DESMA Week 4: Medicine, Technology and Art

Week 4: I can walk...because of art.

I have had two complete knee reconstructive surgeries. One was at the age of sixteen and the second at twenty. The procedure is called a Tibial Tubercle Transfer with Lateral Release. Basically, I was born with a bone malalignment and diagnosed with a "winking patella"(HealthStatus).  I could probably talk for hours about how these surgeries changes my life, how I am doing now, and where I will be with this genetic condition in twenty years. However, I would like to take a step back and remember the first time I heard my diagnosis and the process I went through to get there.

These are the x-rays I had taken before my second surgery on my right knee. You can see in the photo above the huge gap between my kneecap and femur on my right knee, but not on the left. Perhaps it takes more of a trained eye, but you can see in the photo on the left not only my titanium screws, but a very rotated right patella. 

I have always pushed out the memories I had regarding the hurdles and decisions I had to make before deciding to go through the surgery process. I remember feeling very overwhelmed waiting for my MRI results. I think Casini describes the feeling accurately when he references Nancy's argument stating, "Every image is in some way a 'portrait', not in that it would reproduce the traits of a person, but in that it pulls an draws...in that it extracts something, an intimacy" (Casini 26). It is fascinating to me that after all these years, someone has finally summarized in one sentence the strange feeling of awe that overcame me when I was looking at my MRI images and heard the doctor's diagnosis for the first time.

Without the meticulous work of researchers, artists, and scientists through out the years, I would have never been able to have my surgeries to correct my problem. So shortly after 1989 when the Visible Human Project began (Lecture 1), I was being sliced open on a surgery slab being carefully reconstructed thanks to the detailed artistically in depth projects that had been published ten plus years ago. I have never thought to call my surgeon an artist, but today I think I would consider him that. I think people naturally push aside someone who uses such high-tech equipment and tools as not being an artist (Lecture 2), but everyone forgets that a paint brush is a tool, as well as a tattoo gun, sculpting chisel, and fettling knives. It takes a skilled eye and a steady hand to be a surgeon and I feel this is how you could describe an artist as well.

Artists are all around us. Though they may use tools that are widely unfamiliar to the general public, we should not ignore the countless hours of practice and mastery that a surgeon endures. "Just like with an artist, surgeons reinforce and practice this mastery to constantly improve and fine-tune the skill" (Hyer). I would definitely not be the person I am today without my surgeon sharing his skills and knowledge with me.

References
Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts". PDF. Accessed 24 Oct 2013. 
Hyer, Christopher. When the Science of Surgery Becomes an Art. Podiatry Today. HMP Communications. 2013. Web. 24 Oct 2013.
HealthStatus. Miserable Malalignment Syndrome. 2013. Web. 24 Oct 2013.
UNSWTV. The Art of Surgery. 6 Nov 2008. YouTube. 24 Oct 2013. 
Vesna, Victoria. Lecture 1. 2013. Online video clip. YouTube. 24 Oct 2013.
Vesna, Victoria. Lecture 2. 2013. Online video clip. YouTube. 24 Oct 2013.        

DESMA 9 Week 3 Blog

Robotics in Culture and Film - Week 3

After living with my roommate, who majored in Japanese Linguistics for four years, I was constantly exposed to the world of anime. I will not lie, at first I was a bit weary. After watching numerous Japanese movies and animation series, I am not ashamed to say that to this day, I am still hooked. I feel as if Japanese animation has a not so glamorous stereotype because people in America are not exposed to the correct representation of Japanese Animation.

While watching Part Four of lecture this week I was intrigued with Machiko Kasahara's short lecture about Japan and the representation of robotics in films. She emphasized the relationship differences Japanese and Western American culture had with the idea of robotics (Vesna 2013). Japanese culture portrayed the relationship between humanoid and robot as friendly compared to America where the relationship was something to be afraid of (Vesna 2013). Kasahara pointed out the popular series "Astro Boy" and how even today robotic companionship is sought out not only by engineers, but everyday people in Japan (Vesna 2013). Compared to Part Two of lecture where it was emphasized that most of Western American film was a response to the mechanization that industrialization created in the work place, robotics becoming balanced and harmonic with a machine was seen as idiotic and scary (Kasahara 2013).

