Final Project

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Extra Credit Event: Hammer Museum

Even though I was at UCLA for over three years, I have never visited the Hammer Museum or any of the museums I’ve written about for that matter.  It sits in the middle of all the tall office buildings on Wilshire, which is interesting since usually you would find a museum isolated with huge gardens around it like the Getty. 

Hammer’s collection by French satirist Honoré Daumier stood out among the others because of its bold criticism of life in contemporary France.  It took me awhile to actually interpret some of his drawings, since many of them incorporated deep-rooted issues.  His drawing called “Past-Present-The Future” depicts a very well fed three-faced man, each face with an increasingly meaner expression from past to the future.  Since most of his art criticized the life in contemporary France, I interpreted this drawing as the face of the government becoming harsher with its citizens.  Another picture that stood out was called “The Bathers” and depicted a man and a woman each getting ready to use the bath.  The man was quite hefty, while the woman was the complete opposite.  This may have represented the generalization of how men and woman looked at the time, with men generally not worried over their figure and women generally a lot more self conscious and wanting to be thin.  The “Nadar elevating photography to the level of art” drawing was easier to interpret and basically represents how Nadar’s work in photography is gradually becoming worthy to be called art in Daumier’s eyes, though in the picture Nadar is riding an air balloon and elevating physically.  

 

Works Cited:

"RAISED TO AN ART." RAISED TO AN ART. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

"Food for Thought." History 332 Modern France. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

"About the Collection." The Hammer Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

"France in the Long Nineteenth Century." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 July 2014. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

"Honoré Daumier." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 July 2014. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

Event Blog: Museum of Jurassic Technology

Hands down, this museum had to have been the most eccentric one I’ve ever visited.  Half of the exhibits were amusing, while the other half was just confusing.  The most interesting one was the exhibit on the process of how humans go through remembering and then forgetting an event called Obliscence by Geoffrey Sonnabend.  He depicts the process as an inclined plane that slowly passes through a cylinder and the portion of the cone intersecting the plane represents the stage of the event in our memory.  It kind of made sense since the different stages coincided with how we interpret our memories.  For instance, once the plane has completely passed through the cylinder, our memories of the event are completely different than the actual event, while decreasing contact between the cylinder and the plane represent how much of the memory we remember that’s accurate.

A couple of the exhibits were actually discussed in the lecture on Space and Arts.  Dogs were the first living beings to be sent into space.  After the first semi-successful trip, unfortunately the dog didn’t make it back alive, more dogs were sent to space and one was even able to give birth later on.  Another exhibit had a funny design for a space shuttle that declined the interior flooring so that when the spaceship took off at an angle, everything inside would remain leveled.  The most interesting part of this design included different levels of the ship for many different purposes such as a greenhouse, maybe for producing oxygen.

I would highly recommend others to visit this museum if one’s looking for a much different scientific approach to future technology.  The ideas there were a bit “out there” but always made you consider why some of those ideas didn’t pass the test of time.  

Works Cited:

"Obliscence, Theories of Forgetting and the Problem of Matter." Obliscence, Theories of Forgetting and the Problem of Matter. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014. 

"Space Today Online - Animals - Dogs in Space." Space Today Online - Animals - Dogs in Space. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

"Almost Current Exhibits." Almost Current Exhibits. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

"Museum of Jurassic Technology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 July 2014. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

"Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich (1857–1935)." Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich (1857-1935). N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014.

Event 2: Griffith Observatory

Much like my visit to the Getty Museum, the Griffith Observatory’s architecture was one of a kind and can even be recognized from far away.  Actually, some of the exhibits can be found from the architecture itself.  There were a few that stood out in particular for their artistic elements and scientific significance, the first one being the Astronomer’s Monument.  It stands right in front of the Griffith Observatory and pays homage to six of the greatest astronomers so far, including Nicholas Copernicus, whom was talked about in the Space and Art lecture.  I almost didn’t notice the Solar System Lawn Model exhibit as I walked toward the entrance, but this model is scaled down 110 million times from actual.  Even on this micro scale, it still gave me a physical perspective on how enormous our solar system is.  The West Observation Terrace sounds like just a fancy name for just a view of Los Angeles, but the view was really quite breathtaking.  One can see everything from downtown Los Angeles all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  

