week 8

The connections between nanotechnology and art seem to be pretty vast. In a very general way, essentially every piece of nanotechnology is artistic within itself and the purpose it serves and the design that was created. In this week’s material by Dr. Gimzewski, we learned about the development of nanotechnology and the manipulation of atoms. There is a definite connection between art and nanotechnology as the chemists make the choice of where to place atoms just as an artist chooses what to create. The decision within creation is a large part of artists’ work. As Dr. Gimzewski refers to chemists “creating”, an artist does the exact same thing as they build and move pieces into a form.

Another material from the week that I found interesting was “Art in the Age of Nanotechnology”. The fact that nanotechnology can be used to creates audio speakers from a human bone is incredible. It just shows the unique connection of art and science as the use of nanotechnology creates a whole new working object through the manipulation of atoms.

Additionally, the use of nanotechnology in fabrics to create “Self-cleaning” or durable fabric has become very popular recently. I have noticed in a lot of sportswear the self-cleaning label and wondered how it worked. But through nanotech and the atom manipulation, fabric can be created so that particles may not penetrate and simply roll off the fabric. Brilliant!

With the continued development of nanotechnology, who knows what could be next in our world.

References:

"Art in the Age of Nanotechnology." Artabase.net. John Curtain Gallery, 5 Feb 2010. Web. 23 Nov 2013. <http://www.artabase.net/exhibition/2104-art-in-the-age-of-nanotechnology>.

 Gemzewski, Jim. "Nanotech for Artists." UConline.edu. University of California. Web. 23 Nov 2013. <https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/63226/wiki/unit-8-view?module_item_id=970451>.

Jaeger, Luc. "TectoRNA: modular assembly units for the construction of RNA nano-objects." Article. 2000. Oxford Journals; Nucleic Acids Research. Retried from http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/2/455.long.

"Sound Waves Levitate, Move Particles" http://news.discovery.com/tech/nanotechnology/sound-waves-levitate-move-particles-130716.htm

Vesna, Victoria. “NanoTech + Art.” Week 8: Lectures Part I, II, III, IV.

Photos:

1) "What Do Real Atoms Look Like" http://infinite712.hubpages.com/hub/What-do-real-Atoms-look-like

2)"The Educated Chemist" http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2010/June/ManagingCareerChemistry.asp

3) "Fashion is Nano" http://www.nanobugle.org/tag/nanotechnology-socks/

week 7

My natural thought about neuroscience and art revolved around the idea that one uses the brain to detect art in the world. When an individual looks at a piece of art, their brain processes the components and creates an idea about the artwork. Additionally, as art can often ring out emotion within a person, this is the brain and the neuroscience in action. The brain recognizing something as art is a very interesting phenomena.

After watching lectures, however, the part of this week that I found most intriguing was the history of how humans have learned to view the human brain. The recent development that has been made by scientists on human brain activity was very interesting as well but the way that it used to be viewed really caught my interest. Galen of Pergamon altered the view that was in place by Aristotle in the 100’s , but after that it seemed to have no real view changes or discoveries until more modern technology arose much later. Humans just lived their lives, intellectually, without knowing what was going on inside their heads for thousands on years- which seems insane to us, living in the world we experience now, knowing everything we know about neuroscience. 

I found the discussion of dreams in the lecture to be interesting as well. A lot of our art we create in the world, such as paintings, movies, or any media , arise from dream like ideas. In this way, neuroscience and brain activity, even in dreams, contributes to art. 

Citing:

Image 1: http://antiworldnews.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/sixteen-years-for-fifteen-seconds-how-long-should-you-view-a-work-of-art/

Image 2: http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/about/thinker

Image 3: http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/kamikaye/lucid-dream-world-game-jam

-Cherry, Kendra. "Anatomy of the Brain". About.com Psychology. http://psychology.about.com/od/biopsychology/ss/brainstructure.htm

-Gardner, Howard. "Art, Mind, and Brain:." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://books.google.com/books?id=2BMDYRRF1WcC>.

-LaBerge, Steven. "Lucid Dreaming". http://www.lucidity.com/SleepAndCognition.html

-Ramachandran, Vilayanur. "VS Ramachandran: 3 Clues to Understanding Your Brain." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. N.p., Mar. 2007. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html>.

-Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience and Art." Lecture. 17 May 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.