week 4

Week 4: Medicine + Technology + Art
Andrea Streips

Throughout lecture over the past 4 weeks, I have developed a deeper understanding about art and how it can interconnect with science, math, and robots. This week, Professor Vesna delves into how science technology has a huge influence on medicine and how human beings have shifted through biotechnology and nanotechnology. I can see how the lecture on robots foils into this week’s lecture through the way humans have the ability to alter their body through plastic surgery.  There is definitely a side to art when a surgeon is performing plastic surgery on a nose because the plastic surgeon will “assess the patient’s nose and then 

redesign it the way they believe will look aesthetically pleasing to the eye”(Cotter).

I found an instant connection between MRI’s, x-rays, and CAT scans as a form of art through photography.

Todorovic also demonstrates an interconnection with art and medicine as he focuses on female beauty and cosmetic byproduct wastes shines a light on a surgical procedure in a completely contemporary way, which reveals an artistic aspect while simultaneously discussing a social problem.  Laramee’s installation is also is a form of artwork that is meant to reveal the medical/technological sphere. Through her work we can understand the repercussions of atomic radiation and how those who have actually been affected by atomic radiation now have genetic causalities and could now be more prone to have cancer.

I thoroughly enjoyed Gromala in her TEDx talk on the virtual reality. She explains how virtual reality is a way to help cope with pain that interrelates medical knowledge, art, and technological advances that can decrease the suffering of human beings. This week truly opened my eyes about the technological advances in medicine that is built on art.

Work Cited: 

Cotter, Holland. "Artist’s Life: Cut, Nip and Tuck." The New York Times 19 Apr. 2009, Art Review sec.: C1. The New York Times. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/arts/design/20apex.html?_r=0>.

Gromala, Diane. "TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty." YouTube. YouTube, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdarMz--Pw>.

"Diane Gromala." Government of Canada, Industry Canada, Canada Research Chairs. N.p., 26 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/chairholders-titulaires/profile-eng.aspx?profileId=2457>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine, Technology and Art.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 24 April 2015. Lecture.

Andree Laramee, Eve. "Halfway to Invisible." Halfway to Invisible. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://halfwaytoinvisible.blogspot.com/>.

Week 3 - Arts & Robots

Week 3 Arts & Robots
Andrea Streips

This week, Professor Kusahara's lecture on arts and robots enabled me to view robots from two completely different cultural lenses. The industrialization of the US and Japan that Professor Kusahara lectures on demonstrates how robots have been integrated in both US and Japan, but in two completely different ways. She states how America portrays robots as evil or scary, while in Japanese movies, robots are usually portrayed to help and are illustrated as even cute or cuddly (Robotics MachioKusahara 1). The history of robots in America has always been based off the idea of man vs machine and are depicted as destructive machines throughout American films.  Benjamin Walter delves into a loss of aura, focusing on the progression of time and explaining how aura is the originality that cannot be reproduced (Walter, 1936).

The Japanese, on the other hand, illustrate robots as a device that can actually better the community as a whole. Robots are viewed as cute child-friendly machines that can be purchased as a cute stuffed animal for a toddler. In the west robots were created as a "response to the mechanization of labor", where science has been a huge influence for the harsh metal appearance of robots(Robotics pt 1-3).  In the beginning of Kusahara's lecture, I found it interesting how the design of robots began in theater, but the industrialization has influenced the Japanese and American culture to integrate robots in their society for polar opposite reasons.

I began reflecting to see if I could think of any American film about robots that are illustrated as, "cute, cuddly, and friendly" to see if there is an interconnection anywhere. The only movie I could think of was Wall-e. Wall-e, the cartoon that was released in 2008, is about a friendly robot who is designed to clean up waste on the earth and falls in love. The theme of the movie is about the purest form of love and many of the characters don't even have voices. Even though Wall-e has characteristics similar to the Japanese robot, the appearance still embodies an American robot. Wall-e is cute, but has more of a harsh appearance. Overall, it was very interesting to see how the innovation of the industrialization has paved the way for robots, but still stemmed from the art of theater.

Citation:

UConlineprogram. "Robotics pt1-pt3". Youtube. Youtube, 16 April 2012. Web. 
UConlineprogram. “Robotics MachikoKusahara 1.” Youtube. Youtube, 14 April 2012. Web.
Walter, Benjamin. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” 1936. Web.
"History of the United States Industrialization and Reform (1870-1916)." Theusaonline.com. The USA Online. Web. 17 Apr. 2015
Wikipedia.org "Wall-e" Online. 7 March 2009. Web. 