Many of the interior exhibits demonstrated a combination of old and recent technology, especially the Tesla Coil exhibit.  Back late 1800s and early 1900s, Tesla and Edison contended for the most practical form of electricity for society to use.  Tesla argued for alternating currents, while Edison fought for direct currents with Edison eventually prevailing.  However, Tesla’s discoveries have recently been revived because of its untapped potential.  In short, he discovered a way to light up a lightbulb using electromagnetic force from a mile away.  One can only imagine what kind of technology could result if scientists are able to tap into the depths of his invention. 

Works Cited:
"Exhibits: Hall of the Eye." Griffith Observatory. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2014.
"Griffith Observatory." Travellingflip. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.
"Exterior Exhibits." Griffith Observatory. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 July 2014.
"Tesla Coil." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 July 2014. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.
"8 Space Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.

Event Blog: Getty Museum

My first visit to the Getty Museum exceeded my expectations for a typical art museum.  First, the architecture of the museum was spectacular.  It overlooks all of West LA and allows a lot of natural sunlight to illuminate all five gallery pavilions.  The buildings, which incorporate 1.2 million square feet of travertine stone, are accompanied by fountains, sunken gardens and terraces.  For obvious reasons, the design of the building was a piece of art.  However, it can also be seen as a piece of scientific work since the design could only be made physically possible by consulting engineers to see if it met building standards of safety.  

 

I’ve always been fascinated with the Middle Ages, so I was really excited to find exhibit featuring chivalry in the middle ages.  One exhibit showcased a large book supposedly preserved since that time.  None of the writing was in English, but the pages weren’t made out of normal paper, maybe more like papyrus, and the pages were brightly colored.  There was a method behind the coloring and took several steps in order to achieve the final result.  Compared to how fast the same results can be achieved now, coloring those pages must have had a designated job practice.  

Minor White’s exhibit on black and white photography caught my attention, partly due to the pun from his name and his type of exhibit.  I’m not too experienced with taking or criticizing pictures, but each picture seemed to focus on showing a new perspective for that scene or object.  Each picture needed the right angle and lighting.  Each picture also probably went through a rigorous editing program done on a computer.   Photography is another great example of combining art and science. 

 

 Works Cited:

"Architecture | Getty Center." The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2014.

 "J. Paul Getty Museum." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 July 2014. Web. 01 Aug. 2014. 

"Getty Mounts Minor White Photography Exhibit." 89.3 KPCC. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.

""The Chivalry Project" Remakes Chivalry for the 21st Century." The Getty Iris. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.

 "Exhibitions at the Getty." Exhibitions at the Getty. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.

Space and Art

Once the thought of flying was impossible.  Now space travel represents just how far mankind has come with the advancement of technology.  Man’s curiosity for outer space started over two centuries ago and many propositions have been made since then for forms of space travel.  One memorable one is definitely the space elevator.  In theory, the space elevator would stretch from the surface of the Earth all the way to outer space and directly into orbit.  Recently, this idea has started to become relevant once again due to emergence of new materials necessary to support such a long structure.  Coincidentally, a material relating to nanotechnology has been noted as a possible material, the carbon nanotube.  Even though the idea may not be fully realized within my lifetime, the thought of a structure, which will allow direct access to outer space, is phenomenal. 

One of the main contributors for the rapid advancement was due to the space race between the US and the Soviet Union.  Neither nation backed down and was always trying to stay one step ahead of the other.  This caused a snowball effect and eventually much funding was poured into research for outer space travel.  Nowadays, the race for space travel has been expanded for private companies and commercial use.  Companies such as Virgin Galatic and SpaceX now hold promising developments to put more men into outer space.

The development of military weapons has also advanced at a rapid pace due to the space race.  Rockets for the military are directly linked to the rockets used for space travel.  This could pose a possible danger in the future if military weapons continue to mimic evolving space technology.  

