Week 9 - Space + Art

As defined by the PBS website, astronomical art is a collaboration between art and space. “The delights of observing the night sky long have inspired artists, composers, and poets” (PBS). The famous rock guitarist Brian May of the rock band, Queen, earned a PhD in astronomy. The composer William Herschel became an influential astronomer of the 18th century. Astronomical art started way before 1950, when space exploration started. According to Mario Livio’s article on Huffington Post, “the ancient Babylonian, Chinese, North European and Central American cultures all left records and artifacts related to various astronomical observations” (Livio).

Adoration of the Magi by Giotto di Bondone
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mario-livio/astronomy-art_b_3748900.html

 Italian painter Giotto di Bondone’s fresco “Adoration of the Magi”, which is painted around 1305, features a very realistic depiction of a comet. “The Battle of Issus”, by the German painter Albrecht Altdrofer is the first painter in which the curvature of the Earth is shown as seen from a great height. All these works were created around the time of the Copernican revolution.

The Battle of Issus by Albrecht Altdrofer
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mario-livio/astronomy-art_b_3748900.html

As explained by Sally Ruth May in “Perceptions of Space: Objects from the Art Institute of Chicago”, “the Maya civilisation was among the early cultures to erect monuments that investigated the human relationship to the cosmos and the cycles of life”. 

Ron Miller's work!
http://qz.com/366109/how-space-art-is-made/

With advances in technology, astronomical art has changed since then. Ron Miller, a renowned artist in the field of space art, stated in the article, “The artist who showed you what space looks like”, “Up until a decade ago I worked entirely in traditional media but I now do all my work digitally.” In fact, recently there was an Art of Astrophysics competition hosted by MIT and its website says, “whether you’re a photographer or a poet, a crafter or a coder, a musician or a moviemaker, we want you to use your talents and creativity to illuminate the beauty of astrophysical results”. Astronomical art has developed from paintings and sculptures to a variety of art forms, both traditional and digital. 

References:

"Astronomy & the Arts." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 27 May 2015.

Livio, Mario. "Astronomy in Renaissance Art." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 May 2015.

May, Sally Ruth. "Objects from The Art Institute of Chicago." Objects from The Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago, n.d. Web. 27 May 2015.

Quito, Anne. "The Artist Who Showed You What Space Looks like." Quartz. Quartz, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.

"The Art of Astrophysics." The Art of Astrophysics. MIT, n.d. Web. 27 May 2015.

Extra Credit Event 2 - Natural History Museum

I visited the Los Angeles Natural History Museum this Saturday! 

Me at the Becoming Los Angeles exhibit!

 It had been a long time since I last went to a natural history museum so I was extremely excited. I spent the first half hour in the “Becoming Los Angeles” exhibit; it displays certain items and photographs that showed Los Angeles at a point in time. It showed how technological advances pushed the Los Angeles community to progress in its culture and art. The Fender Stratocaster guitar was displayed as it was first developed by Southern California inventor Leo Fender, and thus shaped the sound of popular music worldwide. 

Fender Stratocaster guitar

Perhaps the most impressive displays that embodies both science and art are the lifelike animals in their respective region halls. The backdrop paintings are incredibly realistic in order to show the public a close-up view of the natural environments where are sadly becoming rare due to pollution and man-made problems. The diorama artists are talented painters, like Frank J. Mackenzie who studied at the Royal Academy and won the Turner gold medal. 

Elephants in Africa

Apart from the background painting, the animals are also pristinely preserved. With the art of taxidermy, a sculpture of the animal is created over its skeleton with clay. Then the skin is pulled over the lightweight mannequin. This process requires a sculptor’s dexterity and expert knowledge of animal anatomy. So this undoubtedly shows a merge between art and science. 

Chimpanzees in a rainforest

I highly recommend all animal lovers to visit the Natural History Museum! You will definitely see at least one rare animal species that you have yet to see! This entire museum displays the collaboration of art and biology, as explored in some of our lectures. 

Sources:

"Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County." Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

Extra Credit Event 1 - LACMA

I visited LACMA this Saturday for the second time! 