I immediately thought of a Japanese animated movie that shed some light on the darker side of robotics in Japanese culture called Ghost in the Shell. 

This film withholds her statements in a very dark and chilling manner. It is a difficult movie to explain, but the theme rotates around the idea that the world has been saturated in technology to the point where a "cyberbrain" has been created (Crunchy Roll). This cyberbrain is a hollow shell with super-human powers and acts like a casing for the human brain (Crunchy Roll). Due to this new technology, the human brain can hack into platforms and interface with networks (Crunchy Roll). Throughout the film, you find out that this new form of life leads to infinite ways of hacking into these human shells and accessing classified information that should not be tampered with. In the end, the main protagonist makes an agonizing decision to merge consciousnesses with the main antagonist to create a new humanoid being.

Making a Cyborg

Though the movie is initially very dark and war ridden, it interesting to tie together what Kasahara was pointing out about the curiosity and positive approach Japanese culture has towards robotics. The main protagonist in Ghost in the Shell makes the decision to create a new form of existence, but this choice is never once portrayed as something negative (Maness). In the end of the film, the protagonist has a new body that is actual a child to show how the threat has disappeared because of her decision and her innocence has been restored.

I believe that this film is a solid representation of not only how ethical issues about robotics are different around the world, but how war and conflict can be epically displayed as art and influenced by technology (Benjamin 7). Ghost in the Shell truly captures the both sides of the spectrum when it comes to how technology influences humanity and how it is something that should be embraced and confronted instead of feared and fought.

References

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction". 1936. PDF. Accessed 20 Oct 2013.

CamillePolnareff. Making of a Cyborg. Online video clip. You Tube. 2009. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 

Crandall, Jillian. architecture_writing_design. 2013. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 

Crunchy Roll. Web. 20 Oct 2013. http://www.crunchyroll.com/library/Ghost_in_the_Shell 

Ghost in the Shell. Director Mamoru Oshii. Production I.G, 1995. Film. 
Kalla, Riyad. The Buzz Media. DreamWorks Snags Ghost in the Shell. 16 April 2008. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 
Kusahara, Machiko. Professor Machiko Kusahara on Japanese Robotics. Online video clip. You Tube. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 
Maness, Kevin. Comm, Tech, and Culture. Awesome Inc. Eastern University, St Davids. 15 April 2012. Web. 20 Oct 2013.
Vesna, Victoria. Lectures Part 2. Online video clip. You Tube. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 

DESMA 9 Week 2: Math + Art

Beautiful Simplicity of the Golden Ratio

Proof Math is Beautiful

It is interesting to me to think back on how many times I saw the image above or something similar in my life. It is funny how as a young child it seems like some weird math mumbo-jumbo. As you grow older, you learn it is some universal math formula of some sort and you brush it off at that and do not think about it ever again.

The Fibonacci, Fractals, and Financial Markets video put it all into a new perspective for me. I had heard about this “golden ratio” (Socionomics 2007) being present in DNA, flowers, and something regarding the recession but the whole simplistic phenomenon behind it never had an impact on me until I watched this video.

When you can link a naturally occurring phenomenon to the cyclical cycle of the stock market is when things began to get fascinating to me. After all, humans are part of nature, and nature will always want to complete tasks in the most efficient way possible (Socionomics 2007).  David Campbell’s blog put in well in stating that “Nature has a rhythm and so it is not such a massive leap of faith to observe and believe the human-driven markets have a natural rhythm too”.  (Campbell 2011).

It is hard because no one wants to believe that math is beautiful like art. It is difficult, it stresses you out in school, and often makes you want to rip your hair out. However, when you put math into a form that is more universally understandable among people, like music, it begins to all make sense.

What Phi (the golden ratio) Sounds Like

“But many vibratory phenomena, especially those in which we perceive some sort of pitch, repeat approximately regularly. If we assume that in fact they are repeating, we can measure the rate of repetition, and we call that the waveform’s frequency.” ( Burk, Polansky, Repetto, Roberts & Rockmore). This is essentially what they did in the video, and the golden ratio (or phi) sound absolutely beautiful. You can even see the golden ratio in naturally occurring nature (Socionomics 2007). 