Works Cited:

"Orbital Express: Here Comes the Space Elevator." Cosmos Magazine Orbital Express Here Comes the Space Elevator Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2014.

"Carbon Nanotube Composites." Polymer Characterization. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2014.

"Rumor: Google Is Looking to Invest into Virgin Galactic." Tech Geek Forever. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2014.

"8 Space Pt2 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 28 July 2014.

"8 Space Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 25 July 2014.

 

Nanotechnology and Art

Similar to the paradigm shift between art and science, nanotechnology is a relatively new field that offers many new possibilities for science in the future.  This growing field has changed the way scientists approach nature and is so unique since it doesn’t follow the theories from classical physics.  Some things on the macro scale may seem opaque while its transparent in the nanoscale or be inert on the macro scale, while combustible in the nano scale.  However, as technology progresses, this field is sure to be the one leading the charge as scientists look for ways to compress older technology while introducing newer and smaller inventions such as the medical device shown below.   

Nanotechnology refers to matter sizes in the range of 1 to 100 nanometers.  Thus, the scanning tunneling microscope technique or more commonly referred as STM was developed for imaging surfaces at the atomic level.  It’s atomic sized tip scans across the surface and its Cartesian position is translated to form an image of the surface at the atomic level.  In addition, STM can manipulate the surface when a current is applied through the tip such as the brilliant art piece shown below. 

Complex structures in nature can also be explained through viewing them in nano-scale.  A common example is the wings of a Blue Morpho.  This butterfly’s wings are so reflective and can be noticed from an airplane flying a mile above it.  By examining its wings in nano-scale, scientists observed a unique structure in the wings that caused its blue hue instead of the more common assumption of a blue pigment.  Christmas tree structures pocket air and combined with the proteins around it, manipulate light to produce such a nice blue color.  A whole subdivision called nanophotonics exists to study this phenomenon and create colors that change while keeping them nontoxic.

 

Works Cited:
"The Nanotechnology Times." The Nanotechnology Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.

"Wesoloski LTSTM Webpage." Wesoloski LTSTM Webpage. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.

"Blue Morpho." Blue Morpho. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.

"Nanotech Jim Pt2." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.

"Nanotech Jim Pt5." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.

Neuroscience and Art

The study of the brain only started 100 years ago and thus our understanding of the brain is still lacking.  Professor Vesna imposed some very interesting questions about the conscious mind.  How is it that we’re able to convey our thoughts out such as this blog?  Once we answer this question, we may be able to also answer how is it that we are able to express ourselves in art.

A movie relating to the human consciousness is Transcendence.  This movie connects with biotechnology since the main plot of this movie discusses the emerging threat of artificial intelligence, where the consciousness of a human is transferred into a computer network.  Paraphrasing Stellark’s saying, it relates to the body eventually becoming obsolete and the full expression of oneself through computerized means. This concept is amazing and adds an interesting element on life being an expressive medium.  With his consciousness embedded into a computer network, which virtually can never be shut down, he transcended life, and expressed his desires through the computer network.  It seems like his natural body’s expression for life wasn’t enough to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, which also drove the movie’s plot. 

Sigmund Freud introduced his concept of the conscious and unconscious mind.  One concept stood out to me among the ones discussed in the lecture and it was his concept of men’s unconscious mind driven by a sexual source.  I think this is accurate to some degree and can be easily noticed in the media.  Many commercials convey messages of sexuality with attractive women in their ads for cars or even hamburgers. 

Neurochemicals recently have been very common among the youth for raves and concerts.  LSD is one such drug and has a massive effect on the brain and common symptoms include a loss of sense of the environment around you, and replaced by an entirely different perception.  The eccentric perception of the world has the benefit of introducing new perspectives of the environment around you, which is essential for artists, but also has many risks involved with addiction and overdose. 

Works Cited:

"Looking for Geeks." Looking for Geeks. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014.

"Editorial Stock Image: What Is on a Man S Mind by Sigmund Freud." Dreamstime. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.

