Unit 9--Space

The solar system has been a fascination of humans for centuries; since ancient times, 6 of the 8 currently listed planets have been known and studied by man. We have looked to the planets and stars to find meaning in our own lives. All the planets aside from Earth received their names from Roman Gods and Goddesses, showing the lasting cultural importance of our solar system. Mercury, for example, is symbolically the winged God of Travel due to its fast movement; Venus is the beautiful Goddess of Love; Mars, the God of War; Jupiter is the Chief God, or king of the gods; Saturn, the Roman God of Agriculture; Uranus was the former God of the Sky; Neptune, the Lord of the Sea; and Pluto (not considered a real planet anymore) was known as the Lord of the underworld.  

Botticelli's representation of Roman Goddess Venus

Polish Astronomer Nicolai Copernicus was hugely influential in how people see the solar system.  For 2000 years, Aristotle and Ptolemy's view that Earth was at the center of the universe was the Western ideal.  Copernicus' heliocentric model in the 16th century during the European Renaissance gave rise to our modern view that the sun is at the center and is revolved around by the planets, with the sun's gravity keeping planets within their orbits.  

Nanotechnology and Space merge in a number of ways, one of which involves Buckyballs in space. "Sudbury Buckyballs" (buckyballs are soccer-ball-like molecules with 60 C atoms) with "extra-terrestrial origin" came nearly 2 billion years ago and arrived on Earth, near Ontario, completely intact. Evidence like this has been showing that comets and meteorites likely helped to create life on Earth because they supplied important organic compounds as they bombarded our home planet.  

        Works Cited

"The Copernican Model: A Sun-Centered Solar System." The Copernican Model: A Sun-Centered 
SolarSystem. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 June 2015. <http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/copernican.html>.


"Study of the Solar System." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 01 June 2015. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40047/astronomy/257779/Study-of-the-solar-system>.

"How the PlanetsGot Their Names." How the Planets Got Their Names. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 June 2015. <http://rome.mrdonn.org/romangods/planets.html>.

Event Blog #3--Hammer Museum in Westwood

Below are photos from a Hammer exhibit of Heatherwick Studio's London-based designs.  Founded in 1994 by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, the studio now has 160 architects, designers, and makers.  International recognition was acquired for this studio after plans for the Rolling Bridge (directly below). This bridge is awe-inspiring for its modernistic beauty while unrolled, by which pedestrians can cross the inlet behind Paddington Station, and its perplexing ability to fold like a roll-polly, allowing boats to pass through.  The description plaque beside the small blueprint plan of the bridge (pictured below) states that it combines "Both infrastructure and public art...[and] captivates onlookers with its engineering and advances Britain's drawbridge tradition". 

Above is an innovative plan for a biomass power station on the Tees River that will serve 2,000 new houses, but with a cultural function and an elegant form.  

 I think that engineering mixed with modern art influences (the sharp lines, octagon geometry, and stark off-white color exampled in the rolling bridge, and the gorgeous, gold-foil-like encapsulations of new power stations) should continue to be utilized in practical applications of architecture.  My brother Andrew is an architect who designs modern-style custom homes in Northern California, and seeing this exquisite exhibit at the Hammer reminded me of his passion for beauty and function in the practical world, and how architecture of buildings and homes and public structures is everywhere and seen by every eye, so why not make them beautiful, innovative, and appealing?  Andrew became an architect because he has impressive math skills, but he loves working with design as well.  Architecture is one art form intrinsically connected to science.  

 

Here is a high-tech "chair"--a place to sit built by "squeezing heated metal through a shaped hole, or die".  The "warped lengths" constructed from this technology intrigued the studio inventors, who then worked with a factory in Asia that houses an extrusion machine that can exert 11,000 tons of pressure.  

Me at the Hammer

With an employee of the museum 

Unit 8 Nanotechnology + Art

Nanotechnology is a relatively new field with many facets and definitions; one such definition is "a science that is concerned with control of matter at the scale of atoms and molecules".  Artists find importance in nano-tech for its purpose of going beyond what a person can physically see, reinventing the groundworks of modern science, causing a true paradigm shift.  One such art specialty that is intertwined with nanotechnology is the media; "Both nanotechnology and media arts...have common ground in addressing the issues of manipulation, particularly sensory perception...changing the way we think".  Jim Gimzewski, a nanotechnologist at UCLA, describes nanotechnology as having the power and
potential to change the world, socially and economically, with huge impact on food, energy, and agriculture especially.  In fact, nano-tech is already present on the market; there are about 1,000 nanotechnology products currently being offered.  In terms of agriculture, there exist nutraceuticals, edible nano wrappers and coatings, agrochemicals, nano sensors, cooking oils, teas, supplements, and long-life packaging, all which utilize nano science.  Nano-medicine is another growing arena for the use of nano-technology; treatments to reduce the toxicity of cancer, Nano-drugs, Quantum Dots, and Nano-devices small enough to enter cells are all possibilities.