Blog 2

Mathematics + Art 
Andrea Streips 
This week in lecture, I learned the importance of history between sciences and art. I have always had a grasp on the general understanding of how mathematics has influenced the mechanics of art, but I have never realized how interconnected they truly are. I found that "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott demonstrated an alternate perspective of our society's inability to conceive further dimensions. Abbott delves into his conception of the "flatland", that is a two dimensional world where a third dimension cannot be imagined. Abbott heightens on one of our society's biggest flaws: our inability to interconnect art and math because we lack communication between artists and scientists.

In addition to Abbott's concepts within "Flatland", I also learned new perspectives about the Renaissance and the ways in which Piero della Francesca applied mathematics and science to the art period in particular. The usage of mathematics through lines and angles has allowed art to progress in a more creative and innovative way.  In addition, the lecture also discusses Brunelleschi, a famous artist who integrated mathematical equations and theorems in order to discover a "vanishing point" where parallel lines converge.  Robert J. Lang, is another prime example of how art and mathematics have a perfect symbiosis with each other. Lang provides us with two different categories of art and math on his website, but within each section, he discusses how one foils into the other and both need each other in order for origami to be created.



The first artist that comes to mind in regards to interconnecting art and science is Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci has proven to be the ultimate Renaissance man through the way he saw that objects were not comprised of outlines, but were actually three-dimensional bodies defined by light and shadow. His study of science was constantly illustrated through his art by the way his study of nature and anatomy was demonstrated through his realistic paintings. He mastered the perfect proportions of the human body because of science. Through week two's lecture and readings I have developed a better understanding of how important it is to understand the interconnection between art and science.


Citation:

Abbott, Edwin. “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.” N.p., n.d. Web. 10 April 2015. <https://cole.uconline.edu/content>.

Lang, Robert "Origami" N.p.n.d Web. 11 April 2015. 
<http://www.langorigami.com/science/math/math.php>

Math Intro. By Victoria Vesna. YouTube. Uconlineprogram, 10 April 2015. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHiL9iskUWM&feature=player_embedded>.

Museum of Science. N.p.n.d. Web 11 April 2015 
<http://legacy.mos.org/leonardo/artist.html>

Vesna Victoria.  “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.

Blog Week 1

Blog Week 1

Andrea Streips 

Looking at the separation between art and science in Snow's, “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution”, has enabled me to develop an alternate perspective in terms of applying the ideas and concepts to my personal life. The concepts provided were clear and concise and feel that I can apply the two cultures of art and science to almost everything that I surround myself with. From a personal perspective, I work in the PR/Entertainment industry that demonstrates how the more "artistic" side of PR has progressed into a more "scientific/technological" industry through social media within the last five years. We see two cultures everywhere because with the advances in technology, especially social media, art and science are now almost interconnected because of how they go hand and hand with each other. 

Ucla is another great example of two cultures through the different stereotypes we have between north and south campus. North campus is definitely stereotyped as a more sublime environment not only because north campus is the part of UCLA geared towards the more "artistic" students, but even its scenery. On north campus you can find students lounging around on the grass reading books and casually strolling to class. On the other hand, south campus has the stereotype of being the "science and math" part of school where everyone is always stressed and scrambling to either get to a class or a review or a lab. The difference of infrastructure between north and south campus is also very apparent. South campus is filled with very harsh, cold, modern structures while north campus is filled with warm brick buildings and a lot more greenery. 

Through the readings from this week, I was also able to apply the concepts found in Snow's writing to my personal life. I grew up in a family from Europe where everyone is either a doctor or engineer and being artistic or studying liberal arts was always frowned upon. However, science and math have never been my niche in school, so my parents have found it very hard at times for their daughter to be stereotyped as a liberal arts student rather then a medical or engineer. For them the stereotypes described in the video lectures are very valid. Overall, there are two cultures in all facets of life, but it is a natural aspect of life and of human development. 

Citation: 

"art and science: two cultures with shared values" by Chris Bigsby 

"fifty years on, CP Snow's are united in desperation: by Robert Whelan 

Kevin Kelly - The Third Culture 

Snow, C.P. 'The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution

Bohm, David. 'On Creativity.'