WEEK 4: MedTech and Art

Week 4: MedTech and Art 

I do not have much experience and knowledge with the combination of medicine, technology, and art. After watching the lecture videos the first thing that came to my mind was actually a prosthetic limb. I think that this is a form of art because the person crafting these is making them for comfort as well as the look. 

The maker of the prosthetic is trying to match the person it’s going to belong to. They sometimes try to match the skin color, size and other aspects of the person. The user can also have many different prosthetics to use for different events. My friend has three different pairs, one for running, one for every day, and one that has heals/is taller in case she wants to wear them going out. 

This combination of medicine, technology, and art has the ability to give paraplegic people a way to express themselves. They can have many different styles and forms to choose from. Some prosthetics can be used for style while others can be used for functionality. In one project I read about, Alternate Limb Project, an artist was trying to allow the clients to make a limb that reflects their individual identity. He could collaborate with the client so they can help design the limb of their wants. The client receives the limb that they truly want. 

“The Arts and Medicine.” The Arts and Medicine | Harvard Medical School, hms.harvard.edu/news/arts-and-medicine.

Seck, H. (n.d.). Military Amputees Are Using AI to Teach Their Prosthetics How to Move.

Possibilities, B. (2016, February 25). 5 Inspirational Athletes with Prosthetic Devices.

Hajar, Rachel. “What Has Art to Do with Medicine?” Heart Views : the Official Journal of the Gulf Heart Association, Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, 2018, 

Prosthetics in the Developing World. (2015, August 24).

Strickland, Jonathan. “The Art of Prosthetics.” Fw, Stuff Media, 28 Mar. 2013, www.fwthinking.com/blogs/art-prosthetics.htm.

EVENT 1: Meteorite Gallery

Event 1: Meteorite Gallery

For my first event, I went to the meteorite gallery located in the Geology Building on the UCLA campus. I took an oceanography class last year which was located in the Geology building so I would walk past this meteorite collection every day while going to class. While walking around the gallery, you can see that it is not a very big space but there is a lot of objects and displays fit into the room. Looking at all of the displays I was able to see how art and science can be interconnected, something that we learned during our first week of the class. 

There were many beautiful and intriguing meteorites in the collection, however, one caught my attention. It was very smooth, unlike the other rocks in the collection. It was the largest one in the room, its name was “Old Women Iron Meliorate.” The plaque describing the meliorate informed me that it weighed more than three tons and is the second largest meteorites from the US. 

I would recommend going to see the gallery to a friend. Its cool to see how art can science can be conjoined. You can see how science can be transferred into art which allows people to learn new things that they might not have been interested before. 

“Visit the UCLA Meteorite Collection and Rock Your World.” L.A. Parent, 25 Aug. 2017, www.laparent.com/ucla-meteorite-collection-los-angeles-kids/.

“UCLA Meteorite Collection Finally Reaches the Public.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2014, www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-meteorite-museum-20140111-story.html.

“Meteorite Collection.” Specola Vaticana.

“Meteorite Collection.” UCLA, meteorites.ucla.edu/.


“Types of Meteorites.” Natural History Museum.

WEEK 3: Robotics and Art

WEEK 3: Robotics and Art 

Ex Machina is a sci-fi thriller film that came out in 2014. It examined the way the AI, Ava, is able to create emotional responses in a human. The main character believes he is conducting an experiment on the robot however it is revealed that it in fact is the other way around. The robot is using her knowledge to predict the main characters reactions. Ava can display human emotion on her face but she has manipulative qualities which she uses through the film. Similar to this film, Hod Lipson displays robots who are also self-aware in one of the Ted Talk videos. He explains how the robots have the ability to lead and understand themselves even if they do not know what they look like. They can self replicate and figure out how to move based on the design of the robot. He makes a point that people have to get out of the mindset that the robot needs to be created but rather they need to learn for themselves, like children. 

Walter Benjamin says in his book, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, “one might subsume the eliminated element in the term “aura” and he later goes on to say, “that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.” He claimed that authenticity is lost during the reproduction of art and that it is of utmost importance that art relates to the time period of its creation. Benjamin also states that authenticity can however, be unnecessary when the productivity of the creation is the most important aspect. 