However good and helpful these nanotech-inspired inventions seem, public opinion is still skeptical since research isn't conclusive yet as to how safe nano-food and medicine is.  Nano-foods could be developed that are extremely low in fat, but still taste great--somewhat of a nano-miracle.  This doesn't necessarily mean its dangerous; our body already deals with breaking down food into nano-sized chunks on its own.  Some food we are eating and drinking already contain nano particles, like some beer manufactured in the U.S. that contain flaky nano particles of clay which serve the purpose of filling up space in bottle walls.  This makes it more difficult for CO2, the molecule that causes fizz, to be released from the beverage.  But without proper regulation, nano-particles in food, medicine and other products could blow up in the public opinion like GMOs have, with great public backlash and suspicion.  "European regulators are...trying to ensure that nanotechnology does not become the next GM".  We all would like to know what we are ingesting, and that starts with proper testing of new technologies like nano tech.  

Works Cited

N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fwhat-is-nano%2Fwhat-you-need-know-about-nano-food>.

Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact & Fiction in the Construction of a New Science." N.p., n.d. Web. <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=0AF1EFEE1A90856EC5DB09D1E5AA8C79?doi=10.1.1.127.8516&rep=rep1&type=pdf>.

Event #2--Fowler Museum at UCLA

These appear to be dyed tampons, or gauze, making up this garment.  Showing a human mannequin completely engulfed in medical/health supplies demonstrates the fragility of the body.  

 Proof that I was there!




















Form and Functionality were stressed in all the exhibits I visited at this museum.  These three photos were part of the "Making Strange" exhibit.  Two separate bodies of work under the umbrella of Delhi-based artist Vivan Sundaram came together in this exhibit; one is called Gagawaka, which is made up of 27 wearable avant-garde outfits "made from recycled materials and medical supplies", and the other is Postmortem, which are dummies, models, wooden props, and mannequins used to portray the human body in an experiment of dissection.  Combining Gagawaka and Postmortem altogether shows the connectedness between body art (like clothing and couture and aesthetics), and the actual physical body that represents these works of art.  

Another piece that had a lot of cultural significance and struck me as quite clever and ingenious was the piece pictured above.  It represents the funeral of Apartheid in South Africa.  This "sculptural installation" was created in "anticipation of the elections held in 1994 that brought about the end of minority rule in South Africa".  I think it is a really cool and interesting way to show a glad and proud goodbye to something repressive and ingrained in a culture.  There could be artwork similar to this bidding farewell to slavery, or to the Soviet Union; treating a regime in a personified manner and giving artistic representation to a culture's history and struggles is unique, raw, and inspiring.  

This piece was also culturally significant, and was a portrayal of functional art as well.  The picture behind this engraved wooden canoe shows the "Yami" people (inhabitants off the coast of Taiwan on the island of Botel Tobago) using it for the purpose of fishing.  However, despite these types of canoes being made for the purpose of getting food, they are engraved meticulously, with this particular canoe including a "human-like form painted on the side...[to] represent...the Yami ancestral cultural hero".  Artistic touches were added to show how proud the Yami were of their heritage.  

Unit 7--Neuroscience and Art

The definition of neuroscience is all of the sciences involved with the structure and/or function of the nervous system and brain.  This includes different forms of psychology, as well as neurochemistry.  This intensive scientific field combines with the artistic field in numerous ways, one of which is called the "Neuroculture Project", within which artist Suzanne Anker and neuroscientist Giovanni Frazzetto have worked together to examine how modern brain science has entered into the world of popular culture.  Neuroscience has influenced certain practices in the Humanities; psychology has been a growing field due to an educational quest for brain knowledge, and fields like neuro-theology, neuro-economics, neuro-aesthetics, and neuro-education have arisen with the public becoming more and more intrigued with human behavior and the mysteries involved within our own selves.

