The Art of Medicine???

When I first saw that we would be writing on the topic on how science relates to art this week, I was very skeptical. How could the human imaging be used as art?

In the reading by Silvia Venezia, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts, it states, “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- for example, through MRI scans.” Venezia goes on to say, “A question like “what defines us as humans?” is believed to undergo a profound reconsideration because of research on the brain undertaken by neurosciences.” Like Diane Gromala mentioned in her TED talks presentation, our human qualities are defined not only from our experiences but also from our emotions. When looking at it from this point of view, I don’t know why I had doubts to begin with. In this way, medicine has helped create art that evokes our innate human qualities. What do we consider art? In my opinion, art exists to raise emotions in the viewer through expression and seeks to ask more questions than answer them. Art has also helped medicine become more relatable to the common viewer by using pictures, cartoons, and models.

One such model that has done this is the Medical Avatar by Virgil Wong. He created a visual app that uses scans of your body to predict past, present and future medical problems that will help people manage their healthcare. Using medicine in an art form that is accessible to a wide audience helps define us in ways that are more assessable and relevant to our lives now by helping us live longer and be healthier individuals.

 Pictured above is Virgil Wong (middle) and his collaborators on the Medical Avatar Project. 

Works Cited:

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations Between Science and Arts.” (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.

"Eve Andree Laramee." Eve Andree Laramee. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

"TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

"Virgil’s TED Talk: The Medical Avatar." Virgil Wong. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

I, Robot

According to this week’s topic, art is not only influencing math and science, but also robotics. Robotics ultimately evolved from the development of the printing press and its ability to multiply, develop, and reproduce words. This thinking continued to evolve into what we consider assembly lines, which is reproduction on a larger scale. Each worker works on one piece of the finished product in order to develop the same product many times over. One step further and we arrive at what we call robotics. The article by Walter Benjamin reviews this type of mechanical reproduction as something that is negative and takes away from the authenticity of art as a whole. I disagree with Benjamin as I think this is a very narrow minded view. Without the printing press, for example, people would still be illiterate and therefore could not create the stories, poems, and novels that we call art. Without the assembly lines, there would be no advertisements that artistically portray these products. Robotics and its reproducibility are just as important to art and to art’s future.

In Dennis Hong’s speech on Ted Talks, he refers to the seven species of robot that he has been working on. In a robot he calls CLIMBeR, the robot scales walls and learns where best to put its foot in order to keep moving upward; this kind of robot has rescue implications. Another one is called DARwIn 2a, which has artificial intelligence and learns how to kick a soccer ball in a goal. These robots are adaptable and have implications that will only help humans in the future. David Hanson takes this even further by trying to develop emotion in robots. Character robots, he thinks, inspire hope for the future by creating empathetic robots that exhibit artificial intelligence; this is critical to preventing the prevalent assumption that robots are violent and to be feared.

This fear stems from movies such as I, Robot. I, Robot predicts the evolution of robots with a humanistic intelligence as they attempt to take over the world. As we advance robots to ultimately help humans, the fear of what they could do is not fully lost.

Works Cited:

"ArtBots Gent, the Robot Talent Show 2011." ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

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

I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith. Twentieth Century Fox, 2004.

"My Seven Species of Robot." Dennis Hong:. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

"Robots That "show Emotion"" David Hanson:. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Blog Assignment 2- Math and Art

In this week’s readings, articles, and videos, math and art are not what they first appear. In Edwin Abbott’s reading, he uses a penny as an example to show that when observing a penny from above it will appear as a circle. But when you lower your view to be more parallel to how the penny is laying, it will start to look like an oval. This brings the idea of perspective into play. Perspective is important to this discussion because the realms of art and math have been classified as different and separate for so long. Now, however, this viewpoint is changing as we see how math impacts art and visa versa.  

Charles Csuri makes a comment on the influence of math and art in his work. He says in relation to his artwork using the computer, “Since I use a keyboard and mouse, does it follow I cannot make a meaningful artistic statement. I punch keys like a writer but my symbols are a mathematical-like code.” It is easy to see the confusion because in the past there seemed to be a line where art ended and math began, but with the use of computers this has changed. Csrui goes on to state, “When I set mathematical values, my mind is sensing choices as patterns of color and light. I see the relationships between objects as transformations involving position, rotation and scale.” Therefore in order to create the color for the emotions the artist wants to create, he needs the equations to do this.  

Csuri’s insights seem to align to what I have seen in airports too. The one on the website for Art+Com Studios shows how the teardrop elements are connected to a computer program to stimulate the look of rain. When I travel, I have also noticed a lot of airports use artwork to help supplement and add dimension to the space like in the picture below. 

For me, this is the first time I have looked at art and math as a mixture of the two. That being said, by using the shape, equations, and geometry from mathematics, we can create new forms of art to be appreciated and respected. 

Works Cited:  

Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1963. Print. 

"CsuriVision » Blog Archive » TACTILE-KINESTHESIS." CsuriVision. N.p., 12 Feb. 2015. Web. 

Henderson, Linda D. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art." The MIT Press, 21 Dec. 2006. Web. 

"Kinetic Rain, 2012." ART+COM Studios. Changi Airport Group, Singapore, 2012. Web. 

Smith, B. Sidney. "The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher." Platonic Realms Minitexts. Platonic Realms, 13 Mar 2014. Web. 13 Mar 2014. <http://platonicrealms.com/>