Desma 9 Spring 2017

Art and Technology in the Medical Field (Person using the Spirometer)  One example of medical technology and art is in something called spirometry. Spirometry is used test how strong your lungs are by measuring how much you inhale, exhale, and how fast you exhale (Mayo Clinic Staff). As someone who has asthma, when I visit my pediatrician back home I she makes me use this machine. How this works is that, while blowing,there is an animation on the screen to see your progress. It shows a tree covered with leaves, but as you blow the leaves away, you can see animals in the tree. After this, it shows a graph to the nurse monitoring the activity and states whether it was a good test or it needs to be done again. Usually with me, I do it about 7 to 10 times. Strangely, this actually makes the asthma a little worse and I clear my throat a lot more. Interesting how they use an animation with this machine so one can see their progress based off of how many animals they can see. (An

Event 1- Neomaterialism and Art and Nature     On Wednesday I attended a talk and exhibit hosted by artist Linda Weintraub. She talked to us about neomaterialism, a different way to look at objects, and objects are not just ordinary. She gave an example of a pencil, and how a neomaterialist could find a way how the pencil is unique. Her art was made from the nature by her home in Upstate New York. She was able to create art entirely through science (the nature). For her exhibit we used all 5 senses: sight, touch (even walking barefoot), hearing, taste, and smell. This was a unique experience that I really enjoyed and  would recommend to anyone. The event only takes an hour, but you learn a lot. The talk was nice because while there were only about 10 of us there, so it allowed us to take our time going through the exhibit and learning about her art. This was an interesting topic and something I will look into for doing the midterm or the final project on.  (Her and I at the event

    While the idea of robotics and machines may not seem like art since it is metallic, after reading about Walter Benjamin and the robot Diamandini, I believe that they can be connected in a way.     Andrew Robinson describes Benjamin’s thinking in his article, “Walter Benjamin: Art, Aura, and Authenticity”. Benjamin is a Marxist and believes that capitalism has ruined art due to mass producing. It is interesting how he looks at art from an economic viewpoint. This makes sense as people designed machines during the Industrial Revolution to make work go along faster. Benjamin claims how industrialization has a role in art in that books can be reproduced as paperbacks and famous paintings can be reproduced as a poster (Robinson). Now that there are so many books or posters available, the value and significance of the original goes down. Benjamin feels that the authenticity is completely gone when things are mass produced (Robinson). While industrialization helped the economy and get

    (Jackson Pollack Fractal)               Surprisingly, math, art , and science are commonly intertwined as seen in fractals, the Golden Ratio, and in hyperbolic crochet. A fractal, “...is composed of a singular geometric pattern repeated thousands of times” (Ouellette). This is a mathematical idea that has been made into art and paintings as seen in the TV show White Collar. Fractals have also been seen in nature in the river and tree branches, and in the destruction caused by a hurricane (Ouellette). Next, the Golden ratio, or phi, is commonly used. This number is 1.618... and is seen in the Fibonacci sequence. The sequence starts with 1,1,2,3,5,8...and the higher up you go, the ratio goes closer to the Golden Ratio (mathisfun.org). This ratio creates a spiral that is seen in art to create correct propositions in paintings. This is also seen in nature with flower petals, flower seeds,  spiral galaxies, and DNA. Finally, this is seen in the hyperbolic crochet. While mathemati

Science, Humanities, Technology, and Communication In 1959, C.P Snow, a chemist and novelist, wrote in, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution , that there are 2 cultures- scientists, and literary intellectuals (those who study humanities). He is one of the few that would mingle with both groups. Snow had noticed that although these groups were similar in “...race, intellectuality, and intelligence, it seemed as if they were different cultures” (2). This is interesting since that while there are many similarities, they have split themselves into separate cultures based on their profession. This difference can lead people in one group to have certain views and stereotypes on the other group and prevent them from communicating with one another. Next, Snow believes that the number 2 can be a suspicious thing (10). This makes sense as people must this or that. For example, in America, the Democratic and Republican party are the predominant 2 parties; this can lead to problems as