Suzanne Anker; artist

Another sector of the brain and of neuroscience that is highly incorporated into popular culture as well as art is the science behind dreams.  It has been highly researched but remains largely a mystery that confounds scientists and the public.  It is said that 95% of dreams are forgotten, so that leaves the portion of dreaming that can be studied through psychoanalysis and therapy very small and insignificant.  Sigmund Freud revolutionized the study of dreams in his body of work titled The Interpretation of Dreams.  He is known for his belief that nothing happens by chance, and that our unconscious drives much of what we do and who we are.  However, and unfortunately, according to Freud, society represses our deepest desires.  We tend to conform to those repressions, and our deep-down wishes are then oftentimes expressed in our dreams.  Freud believes that within every mind is the "Id", which is centered on primal pleasures, instincts and unchecked urges, but that there is a "Superego" which censors the Id and works with the "Ego" to be rational, moral, and self-aware.  What happens in our unchecked unconscious pertains to our dreams, and may be reflected by them.  

Short video (below) on Freudian dreaming and its incorporation into the modern science of dreams; very interesting as it details what parts of the brain are activated in your brain during REM, and how lucid dreaming isn't a myth, as many believe it may be.  

Works Cited 

"Dream Moods: Dream Theories: Sigmund Freud." Dream Moods: Dream Theories: Sigmund Freud. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.dreammoods.com/dreaminformation/dreamtheory/freud.htm>.

"PERSPECTIVES." Arms Control Today 4.4 (1974): 3-5. Web.

"Michio Kaku on the Science of Dreams." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 17 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7eYt4ZmkR8>.

Unit 6 DESMA 9 Blog

For this week, the topic is biotechnology and art.  Within this, artists will work directly with scientists in labs, or with geneticists, working with and around living cells.  One such artist, creator, and inventor, Joe Davis, believes that genes and genomes are a new palate for the artist.  He has developed such things as the Audio Microscope, which allows the user to view particular living cells while also listening to their amplified, species-specific micro acoustic signatures.  He has, on top of that, performed experiments in sound and cell structures, with his next project being how E. Coli responds to jazz and other sounds.  He is interested in such questions as what sound waves prove stressful to bacteria, and if primordial clocks can self-assemble.  His most esoteric project may be the "info-gene", with which there would be genetic engineering of the sign of human intelligence within a translated meaning, which could be sent to extra-terrestrials in a space-bound message.  

Joe Davis = typical "mad scientist"

Artist and scientist Davis with an exhibit of his work

In the "Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology?" article by Chris Kelty, the type of scientist called the "Outlaw", or DIY Scientist, was examined.  These innovators are the ones living and working outside the system, outside the boundaries, the "Robin Hoods" in "no man's land".  Joe Davis strikes me as a definite Outlaw, since he certainly isn't as clean-cut as a "Victorian Gentlemen Scientist", who is able to 'impress everyone' with their work.  And he is not a "Hacker", since while Davis manipulates the information he works with to have self-designated meaning, he sees the world so differently from the social norm, that he does not control the system, does not reconfigure it altogether.  He is known to be in the shadows, a non-commercial creator.  

This is a very short 3-minute video presenting the viewer with an introduction to Joe Davis' documentary.  It will cause one to raise the question of if he is crazy...but to do that, you might have to call all innovators who believed in something that no one else really did some sort of crazy as well.  We all have ideas; as he says, "we are all artists and scientists and philosophers"...it is the acting on these ideas that is the reason we have any notable art and science in this world to speak of.  



A Final Thought:
One thought-provoking question brought up in the blog prompt was "Should there be limits to human creativity?"  I want to end my blog with this kind of discussion question because it strikes near to my heart.  I am a vegetarian and would consider myself to be an animal-rights activist.  I have a very hard time finding the moral justice in using animals to test them for human consumer products, or to mutate them to become transgenic.  Joe Davis said he used frog legs to power an aircraft; this means he killed many frogs for their legs, in an artistic and technological venture.  While I understand the upsides of using animals for scientific gains, especially ones that may save human lives, I disagree with using them in art.  Altering the genetic makeup of animals when they have no voice of their own to speak out against it, using recombinant DNA and inserting foreign genes into the organism, is disturbing and distressing to me.  However, everyone has different ideas when it comes to the use of animals in experiments.  I happen to take a very libertarian approach in my belief that living and sentient animals should not be sacrificed for human gains--we are also animals, yet with the often-abused power to take advantage of other species.  Therefore, I do think that creativity should be limited to personal gains only, not ones that involve taking or mutating the lives of other beings.  

Works Cited

"Transgenic Animals." Transgenic Animals. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2015. <http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/T/TransgenicAnimals.html>.



Kelty, Chris. "Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology?" (n.d.): n. pag. Web.


