Nanotechnology and Art

Nanotechnology is a field in which I was completely unaware even existed before this lecture. Because of this, I was very impressed with everything that Dr. Gimzewski was talking about. He started off explaining how small things on the nano scale really are. The fact that bacterium, which is 1/3 as think as a piece of hair, but is still 1000 nanometers long is insane. I didn't realize we were able to work with things that small. Then he started showing us about ways it is possible to to move molecules into desired shapes, such as this race car below.

Another thing I found very interesting and very artful is the blue butterfly. When he told me that the coloring on the butterflies back wasn't actually pigment and it was instead nanophotonics I was stunned. It is insane that something so tiny can have such a huge influence on the things we see and perceive in todays worlds.

The third thing that really impressed me with this lecture is how we used nanophotonics to stain glass windows and create beautiful art with them. I didn't know much about nanotechnology before, however I really see a lot of promise between nanotechnology and art and think that this field will grow a lot as technology increases.


RESOURCES:

Blue Morpho. Digital image. Wall Paper Spot, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.hdwallpaperspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/blueMorphoZ.jpg>.

Stained Glass Windows. Digital image. Logtas, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://logtas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Stained-Glass-Windows.jpg>.

"Nano’s Big Future." Nano's Big Future. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/06/nanotechnology/kahn-text>.

Racecar. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/13/article-0-12224B43000005DC-754_634x476.jpg>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture: Design and Media Arts 9.” University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles. October 2013.

What really interested me most about this lecture was part 3 which involved all of the what used to be legal drugs, and are now currently illegal drugs. I think it is very interesting to look at drugs like Cocaine, LSD, and Acid from an artistic point of view instead of from the point of view of an over protective government trying to protect its citizens. There has been an incredible amount of art and music inspired by drugs such as Acid, LSD, and Cocaine, and a lot of the facts about it I learned today really surprised me. The fact that doctors had done research and proved that LSD did in fact help cure alcoholism, and also lowered the crime rate of current felons, is really quite amazing. That mixed with the fact that so much art and music has been inspired by it, its crazy how there hasn't been more testing involved to try and create a similar drug with no negative effects that can be used to music/art/medicinal purposes.

Art inspired by LSD

The Beatles album: SGT Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, which many people believe involved a lot of Acid and LSD in its creation.

I was also very intrigued by the work of Frans Joseph Gall and Ramon y Cajal. I thought that Gall's idea of taking the shape of the head and using that to determine personality was very creative and interesting, and a cool early try at solving the very complicated organ that is the Brain. Ramon y Cajal's work is much more interesting though, its crazy he actually found out that we can read out connections of neurons by looking at their shapes. This itself actually put a lot more interest into what neurons look like which personally is really cool art to me.

RESOURCES:

Beatles, The. The Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Digital image. Olsenbloom Wordpress. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://olsenbloom.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-heart-club-band.jpg>.

Coulth, John. LSD Art. Digital image. John Coulth Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/hofmann.jpg>.

Hellerman, Caleb. "Cocaine: The Evolution of the Once 'wonder' Drug." CNN. Cable News Network, 22 July 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/22/social.history.cocaine/>.

Neuroplasticity. Digital image. Stroke Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.strokenetwork.org/newsletter/articles/neuroplasticity_files/image005.jpg>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture: Design and Media Arts 9.” University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles. October 2013.

I personally believe that genetically modifying DNA is perfectly okay and a valid expressive medium. Not only can it be an aesthetically pleasing art form, however it can help out the world a lot. I believe that if DNA testing was only an art form, and was harming animals or human beings without helping anything, it should be illegal and wrong. However that is not the case, and lecture really showed that to me.

My favorite example from this class was the GFP bunny created by Eduardo Katz. He used zygote microinjection to take DNA from a fluorescent jellyfish and put it into a fertilized rabbit egg, so that when the rabbit grew up it could glow in the dark. A lot of people found this ethically wrong. But i have to ask, why? If the bunny is not being harmed in any way, and it not only makes for a cool piece of art, but also shows how far we can get with science, what is so wrong with it? The GFP bunny really shows us that with science we could possibly use DNA injection to cure diseases or help out a lot of other problems.

The other big DNA injection case that people that was ethically wrong is what Kathy High was doing to rats. She, along with many other scientists, are using rats as test subjects for a lot of genetic testing. People find this very ethically wrong because rats are still animals and they believe we are harming them. However, people also view rats as pests, and will hire people to kill them in non humane ways from their homes. I feel as though if it is a creature that is going to be killed anyway, we might as well be allowed to use it for scientific purposes that will help the world. Image if we could regenerate body parts that soldiers lost during war from rats! The world would be a 10 times better place.

Resources:

Alba Green. Digital image. Ekac. Ekac, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ekac.org/albagreen.jpeg>.

How Much Is Your DNA Worth? Digital image. Forbes. Forbes, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://blogs-images.forbes.com/daviddisalvo/files/2011/11/DNA.jpg>.

Mouse Human Ear. Digital image. Dna Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://dnaexchange.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/mouse-human-ear.jpg>.

"Why Are Rats Used in Animal Testing?" WiseGEEK. Wise Geek, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.wisegeek.org/why-are-rats-used-in-animal-testing.htm>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture: Design and Media Arts 9.” University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles. November 2013.