightart.com/>











Sunday, May 24, 2015

Nanotechnology and Art



                                  
Nanotechnology is an advanced technology that combine the use of chemistry, biology, physics, as well as some other science field. It is manipulation of atoms and molecules. Despite I have heard about the idea of nanotechnology, it is still a brand new idea to me. The interaction between art and nanotechnology  inspired us about technology invention and how it brings diverse benefits to human beings.

The material that inspired me the most is “art in the age of nanotechnology”. This article basically talked about intersection between science technology and art. One of the innovation that writer mentioned is an audio speaker out of bone. Obviously this product requires many research and knowledge because it is an extreme advanced technology to produce sound by the bone. In addition, the w riter also demonstrate some examples such as wearing a magnetic ring interfaces that enable users to touch nano particles. Each user is able to create an image of invisible sculpture. This may sounds complex and unbelievable but it is actually an ongoing research. Another example is nano essence, which is an audio visual installation and concept of biblical inception of life. Before reading these articles, I did not really understand what is nanotechnology and its relationship with art. The concept and ideas of nanotechnology is complicated to me.  I just knew that nanotechnology is related to particles. These researches exemplify the interaction between art and nanotechnology clearly and I have a better comprehension about it. I was surprised nanotechnology is that powerful and it was even amazing that it can cooperate with art and create better innovation. I realized ability and intelligence of human beings are unlimited. There are many articles in this week’s lecture that explain nanotechnology, yet, “art in the age of nanotechnology” is the article that influenced me the most since it gave several concrete examples to help me to understand the relationship between art and nanotechnology





Thanks to the invention of nanotechnology, it is able to modify our living standard to a higher level. The combination of art and nanotechnology is a new idea to me and I think it is very useful in our daily life. Although nanotechnology has not been developed maturely, it has tremendous potential in the future and it would definitely be one of the popular technology. If scientists are willing to spend more time and fund to do the research, I believe there will be more innovations that is able to change the contemporary world. 

sources:
1. Introduction to nanotechnology <http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology/introduction/introduction_to_nanotechnology_31.php>
2. The art of nanotechnology <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/the-art-of-nanotech/>
3. 7 amazing ways nanotechnology changing the world <http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-11/7-amazing-ways-nanotechnology-changing-world>
4. nanotechnology products and application <http://www.nanowerk.com/products/products.php>
5. What is nanotechnology <http://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition>


Sunday, May 17, 2015

Neuroscience and art





Neuroscience defined as studying in nervous system of human beings. It is one of the branches under study of biology. Cognitive and behavioral are part of the studies of neuroscience as well and it also relates to psychological studies of human behavior. Neuroscience belongs to science field and it seems to have not much connection with art externally. However, this lecture brings us a new conception that many artists would like to assimilate neuroscience into art.


 Despite I have studied science subject in high school but I am not so so familiar with neuroscience since I think neuroscience includes different criteria of medical and science knowledge. I just knew that it is something related to our nervous system. Through this lecture, I am able to have a deeper understanding of neuroscience and enhance my interest on neuroscience. In my perspective, the article impressed me the most is “Neuroculture”, written by Giovanni Frazzetto and Suzanne Anker. It literally illustrates the relationships between neuroscience, art and society, “ in general, we are witnessing the rise of a neuroculture, in which neuroculture knowledge partakes in our daily lives, social practices and intellectual discourses”(815/ Anker). Author used FMRI to exemplify the relations between art and science. The writer also mentioned a film called “Saturday”, which adequately elaborate the idea of how neuroscience assimilate to art, society and culture. Another perspective that writer talked about is the contemporary visual artists connect brain with identity. There was an artist called Jonathon Keats combined his art work with neuroscience such as MRI images of his brain in his exhibition. Many artists like to use brainhood and cerebral subject to reflect individuality and history. Additionally, FMRI also provides image brain activity and visual artists attempted to make use of this technology such as its mirroring nature. 



The reason why I think this article help me to comprehend the topic of this week is because it obviously demonstrate the interaction between neuroscience and art with very detailed explanation. It explained diverse aspects of neuroscience and art, which inspired me to have a better acknowledgment in neuroscience. Neuroscience is a complex study and it requires sufficient knowledge to apply in medicine. Neuroscience does not only contribute in medicine, it also combined with art and create another meaning in visual art, which effectively influence our daily lives, our society and culture. 

Sources:
1. The journal of neuroscience<http://www.jneurosci.org/>
2. Neuroscience <http://neuroscience.williams.edu/>
3. Neroscience and art
<<http://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/academics/hyman/files/art_and_neuroscience.pdf>>
4. Art and Limit of neuroscience <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/art-and-the-limits-of-neuroscience/?_r=0>
5. Art and Brain <https://www.pinterest.com/cathymalchiodi/arts-and-brain-arts-and-neuroscience/>




Sunday, May 10, 2015

Biotech + Art

Biotechnology is currently a common technology which defines as using of living organisms and systems to create a new product and modify existing product. Genetic modified food is a familiar example of biotechnology to us. It seems have no direct relations with art but actually it is able to link to art and create different products, which is definitely crucial to our life. 

