WEEK 4 - Medtech + Art
Week 4 - Medtech + Art
This week’s material was influential and eye opening for understanding the connection between medicine, technology, and art. Prior to this week’s material, I had not considered medicine as being a part of art forms or art being able to include medicine in its creation. As discussed in lecture, art and medicine go as far back as the Renaissance Era with anatomical drawings and human dissection in order to accurately document the human body (Vesna). These drawings are rarely considered art, but they are just that. They tell a story about the human body and its processes.
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| Example of human anatomy drawing from Lions Talk Science. |
Eduardo Kac’s injected a chip into his leg that was meant for animals, but this is an example of how medicine, technology, and genetics can be used within art (Vesna). For me, this art exhibition is interesting because artists have begun to use their body as their medium for art. As I conducted more research on Kac’s art, I came across his “Bio Art” and "Genesis". Bio Art showcases biological processes and includes demonstrations of DNA, proteins, and cells (Kac). Similarly, Patricia Olynyk discusses Dark Skies, an art piece that showcases the sensors on the tongue. These art pieces that include parts of the human body help “…to embody the viewer by provoking an affective alignment of the visual and the acoustic rhythms found within (Olynyk). Medicine and art help teach individuals the processes and parts within their own body which is a great method of bringing awareness to the biological aspect of life and nature itself.
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| Another example of Eduardo Kac's art piece "Genesis". |
The Architecture of Life was another reading that
helped me understand how biology/science can be shown through art. The reading
discusses tensegrity and how it is a natural process found within our bodies
through our bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments (Ingber). It reminded me of
Gerald De Jong’s structures in which the rods and cords are held up due to
tensegrity (De Jong). Using nature as a method of inspiring art modes is a
great way of branching science, technology, and art together.
While viewing and learning about various different art pieces that have incorporated medicine and technology, I remembered an exhibit I experienced at the California Science Center. Although not directly labeled as an art piece, I believe the robotic representation of the human body, as pictured below, is a great example of medicine, technology, and art coming together. It showcases the human organs, biological process such as digestion, and much more.
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| BodyWorks Exhibit from California Science Center. |
- De
Jong, Gerald. “Welcome!” Pretenst, https://pretenst.com/.
- Ingber,
Donald E. “The Architecture of Life.” Scientific American , 1998, pp. 48–57.
- Kac,
Eduardo. “What Bio Art Is: A Manifesto .” KAC, 2017, http://www.ekac.org/manifesto_whatbioartis.html.
- Olynyk,
Patricia. “Synthesizing Fields: Art, Complexism and the Space beyond Now.”
Technoetic Arts, vol. 14, no. 1, 2016, pp. 83–93.,
https://doi.org/10.1386/tear.14.1-2.83_1.
- Vesna,
Victoria, director. Lecture Part 1 . BruinLearn, Canvas, Accessed 2022.
Images:
“California Science Center - Bodyworks.” Lightswitch, http://lightswitch.net/portfolio/view/bodyworks.
Kac, Eduardo.
Genesis, http://www.ekac.org/geninfo.html.
Lionstalkscience,/. “A Brief History of Anatomy as Told
through Art.” Lions Talk Science, 1 Feb. 2022, https://lions-talk-science.org/2020/09/30/a-brief-history-of-anatomy-as-told-through-art/.
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ReplyDeleteHey Angie! I think your blog was very interesting and I found that we wrote about similar things/had similar take-aways from the week's content. First of all, I too did not really think of medicine, art, and technology as intertwined prior to this week. I now can see the importance of art pertaining to technological advances and also medicine. Furthermore, the idea of using one's human body as a medium to art also fascinated me this week. I had previously seen art that's centered around the human body but had never thought much of it. From this week's content I now have a greater appreciation for art as it pertains to the human body and I see you have the same appreciation.
ReplyDeleteHey Angie! I really enjoyed your post this week, especially the outside connections you made. I was also unaware of how much medicine, art, and technology influenced and helped one another progress and I think your post covered that perfectly. It blew me away to see how integral art is to society's advancement which is something that should be highlighted throughout our education, not just in college. Great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Angie. I completely agree with the fact that I would have never seen or understood the connection between medicine and art. After this week, I now see how one such as medicine cannot exist with the other such as art. I can see why individuals would not consider those drawing art but that Without the artistic ability or creativity, it would be impossible to depict those details. Moving forward, this model you found at the California Science Center, I feel also gives a great representation of medicine, technology, and art all together. This would be a great way to show the human body through creativity to individuals under the medical field to learn and evaluate the human body. Overall, I think your post had many amazing and interesting details about the combination of tech, medicine and art.
ReplyDeleteHi Angie! I would also say that before this week, I would not have corresponded art with medicine. Older drawings of human bodies amaze me because I can not believe that they based medical procedures off of those drawings. Obviously, someone that was medically and artistically talented created those drawings. Talking about the exhibition that you saw at the California Science Center, it is amazing how an art piece can show the art of the internal human body.
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