"Silkworm Book" by Xu Bing

The first thing that caught my attention was the exhibits at “The Language of Xu Bing”. Xu Bing is a highly influential Chinese artist who is trained in the art of printmaking. One of his amazing artworks is the “Silkworm Book”. Xu Bing combined nature with art by raising live silkworms and making them spin silk over books instead of into cocoons to show the cultural significance of silk in China. This shows a close relationship between art and biology, that is talked about in our lectures. 

"Five Plates, Two Poles" by Richard Serra

There is a collection of exhibits - “Art and Technology at LACMA, 1967,1971”. Under the leadership of curator Maurice Tuchman, artists are paired up with scientific industries such as aerospace, scientific research to produce art using cutting-edge materials and technologies. One of such displays is “Five Plates, Two Poles” by Richard Serra. He made numerous sculptures by stacking and balancing steel plates; he utilised principles of weight and counterbalance to produce such large-scale sculptures.

Tony Smith's "Installation for Art and Technology"

Another art piece that combines art and science is Tony Smith’s “Installation for Art and Technology”. He used his knowledge of geometry and balance to build huge sculptures by gluing together hand-folded paper tetrahedrons and octahedrons, producing a cave-like structure through which people could walk. 

Me with Andy Warhol's "Daisy Waterfall" print at LACMA! :)

I would highly recommend this museum to anyone who is especially interested in a huge variety of art forms. LACMA had art from so many different countries; therefore, it displays the close relationship between art and science interpreted by artists from around the world. 

Source:
"Los Angeles County Museum of Art." Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

Event 3 - Fowler Museum

I had the pleasure of visiting Fowler Museum this Thursday! I spent the most time in the exhibit, “Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem” by Vivan Sundaram. 

Me next to the Poisoned Robe, 2011 (made of surgical masks)

As a massive fan of fashion, I was immediately attracted to the Gagawaka project, a project with 27 garments made from recycled materials and medical supplies. I loved this idea using “rubbish” to create fashion. There were dresses made from surgical masks, tampons and ties, challenging the usual fashion industry’s traditional materials. Despite the garments’ rather strange materials, their intricate designs seem on par with the top designers’ clothes.  

T Toga, 2011 (made of tampons!)

Nowadays, rubbish disposal has become a global problem; rubbish collection centres are gradually getting full. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is therefore born; a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. “The amount of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch accumulates because much of it is not biodegradable… About 80% of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from land-based activities in North America and Asia” (National Geographic). Since Vivan’s project uses mainly everyday waste materials - plastic cups, sanitary napkins and bras, it brings public attention to the reusability of waste. This display can also spark interest in the newest technology - harvesting energy from waste. Modern waste-to-energy technologies are being developed that could turn rubbish into renewable electricity or fuel for vehicles. 

Silverfoil Suit, 2011 (made of foil medicine wrappers!)

I highly recommend this exhibition to anyone who loves fashion and art. This display really demonstrates a strong relationship between art and environmental science - using waste materials to create art. 

References

"Great Pacific Garbage Patch." - National Geographic Education. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 22 May 2015. <http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1>.

"Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan Sundaram | Fowler Museum at UCLA." Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan Sundaram | Fowler Museum at UCLA. Fowler Museum, n.d. Web. 22 May 2015. <http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/exhibitions/making-strange-gagawaka-postmortem-vivan-sundaram>.

"Turning Trash into Renewable Energy." ASME Energy Forum. ASME, Aug. 2013. Web. 22 May 2015. <https%3A%2F%2Fwww.asme.org%2Fengineering-topics%2Fmedia%2Fenergy%2Fwebinar-turning-trash-into-renewable-energy>.

Week 8 - Nanotechnology + Art

According to Stefan Lovgren’s article on National Geographic, “The old adage “seeing is believing” hardly applies to nanoscience, which operates on a scale of atoms and molecules. So how do you make something so minuscule and abstract appear real to the ordinary eye? Why not through art?”¹ Nano art is a medium to help people understand abstract concepts like quantum physics; the Quantum Tunnel is a nano art that projects images of visitors’ faces on two opposing walls and they become fractured into particles and waves. This display brings attention to the science behind the art.