"Hidden Health Science." Hidden Health Science RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.

"Neuroscience-pt2.mov." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.

"Neuroscience Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.

Biotechnology and Art

The biotechnology industry has grown rapidly over the years as both medicinal practices and technology improve.  However, as biotechnology continues to improve, it also becomes more controversial.  Is it ethical to be tampering with the genes of future living organisms in order to achieve the desired effect?  One familiar artistic experiment involved transferring glowing genes cultivated from a jellyfish into fertilized eggs of a rabbit.  As the cells multiplied, so did the protein which caused the glow.  This brings up many ethical concerns over the use for other living organisms including humans.

George Gessert modified and hybridized irises to breed ones with only desirable traits.  If someone could do this with flowers, then human bioengineering could soon follow.  A good example of human bioengineering comes from the movie Gattaca.  The main plot of the movie introduces bioengineering in humans to achieve desirable traits such as intelligence and physical strength.  Of course, the moral of the story was that the desire and “heart” of a person determines the person’s fate more than his or her genes.  Even so, how close are we to start conducting this sort of natural selection.  This movie hints at a possible future for us with the progression of biotechnology.

 

A less controversial project based on biotechnology and art is Symbiotica's "Fish and Chips".  It involves the creation of art from the flow of a fish cell's internal activity.  The cell is connected to a mechanical drawing arm which traces out the neurons internal movement and is displayed as an artwork.  To me, this seems like a much less concern over ethics, since it doesn't involve altering a living organism's being.  However, one could also argue that connecting a mechanical device to the cells could be another case of "man versus machine" or "nature versus machine".

Restrictions for these ethical concerns will always be a controversial issue.  As technology grows, so will the specifics for what is ethical and what is not.  However, I think restrictions for artists should be similar to those of scientists using biotechnology since all involve experimenting with living organisms.  

Works cited:

"George Gessert (USA)." George Gessert (USA). N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014.

"Gattaca Movie Review & Film Summary (1997) | Roger Ebert." All Content. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014.

"2001-4 - MEART Rat Neuron Drawing Machine - SymbioticA (Australian/American) - Cyberneticzoo.com." Cyberneticzoocom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014.

"5 BioArt Pt4." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20 July 2014.

"5 BioArt Pt5." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20 July 2014.

Medicine and Art

Medicine has come a long way and art continues to consistently weave in and out of medicine.  One of the more interesting topics covered in this week’s lecture was the study and dissection of the human body hundreds of years ago for the purposes of art.  Many sculptures of human bodies were created with amazing accuracy and I think that was only possible with in depth and most likely invasive study of the human body.  In the lecture, Professor Vesna pointed out that Leonardo Da Vinci dissected human bodies against the will of the Church, but today he’s known a lot more for his artistic contributions rather than his disobedience to the Church.  Da Vinci’s works of art are a great example of the combinations between arts and anatomy. 

As a mechanical engineer, relating art to the use of prosthetic arms was really enticing since it also relates to last weeks topic.  In my classes, we always work on problems involving the different movements of mechanisms from position, velocity, and acceleration of the different links involved.  However, integrating that theory into medicinal purposes such as prosthetic arms gave me a much different perspective on the purposes of the material. 

Prosthetic arms relate Vesna’s coverage of plastic surgery.  Plastic surgery is an even better example of art and medicine.  First created through reconstructive surgery, plastic surgery now serves to enhance the way people look.  It has mainly aesthetic purposes, which is much of what art is.  I was a bit taken aback by learning that a person underwent 9 surgical procedures as a way to exhibit their interpretation of art.  Not that I was against her interpretation, but 9 surgical procedures is a lot and the fact that she was awake and read literature is even more surprising.  

Da Vinci's vitruvian man

This prosthetic arm closely mimics the motions of a human arm

One of Orlan's nine surgical procedures in her pursuit of art expression

 Works Cited:

"Leonardo Da Vinci." Rees Magazin RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2014.

"A Work of Art." The Hub. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2014.

"Reincar. St Orlan." Photobucket. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2014.