"Heaven and Earth and Joe Davis - Interview." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 09 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NfK5RdmgYY>.

Event Blog 1: The Getty Villa Museum

The Getty Villa:

Proof that 
I was here!!!

The Getty Villa is a beautiful, mansion-like, white-marbled, Roman-inspired location in Malibu, CA.  The careful architecture of the place itself speaks volumes about the artwork, sculpture, and glass work it contains.  

The Villa has beautiful gardens with flowing fountains; however, the fountains were drained due to the ongoing CA drought.  However, I gained inside knowledge from an employee that cracks in the entire basis of these fountains and their marble has lead to water leakage down through to the parking garage.  But also, if water is added into these fountains, the cracks may soften and deepen, and the whole structure you see in this image will simply collapse in on itself.  How can we save these fountains?  Sounds like engineering and art will have to merge to solve this problem!

Something that I noticed during my experience at the Villa was how many sculptures were restored.  It is very hard to keep a large body of work completely intact, especially because it may be transported numerous times, and as time passes, wear and tear alter the masterpiece.  I thought about how, in Walter Benjamin's article "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", he wrote that "1900 technical reproduction...permitted...reproduc[tion] [of] all transmitted works of art", but reproductions are lacking in 'aura', a certain "presence in time and space, [a] unique existence at the place where it happens to be."  Although reparations and reconstructions have been made on many statues at the Getty museum, people from all over the world still visit it to see these original masterpieces, because however altered, they still exude the authentic aura, and they hold the entire history of the original artist's idea.  

Parts of this famous "Lansdowne Hercules'" arm, leg, and face were restored.  This process involves restorers reworking broken surfaces and replacing lost pieces with great artistic skill. 

Side Note:  This sculpture was restored in Rome after its discovery in 1790, and sold to English aristocrat Lord Lansdowne in 1792.  In 1951, Paul Getty purchased this work, and fell in love with it--enough to inspire him to build the Getty Villa in the style of an ancient Roman Villa, with a special room dedicated to display this statue.  





Another aspect of this museum also reminded me of the connection of art and science studied in this course: the art and science of glass-blowing.  Glass-blowing has multiple forms, and there are many glassmaking techniques used since ancient times.  For example:

• Casting and Core Forming:

a ceramic-like core forms around a metal rod and is encased in glass--technique used for over 1,500 years!

• Mosaic Glass:

Made up of small pieces of glass sliced off from moldable rods of differing colors.  These are merged together and manipulated into patterns under intense heat.

• Inflation:

Revolutionary for the glass industry, artists discovered that molten glass could be blown up into a bubble at the end of a hollow tube.  

• Mold Blowing:

Designs are carved into molds, and liquid glass is poured into them.  Stone, clay, bronze, and plaster were all materials used to make molds. 

It is apparent that glass-making is a form of chemistry, with heat (up to 2,500 degrees F) being applied to molten glass, and then cooled in order for the properties to change and settle into a solid, delicate, material, that holds the shape of which the glassmaker blew it into.  Artists who work with molten glass must understand the chemical properties of glass, and therefore are skilled in artistic as well as scientific abilities.  


Finally, I think this optical illusory work of art is so fascinating:

If you stare right at it's center, the rest of the painting seems to be in motion.  This use of a backdrop of triangles and spiraling circles create this interesting illusion.  The Roman artist tied in a knowledge of geometry as well as artistic perspective to construct this piece.


Works Cited:

The J. Paul Getty Museum: Handbook of the Collections. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007. Print.

Week 4 Desma 9 Blog Post: Medtech and Art

The Human Body and the medical practices performed on it were long ago considered an art form, as well as a science.  Ancient Egyptians mummified dead bodies, and would bury them with their most prized possessions in a careful, delicate, and artistic manner, with the more elaborate and exquisitely decorated mummifications being saved for the wealthy or prestigious deceased.  Ancient Greeks were obsessed with the body of man, and considered it to be the single most beautiful thing, and would dissect bodies to better understand the human machine.  In Leonardo Da Vinci's time, it was invaluable to an artist in sculpting or painting humans to understand the body on a deeper level.  Da Vinci performed private dissections and drew detailed drawings of human anatomy.  His work was a significant contribution to the social acceptance of the body in Europe.  