Nanotechnology also helps to preserve art. “Acrylic polymers were once used to try to preserve murals, but they slowly damaged the very paintings that they were trying preserve. Now they can be removed safely using nanotechnology.”² This was discovered by Piero Baglioni and scientists at the University of Florence. They were able to preserve the Mesoamerican wall paintings in Mexico using this technique.

Fish by J Sha
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=1743.php

“Nanotechnology could soon create an art gallery full of art that nobody can see not even the artists who created it.”³ An example would be Fish, the first of several works by Artist J Sha; it is the world’s smallest piece of flat artwork, at a mere 40 microns tall with features as small as 250 nanometers. 

Zinc Oxide under Nanoscope! looking like a deep sea creature
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/art-nanotech.html

Nanoart even helps advances in science! “A garden patch of plastic nano-orbs was created through self-assembly with magnets to mimic a cascade of watermelons.”⁴ They were able to turn the orbs and change their colours with magnets. This ability offers promise for possible future use in drug delivery and rewriteable papers.

The nanoart exhibition at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington
http://www.macdiarmid.ac.nz/interface_article/art-of-nanotechnology/

Nanoart has steadily become more mainstream, with a recent exhibition at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington, displaying 29 best images from scientists around the country working in the field of nanotechnology. “The researchers liken what they see down powerful microscopes to things from the everyday world - silver ferns, cobwebs, pyramids and daisies.”⁵ 

Sources:

1.Lovgren, Stefan. "Can Art Make Nanotechnology Easier to Understand?" National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 23 Dec. 2003. Web. 18 May 2015. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1223_031223_nanotechnology_2.html>.

2.Camara-Campos, Amaya. "Preserving Art at the Nanoscale." Preserving Art at the Nanoscale. Royal School of Chemistry, 7 July 2010. Web. 18 May 2015. <http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemScience/Volume/2010/08/Preserving_art.asp>.

3."The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, Tech." 'The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, Tech' The Daily Galaxy, 9 Apr. 2007. Web. 18 May 2015. <http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/04/nanoart_the_wor.html#more>.

4.Lilley, Maiken. "The Art of Nanotech." PBS. PBS, 18 Nov. 2010. Web. 18 May 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/art-nanotech.html>.

5."Art of Nanotechnology." MacDiarmid Institute. Macdiarmid Institute, 20 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 May 2015. <http://www.macdiarmid.ac.nz/interface_article/art-of-nanotechnology/>.

Event 2 - Hammer Museum

I finally had the opportunity to visit the Hammer Museum this Sunday. I had most fun looking at the exhibitions from the Heatherwick Studio and Charles Gaines’s Gridwork collection. 

Me at the Hammer Museum :)

Numbers and Trees by Charles Gaines

As a maths major, I was immediately entranced by Charles Gaines’s work. The first thing that caught my eye was the “Number and Trees” artwork. They are a series of work which painted acrylic sheets are layered over drawings of trees. The painted tree is composed of numbered squares that are overlaid so that the numeric information about the other trees in the series is collapsed into one image. From afar, I did not even notice the numbers; the combination of the colour form a cohesive presence on the grid. According to Ken Johnson’s article on the New York Times, “most immediately apparent in the number-based works is the relationship between the analog and the digital: between the organic, natural forms captured on photographic film and the abstract mapping of these forms by the numbered squares of the rides”¹. This coincides with the relationship between art and science in artwork. 

Landscape: Assorted Trees with Regression by Charles Gaines

Another number-related artwork by Charles Gaines is “Landscape: Assorted Trees with Regression”. As a statistics minor, this really brought me back to all the regression graphs I drew during class. He combined regression graphs with different drawings and photographs of trees - the perfect example of combining art and science. According to an interview article on LA Times which explores the underlying idea behind the Gridwork series, Charles Gaines stated, “I have been looking for something that was a systematic way of realising a form. In Western society, the grid is it.”²

Expanding Furniture!

As I wandered around the Heatherwick Studio, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the “Expanding Furniture”, which is created by the collaboration of art and science. It displays an aluminium table that can change its shape to fit different living spaces. Nowadays, the average home size in New York City is 1124 square feet and is steadily decreasing with increasing property prices.³ It is incredibly convenient to have malleable furniture when living in a city.