"Medicine Pt1." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 13 July 2014.

"Medicine Pt2." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 13 July 2014.

"Medicine Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 13 July 2014.

Math, Robotics, and Art

From the online lecture at 14:15, “Alberti regarded mathematics as the common ground of art and the sciences.”  Many math classes involve using the Cartesian coordinate system.  Nowadays, many artists draft their works using computer technology, which is heavily dependent on mathematics and this coordinate system to form all the shapes and lines and their appearance on the screen.  The use of mathematics is not limited to the digital; Abbott utilized much of it in his detailed story of dimensions and shapes. 

Like Gutenburg, much of current technology relies on improvements or adaptations of older models.  It is much more rare for engineers to truly create something totally different and the first of its kind.  It is equally amazing to see how the big name scientists of the past are being brought up again in this course such as Faraday and Einstein.  From the lecture, a French poet and writer, whom published an article about the beauty of cars, paved the way for the aesthetic appreciation of automobiles.  Cars nowadays can have multiple functions from performance in races to beauty competitions. 

Simple artwork such as the pumpkin shown below is one of many examples where anyone can create art with the Cartesian coordinate system.  It provides an easy way to draft and is used in both art and the development of new technology. 

This week’s topic in particular appealed to me because it emphasized art created by math and robotics.  Robotics is a huge part in my mechanical engineering major and having it connect to art provides further proof to the third culture covered in week one. 

 The use of math in the formation of art.

Art with Cartesian coordinate system

Robotic art sculpture display

Citation and References:

"A Blog AppART." A Blog AppART. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2014.

"Cartesian Art Halloween Pumpkin Halloween Math Worksheet." Cartesian Art Halloween Pumpkin Halloween Math Worksheet. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2014.

"David Lipson | Robotics Art." AFA NYC. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2014.

"Flatland." , by E. A. Abbott, 1884. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2014.

"Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 05 July 2014.

Two Cultures, Kevin La

In Victoria Vesna’s Toward a Third Culture: Being in between, Vesna claims the rift between the two cultures are due to the increasing isolation between the two groups.  “Perhaps the source of these communication problems can be traced to the fact that most of the philosophers under attack in the scientific community do not work closely with scientists and that scientists are equally isolated from the movements of philosophical thought and con- temporary artistic expression”.  Similarly in C.P. Snow’s novel The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, he claims that the separation between the two cultures of science and humanities are causing problems between the two.  Both cultures have a tendency to misjudge the other.  Mainly Snow blames the foundation of our education system and can actually be seen right in UCLA’s campus.

I definitely notice this idea of two cultures at UCLA’s campus.  Its easily observed in geographic terms by the effect of bruin walk on the campus, north campus dedicated to the humanities and south campus dedicated to the sciences.  Even the students recognize this separation and often criticize the other campus in similar ways that Snow describes. 

Even though I noticed this separation, I never really gave it much more thought or comprehension to the same degree as Snow.  Vesna claims that the bridge between literary communities and scientific communities are the artists utilizing new technologies to express themselves.  The emergence of a third culture may be the key to bridge the gap between the two cultures, however, Vesna states: “The challenge, then, is to do this without losing the intuitive, "wild" aspect of artistic practice, which taps into the silent, the unknown, the mysterious.”  I agree with her opinion, but as an engineer, I also think that science tries to into the silent, unknown and mysterious.  We are always thinking of new possibilities to make our lives easier, discovering new methods to replace the less efficient old ones and to do this, we must venture into the silent, unknown and mysterious.

One of the greatest minds in history.

The bridge between the two cultures.

 by Sarah Kiesling
Digital Photography effect is another good example of the combination of technology and art.

Works cited:

"Albert Einstein." Iz Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2014.

"An Update on C. P. Snow's "Two Cultures"" Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2014.

Sara Kiesling. Flickr. Yahoo!, 9 Oct. 2011. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/xosara/3926969822/sizes/s/in/photostream/>

Vesna, Victoria. Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between. JSTOR, 2007. Print.

Snow, C.P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1961. Print.