Ancient Egyptian Mummy 

Leonardo Da Vinci and proportioned body of man 

However, in our day and age, science and especially medicine isn't naturally considered an art form.  An art student would not likely consider herself to be  scientist or medical practitioner, and vice versa.  This is evident in seeing the evolution of oath-taking by graduating medical students.  To take an oath to perform ones job to the best of one's ability, and to execute one's craft with morality, has a ritualistic and artistic undertone.  The Hippocratic Oath, which emerged in the 6th century B.C.--formulated by the "father of medicine" Hippocrates--holds some of the basic tenants that many modern medical oaths taken today include.  The Hippocratic Oath held such promises as to treat all sick people to the best of that doctor's ability, to preserve patient privacy, to teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation without cost, and to promise to never perform an abortion or a patient-assisted suicide.  Many of these things have become outdated with the progression of our society, but taking a modern version of the oath is still practiced everywhere, but it is less enforced; there is really no penalty for transgressing the oath.  

It is interesting to see how in earlier times, the art of medicinal practice was upheld and cherished.  One quote out of the Hippocratic Oath states that "In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art".  Today, pre-med and med students bustle from science class to science class, and stare into anatomy and calculus textbooks for hours on end.  Everything is factual and scientific at its core; the lines of morality and artistry to one's practice have blurred as medical technologies have advanced.

However, medicine and art still merge outside of the doctor's office.  One French woman, who has named herself "Orlan", performs live and recorded shows of herself being operated on.  Each time she gets plastic surgery done on her body and face, to show how the human body can be altered by medicine to embody something different.  She believes this to be her expression of art, how her body can be molded to have features of different artist's work.  She claims to have been performed on to now have the chin of Botticelli's Venus, the nose of Gerome Psyche, the lips of Boucher's Europa, the eyes of 'Diana' from a 16th c. painting, and the forehead of the infamous Mona Lisa.  

Orlan

If Orlan's aim is to provoke strong emotions in the viewer, she certainly succeeded with me!  In watching one of her performances, I cringed countless times and exclaimed out loud how disgusted I was.  It might well have been the creepiest video I've ever seen!  Although I don't believe routine plastic surgery to be a beautiful art form, it is a perfect example of how medicine and art interact, and I can appreciate how Orlan's performances cause such passionate emotions in the audience.  




Bibliography:


Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html>.


"Orlan - Carnal Art (2001) Documentary." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_66MGu0Oo>.

Week 3 Post: Robotics and Art

WEEK 3

The technologies we rely so heavily on in our society would not be made possible without the Industrial Revolution that occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries.  It started with the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg, and progressed with contributions of people like Rene Descartes (father of Modern Philosophy), Michael Farady (work in the magnetic field), and Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein, which still inspires scientists and artists today, especially in robot creation and infatuation).  However, I would like to take the time to focus on two highly valued persons of this era: Nikola Tesla and Henry Ford.

• Nikola Tesla 

Serbian-American inventor 

Development of the alternating-current electrical system

Discovered the rotating magnetic field 

Worked for and alongside Thomas Edison, but eventually became his main competitor when he went to work with George Westinghouse

Helped to discover radar and X-ray technologies 

• Henry Ford 

1908--Ford Model T Car--everyone could afford a car, and his workers earned steady reliable wages

Creator of the assembly-line mode of production, still used to this day

Wanted the need for cars to remain high (great demand) so he made sure to remodel his cars each year (similar to "Apple's" mentality to re-create the iPhone over and over so people will purchase the latest and greatest version).

Chief engineer for the Edison Illuminating Co.

1918--half of all cars in America were Ford Model T's!!!

Interesting Side Note on Ford:

I recently read the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and in this book, set well into the future, humans were mass-produced in labs (the family unit and 'mothers' and 'fathers' were dissolved ideals), conditioned to like the work they were predestined to do in the "castes" they were born into, and instead of God, Henry Ford was the figure that the masses hailed to.  "T's" (Ford Model T) replaced 'crosses' as the "holy" symbol in society, displayed openly on buildings.  This "utopia" was driven by industrial revolutionary ideals, and many people still remark that this novel was Huxley's prediction of what our future world will look like.  The overarching message is that humans are looking more and more like the machines they operate, and speaking of humans becoming machines, the advent of humanoid and other robots in our society has become a hugely controversial topic of debate...

ROBOTICS + ART:

Now to the hot topic of the week!

While robots perform many useful functions (i.e. to search for and locate people who may be in grave danger,  to clean homes, or to amuse children in the form of robotic toys), they also can be taken from an artistic perspective.

One perfect example of this is from "The Puppeteer and the Inventor" video.  