The use of transgenics, mutilatioin, mutation, recominance or selective breading exemplify the relationship between biotechnology and art. It indicates the inherence between them. For example, selective breeding is an obvious example of an artificial selection and artistic technique that human particularly to breed the animals and plants. Selective breeding is not a brand new technology but has been applied for many plants and animals traits. In my perspective, there are no limits to human creativity. Human has unlimited creativity and intelligence, which is the reason why human keep improving their living standard and invented diverse technology. 
The article that inspired me the most is “ Artists challenge conventional classifications”, which primarily described the improbable mix of animal, plant and fungus by artistic and scientific and artistic developments. It mentioned how biotechnology and art together influence our relationships and social structures. I am impressed when the writer described the scientific development. Ellen said Woese has discovered a new technology to identify RNA, which can be used to compare with all organisms. Woese also emphasize on combination of organic and mechanical parts. Other than Woese, author also introduced many scientists that contribute to improving our living environment. For artistic research, author has mentioend Artist John F. Simon Jr. who invented some fundamental concepts to influence our life. He created a digital system to stimulate some of the evolutionary dynamics in biological system. Another artists Ray also combined artificial evolution into biological processes. It is a great progress that art is able to interact with science technology and create a better life our human beings. I think it sufficiently demonstrate how art and biotechnology can be combined together, which deepen my understanding of biotechnology and art. At first, biotechnology is an ambiguous concept to me but now I understand more about it. Additionally, i think it is more correlated to our daily life, which is why it is more influential to me.  

Genereally, biotechnology certainly promote our life to a higher living standard and quality, When it interact with artistic technique, it creates better scientific product, which is extremely beneficial to our society, regardless of social or economic aspects. There are both pros and cons for improvement of biotechnology, it is able to bring us several advantages as long as we are able to make use of it. 


sources:
1. What is biotechnology <http://ccr.ucdavis.edu/biot/what/index_new.shtml>
2. Background on food biotechnology <http://www.foodinsight.org/Background_on_Food_Biotechnology>
3. how artists are bending biotechnology and art <http://www.foodinsight.org/Background_on_Food_Biotechnology>
4. The role of biotechnology in art preservation <http://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/abstract/S0167-7799%2805%2900272-6>
5. Genetic modified food pros and cons <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/genetically-modified-foods-pros-and-cons.html>

Sunday, April 26, 2015

MedTech + Art

         Medicine, Technology and art are interdependent. Before this lecture, I only knew that medical and technology are related because advanced technology result in better medical treatment, which is why human beings strive their best to improve the technology.


            In the lecture, it is quite interesting that professor stated the relations between medical technology and human bodies, especially about how art focus on anatomical drawings like skeletons. I did not know art can be correlated to medicine in drawings, which seem like completely different field of learning. Moreover, I remembered one of the lectures video mentioned that art is not just about physical body, but also to molecular level. I was surprising that plastic surgery is also part of an art and I always thought that it is a new trend of medical technology, which only becomes a common phenomenon in these few decades. However, I just realized that plastic surgery is already emerged in ancient times for reconstruction work. In my perspective, 
                 


         On the other hand, in the article “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts”, writer indicated insightful view about MRI and art. MRI means magnetic resonance imaging, basically, it is a very advanced medical technique. The function of MRI is to scan image of our brain through radiation and tell us the condition of our brain, which is definitely significant to medical diagnosis. According to the article, the writer also illustrated the relationship between art and MRI,  "how MRI functions as an acoustic mirror capable of doubling the body and enacting the process of recognition and misrecognition that Rascaroli described as a feature of the self-portrait".  Literally, author described how MRI used as a mirror to reflect radiation and create an image. 

           I have learned so much about medicine, art and technology in this lecture, yet, the one which makes me understand the most about the lecture is the article about MRI. The reason why i am so impressive about MRI other than other articles is simply because it is a tremendous contribution to medical improvement and it helps a lot of patients to figure their problem, which other techniques are not able to find out. I think the analogy of mirror as MRI is very unique and brilliant. MRI sufficiently demonstrate the connection between art, medicine and technology, which makes me fully understand the lecture of this week. 


          Generally, improvement of technology give rise to better medical treatment, which is extremely beneficial to human beings. Additionally, art also influence technology as well as medicine. The combination between these three elements brings brand new cultures to us. 


sources
1. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/nov/12/new-technologies-facelift-liposuction/
2. Medicine and art <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3190445/>
3. Medical humanities and art <http://medicine.yale.edu/humanities/>
4. Healing through art<http://blogs.einstein.yu.edu/healing-through-art-combining-a-mirror-with-an-mri/>
5.Claustrophobia and MRI<http://daisymariposa.hubpages.com/hub/MRI-and-Claustrophobia>