I would really recommend this museum to everyone since I believe the displays show the close relationship between math and art, which is discussed in lectures of unit 2. Also, the Heatherwick Studio is a whole lot of fun with a lot of creative inventions! 

Sources

1.Johnson, Ken. "Systematized Postmodernism." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 July 2014. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/01/arts/design/charles-gaines-gridwork-at-studio-museum-in-harlem.html>.

2.Miranda, Carolina A. "How the Dense Grids of Artist Charles Gaines Took the Ego out of Art." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2015. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-charles-gaines-interview-20150228-column.html#page=1>.

3.Calin. "Average Home Sizes in Washington D.C., Atlanta Twice As Much as in New York | PropertyShark.com." PropertyShark Real Estate Blog. Property Shark, 04 Jan. 2012. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2012/01/04/average-home-sizes-in-washington-d-c-atlanta-twice-as-much-as-in-new-york/>.

Week 7 - Neuroscience + Art

This week we explored the topic of Neuroscience and Art. The lecture touched upon neuroaesthetics, a relatively new art form with the improvement in medical scanning technology. According to Semir Zeki, “art is governed by the laws of the brain. It is brains that see art and it is brains that make art.” Therefore, it seems perfectly logical for neuroaesthetics to become such a hot field. In a Daily Mail article, Victoria Woollaston described the images painted by Greg Dunn, who has a Ph.D in neuroscience show that “beauty and brains really can co-exist”. Greg Dunn combined the traditional Asian sumi-e ink painting style with neuroimages. All of his images are painted by hand and are inspired by microscopic images of complex brain structures. 

Cortical Columns by Greg Dunn
http://www.livescience.com/49060-brain-artwork-gallery.html

The lectures also talked about art and consciousness, which made me think about an article I read written by Anjan Chatterjee. He stated, “Brain damage can alter patients’ artistic abilities, sometimes causing notable improvements”. He found that some people with OCD develop a gift to produced extremely detailed and realistic artwork - the graphical embodiments of acquired obsessive-compulsive traits. For example, one autism-afflicted child was able to draw lifelike horses by the age of three. 

Dementia patients drawing amazing portraits :)
http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2012/apr/10/dementia-tackled-through-arts

Perhaps the most controversial part of neuroscience and art is the experiments with drugs. Ned Hepburn introduced Bryan Lewis Saunders in his article: “Bryan Lewis Saunders is an artist from Washington DC who has drawn over 8000 self portraits, one for every day of the last 21 years and has taken a lot of drugs in that time, too”. The results were absolutely fascinating, with a collage of creative portraits. Sadly, a lot of people refused to recognise this as art. However, I agree with Leo Tolstoy’s definition of art - “Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them.” Bryan definitely evoked emotion and thoughts in people who saw his portraits so it undoubtedly is an art. 

Self-portrait after bath salts by Bryan Lewis Sauders
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/188778/25-self-portraits-drawn-on-25-different-drugs/bathsalts-4/

Sources

Chatterjee, Anjan. "Neuroaesthetics." Neuroaesthetics. TheScientist, 1 May 2014. Web. 12 May 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.the-scientist.com%2F%3Farticles.view%2FarticleNo%2F39802%2Ftitle%2FNeuroaesthetics%2F>.

Hepburn, Ned. "25 Self-portraits Drawn on 25 Different Drugs." Deathandtaxes. Deathandtaxes, 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 May 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deathandtaxesmag.com%2F188778%2F25-self-portraits-drawn-on-25-different-drugs%2F>.

MailOnline, Victoria Woollaston for. "A Beautiful Mind: Japanese-style Art Inspired by Neuroscience Reveals Grey Matter in Much More Colourful Glory." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2874373/A-beautiful-mind-Japanese-style-art-inspired-neuroscience-reveals-grey-matter-colourful-glory.html>.

Noe, Alva. "Art and the Limits of Neuroscience." Opinionator Art and the Limits of Neuroscience Comments. The New York Times, 04 Dec. 2011. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/art-and-the-limits-of-neuroscience/?_r=0>.

Tolstoy, Leo. "Tolstoy's What Is Art?" Tolstoy's What Is Art? N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://denisdutton.com/tolstoy.htm>.