The man and woman involved in the invention and creation of life-like puppets describe puppetry as a mobile art.  A mechanical humanoid tramp named Dirk seemed to most people to be real upon first glance; he was even arrested once!  A realistic-looking and acting monkey named Mono (which is monkey in Spanish :)) is the latest creation of these artists' "Electric Circus".  Children and adults alike love to watch this monkey perform animal and human actions, like screeching and running about, riding a bike, and playing the organ.


Walter Benjamin, in "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" stated that "the progressive reaction is characterized by the direct, intimate fusion of visual and emotional enjoyment with the orientation of the expert."  I believe that art forms like robotic life-like puppeteering immerse the audience into the art, as opposed to the "distracted mass[es]" mindlessly watching a film.

I personally, as an animal rights activist, believe that this use of art and invention to entertain people in incredible, especially since the cruelty involved with confining and conditioning a wild animal to perform tricks for human pleasure can be avoided when something such as the puppet "Mono" is used  to amaze and shock the spectators.  Artists should continue to work with robotic technologies, which in turn also helps breach the gap between art and science/engineering.  

Bibliography:

Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.biography.com/people/nikola-tesla-9504443>.

Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.biography.com/people/henry-ford-9298747>.

"Videos." Video Electic Circus. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.electric-circus.eu/htmlenglish/videos.html>.

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

DESMA 9 Week 2 Blog

WEEK 2: Math+Art

This week we learned about the intersection of mathematics and art, another fostering of the "Third Culture" in our society.  During the Renaissance period of the 1400s and 1500s, artists were praised and in-famed for their commissioned work, with which principles of math were unabashedly intertwined. The aspiration was that, with perfect mathematical dimensions, the works of art would give the most realistic and proportionally exact effect for all admirers.  

In this unfinished "Adoration of the Magi" by Da Vinci, one notices the grid lines used to cause realist effects

The perfect example of an artist incorporating mathematics and creativity is Leonardo Da Vinci.  He ingeniously fused geometrics and linear perspective in his work.  He was a "student of all things scientific" who did not see any separation between mathematics and artistry.  His resume included painter, architect, inventor, intellectual, and teacher--he was and remains the ultimate "Renaissance Man" embodying the doctrines of humanism.  

However, in our modern culture, math and the arts have gone through a stark division.  People identify with one side or the other--perhaps they are even scared of the opposite spectrum.  I personally am intimidated by numbers and calculations, but have challenged myself with 4 math-based courses in my first year here at UCLA. In this way, I seek to close the gap between my abilities in humanities subjects, and my aptitudes for scientific specialties.  

Although people in general do see themselves as either creative, free-thinking, and artistic OR factual, mathematical, and scientific, there are artist's currently seeking scientific explanations to influence their work.  For example, in The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion, the concept of a fourth dimension has been shown to be vital to 20th century art.  The spiritual concept of the fourth dimension of reality, something otherworldly and 'felt' if one could breach three dimensional boundaries has helped artists to gain out-of-body experiences.  However, the scientific concept of the 4th dimension as time, influenced by Albert Einstein's Relativity Theory, has also helped artists go beyond conventional limits and "depart from visual reality and to reject...the one-point perspective system that for centuries...portrayed the world as three-dimensional."

This YouTube video was extremely interesting to me as it gives a mathematical and spatial explanation for the fourth dimension that I was unaware of.  The trick:  towards the end of the video, when the impressive 4-D shapes are being shown and rotated, let your eyes focus on it and then blur over--you will begin to see geometric shapes moving within other geometric shapes as if in a grand mathematical orchestration.  It is highly mathematical as well as beautifully artistic.  This video drives home Professor Vesna's point about how computers are connecting math and art in unimaginable ways (and really, computers are connecting everything and everyone!).  


In even more obvious ways, art and math coincide in our world.  "From the Great Pyramids in Egypt to the New York City skyline, mathematical concepts such as the Golden Ratio, measurement conversions, and basic geometric shapes" are used to create the art and architecture that we admire and function within every day. Math and art will continue to go hand-in-hand, especially with the rise of technology. The separation of math and art will hopefully be dissolved, with artist's taking pride in their scientific incorporations, and scientists taking note of aesthetics and artistic beauty in natural observations and experiments.  



Works Cited:

"Leonardo Da Vinci." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

"4th Dimension Explained." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

"Mathematics and Art: An Unlikely Connection." Calculus I Blog. N.p., 19 Feb. 2009. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Dalrymple-Henderson, Linda. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art." JSTOR. MIT Press, n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fdiscover%2F10.2307%2F1575193%3Fuid%3D2%26uid%3D4%26sid%3D21106427753743>.