Week 4: Medicine + Technology + Art | Blog Assignment



When checking in to see the topic of this week’s blog and before getting involved in any of the readings or lectures, I immediately found myself in disbelief. Being no stranger to hospitals and medical procedures, I struggled to find the ‘art’ or beauty in medicine/technology. Growing up with a chronic illness I’ve become well accustomed to MRIs, ctscans, under the knife procedures, and basic understanding of human anatomy. Having to look at organs always made me feel queasy but was important for the understanding of my health. MRIs always made me anxious as a child, having to sit completely still for 30 minutes and do nothing but listen to a buzzing noise. After completing this week's modules I now am able to understand the unique personal connection I have with art and medicine. I feel now almost lucky to have had the opportunity to be surrounded with the images,scans, and knowledge that is what I see now, as art. As Donald Ingber says “at scales from the molecular to the macroscopic certain patterns, such as spirals, pentagons and triangulated forms”(p.49). Shapes and patterns are art  built within us. This reminds me of the complex shape that lies within us all, the double helix in our DNA. 


As Silvia Casini put it “The appeal of brain imaging as a technique of self-portrait is powerful for an audience outside the medical field, because information is conveyed through images”(p.75). Standing out to me from this quote was the idea that art and self portraits of myself were around me this whole time, I just didn't know it yet. When I think of another form of medicine and art blending I think of the works of Virgil Wong. His ability to use art through an Ipad and draw out the symptoms of patients undergoing pain so they can better communicate to a health professional what they are feeling, is what I see as yet another way art is created through tech and science. Artists Erwin Driessens  and Maria Verstappen create eye grabbing works that also combine different softwares and systems with a combination of anatomy. One process uses artificial genetics to create never before seen unique sculptures. Another example of this intersection is the art and jewelry of Emily Watson, saying “My work draws on two main sources of inspiration: geography and anatomy”. Influenced by body image, not only does our body create art, it can act as art when turned into 3D creations such as jewelry.


Sketches by Emily Watson 




Work Cited: 

“Artist + Digital Technologist Transforming Human Health.” Virgil Wong, 28 May 2022, https://www.virgilwong.com/.

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts.” Configurations, vol. 19, no. 1, 2011, pp. 73–99., https://doi.org/10.1353/con.2011.0008.

“Emily Watson: Metal & Enamel Jewelry: Sketches: Sketchbook Pages: Prints: Photographic Light Drawings.” Emily Watson | Metal & Enamel Jewelry | Sketches | Sketchbook Pages | Prints | Photographic Light Drawings, https://www.metalemily.com/portfolio/PortfolioSketch.html.

Ingber, Donald E. “The Architecture of Life.” Scientific American, vol. 278, no. 1, 1998, pp. 48–57., https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0198-48.

Short Bio Driessens & Verstappen, https://notnot.home.xs4all.nl/text/shortBio.html.






Comments

  1. Georgia PhillipsApril 30, 2023 at 7:13 PM

    Hi Jake! It is so neat that you had a personal connection to this topic this week. It is so incredible was the work of art and medicine together can do to change lives. It was super great reading your post and you did a great job connecting everything to the readings.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 6: BioTech+Art

Image
  In this week’s module we learn about the intersections of Biotech and art, personally I found this topic to be the most interesting thus far, due to how controversial these subjects can be. Just as professor Vesna explains there are many ways artists create their works through this biotech lens, whether from working in the lab on a genetic level or simply capturing these moments through a camera. Defining Life By author Ellen Kerry, does a great job of exposing the reader to fresh and unique conflicts or situations that may arise from the combinations of biotech and art. A good example of this is when Kerry brings up the topic of intellectual property, stating that “increasing numbers of artists are producing new life-forms and cyborgs, what rights should accrue to these artist-inventors?” (Kerry). I found this to be extremely fascinating because moving forward, how do we as a society distinguish ownership with this evolving art form.  Artists like Eduardo Kac and Mel Chin h...
Read more

Week 1: Two Cultures

Image
       Being that I am a geography major and second year transfer I have rarely spent time on the south side of campus. As a humanities major, all of my classes have been on the north side and funny enough, most of the geography courses are oddly in the same room. As touched upon earlier, UCLA is divided into two sections, the north side being humanities and the south being STEM. It is in this physical separation that I believe this two cultures ideology has been visualized and present in my immediate life. Source:   freepik      After completing this weeks readings, many of my own personal feelings about the divide in UCLA's campus and the general split of humanities and science has been cemented. As author Snow said " This polarization is sheer loss to us all. To us as people, and to our society. It is at the same time practical and intellectual and creative loss..." . After reading this quote I too have always felt the lack of interc...
Read more

Week 3: Art + robots

Image
     Industrialization has been an immense focal point for humanity and obviously we have much to thank for it. The modern world, and life as we know it, has been deeply influenced by this era and has given us many advancements. For this week's module of Robots and art, I couldn't help but to focus on the purpose that robots have been given. First and foremost I do think “its important to recognize the creativity and art that goes into bringing a robot or the idea of one to life. Freerk Wieringa is an artist who I believe  does a great job of combining these two subjects. Wieringa combines an interaction of steel heavy metal looking sculptures and mechanical motors to create a robotic like experience to life . Personally I believe that in itself is the intersection of art. For humanity to utilize mechanics, science, and computers to create robotics, is indeed a form of art.       During the lecture we learn about Karel Capek, a writer who coined t...
Read more