Robots are becoming more relevant in our every day lives. We have robots that can put out fires, cars that can drive themselves, and restaurants that are being run solely by robots. Robots are able to greatly decrease the risk of human injury while others are helping people complete tasks in their every day lives. 

Davis, Douglas. Leonardo. Vol. 28 of The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction. N.p.: MIT Press, 1995. 

Lipson, Hod. “Building ‘Self-Aware’ Robots.” TED, 2005. www.ted.com/talks/hod_lipson_builds_self_aware_robots#t-242901.

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

"Robotics MachikoKusahara 1." Video file. Youtube. Posted by Uconlineprogram, April 14, 2012. 

Accessed July 1, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZ_sy-mdEU#action=share.

"Robotics Pt2." Video file. Youtube. Posted by Uconlineprogram, April 15, 2012.

Accessed July 1, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/      watch?v=oAZ8bo9T_Pk#action=share. 

WEEK 2: Math and Art

WEEK 2: MATH AND ART 

After watching this week's videos and reading through the material I was not that surprised by its content. I learned a few of these aspects when I took art classes in high schools, like perspective, proportion, vanishing point, etc. I knew that art was sometimes connected to mathematics, however, I did not realize how conjoined these two practices were. One thing that I found interesting in the lecture video was the creation of Zero. It was interesting how the creation of that number shifted the entire way math and art were being used and how it lead to one point perspective in the went. 

One piece of art that I found fascinating was the art/sound installation by He created an installation that looked light a clock created from light. It would move clockwise and make different patterns depending on the noise or sound played into a microphone. It was cool to watch the different sounds and voices create different patterns. It showed me how technology and math are connected to art. By using technology and math Nathan Selikoff was able to create a beautiful installation that allowed people to actually see sound. 

Math and art may not seem to be connected but if I learned anything from these past weeks is that the two different cultures go hand in hand. For example, without mathematics we might not have the Golden Ratio, a geometric relationship that we have seen represented in art time and time again. The two cultures compliment one another and allow for art to be created. 

Works Cited:
“Flatland.” Flatland, by E. A. Abbott, 1884, www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/eaa/FL.HTM.

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

Graham-Rowe, Duncan. “John Brockman: Matchmaking with Science and Art.” Wired, Mar. 2011.

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

Music and Computers, sites.music.columbia.edu/cmc/MusicAndComputers/.

WEEK 1: Two Cultures

Two Cultures:
I fall somewhere in the middle of this whole discussion. I am trying to become an educator and for me to do that I believe it's important to emphasize both arts and sciences. After reading the Lectures and listening to the lecture videos, the first person that came to mind was actually myself. Snow examines the way school sometimes unintentionally places a separation between science and arts.  Snow stated, “literary intellectuals at one pole --- at the other scientists… Between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension -- sometimes hostility and dislike, but most of all, a lack of understanding.” He talks about how the stereotype between the literary intellectuals and the scientists have actually occurred because of a misunderstanding rather than the truth.

 The reason I thought of myself after reading these articles was because I have actually been interested in both sides of the spectrum since a young age. A lot of people pick one side or the other but I have always been fairly good at both. In high school, math always came to me as the easiest subject, things just clicked. However, I also took various art classes in high school. I love to be creative and make things, especially if it's hands on. I never really thought I had to pick science or art, I just loved to do both.





Now being at UCLA and thinking about the major I picked, I couldn't think of it as a more appropriate major to my perspective on the two cultures. I want to teach younger kids and I think having both skill sets, and this knowledge about the two cultures, will allow me to teach them in a more effective way.

References;

McNameeMay, Gregory, et al. “Erasing the Gap Between Art and Science.” Science, 11 Dec. 2017, www.sciencemag.org/careers/2001/05/erasing-gap-between-art-and-science.

Dizikes, Peter. “Our Two Cultures.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/books/review/Dizikes-t.html.

Arike, Ando. Leonardo, 1 Jan. 1996, www.jstor.org/stable/1578601?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.