                                                                                           Golden Ratio

How to Architect                                     

The Fourth-Dimension hits the nail on the head with its interpretation of how “artists and mathematicians, who share the goal of giving the visual form to spatial fourth dimension” (Henderson 1984 pp. 209) are really fighting to show that art can encompass and reflect the most complex chaotic systems in the universe and break it down into something as simple as the golden ratio.

 References

Blake, Michael. “What Phi (the golden ratio) Sounds Like”. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 15 June 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.  

Burk, Polansky, Repetto, Roberts, Rockmore. “Chapter 1: The Digital Representation of Sound, Part One: Sound and Timbre. Section 1.3: Frequency, Pitch, and Intervals”. “Music and Computers: A Theoretical and Historical Approach”.  Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

Campbell, David. “Lunar Cycles and Golden Ratios: Exposing the Weird World of Chartism”. Citywire. 03 June 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

Henderson, Linda D. “The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion”. Leonardo, Vol. 17, No. 3. (1984), pp. 205-210.

Socionomics. “Fibonacci, Fractals and Financial Markets – Socionomics.net”. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 31 May 2007. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. 

DESMA 9 Week 1: Art in Numbers

I graduated UCLA almost two years ago. I have a BA in Sociology and am currently working towards my minor in Statistics. I attend UCLA part time and have a full time job as a Marketing Coordinator at a technology company called Accessory Power. Everyday I witness the phenomenon of how marketing is both a science and an art. It is the clash and unison between two cultures that C.P. Snow speaks so admittedly about. I believe that the reason I am successful in my career is because I have "closed the gap" between the two cultures of science and art (Snow pg. 53).

John Brockman's interview from Wired UK is something that hits very close to home for me. Part of my job is finding contacts for press releases, and Wired is one of my top resources. I think Brockman makes an extremely valid point when he states that science and art meet as artists and act as a monitoring device for all of society (Graham-Row pg. 3).

Everyday I have multiple products I need to maintain and create ads for. I am the monitor that Brockman speaks of. I have to think like the average person and how they would search for something like "portable bluetooth speaker". I also need to decide how to write my ads to appeal to the more tech savvy crowd as well as the crowd who may want a speaker for aesthetic purposes only. This is where I can use the science of marketing and number crunching and apply it to my creative side.

Take the Dr. Dre new Pill speaker. You can see by the picture below that it is a straight on shot of the speaker. However, with pictures like this, it is hard to see the actual dimensions and highlights of the product. It is flat and boring.

With my product, I submitted photo requests of a more angled shot to show the depth and grooves of the product. Meet the BlueSync SRC by Accessory Power. I wanted to highlight the features of the speaker that our competitor did not.

After many hours of picture manipulation, I get to actually create and code the HTML for our ads. This is where most of the science comes into play. I get to use resources like Terapeak Keywords and SEO databases to construct my ads, titles, and hidden search terms in a way that ensures that when customers search for product, mine is the first one to pop up.  

    

Both the artistic and logistical aspects of my job are what keep me enthralled. I have concrete numbers to back up my strategies but also am given the create freedom to construct ads and display pictures I feel are relevant in our tech culture today. I am the epitome of Kevin Kelly's "the third culture" (Kelly pg. 1). "It's a pop culture based in technology, for technology. Call it nerd culture" (Kelly pg. 1). Half of my job is just "trying out something and seeing what happens" (Bohm pg 3). Even if I am dead set on implementing a new marketing strategy for my products, for all I know society won't care and will have a negative response which means a decrease in sales. I relate closely to what Bohm states as "being able to learn something new, even if this means that ideas and notions that are comfortable or dear to him may be overturned" (Bohm 3). Everyday I walk into work and try something new if I realize what I did yesterday was not working. Even the smallest minute thing such as adding a word into a title on Amazon can make a huge difference.

As Stephen Wilson states as a myth and misunderstanding in thinking about Arts/Science/Technology,there is not a radically different situation where art arises in a profession. I use a blend of all three everyday and agree with Wilson in that it is crucial for this type of knowledge to become more widespread (Wilson pg. 5).  

References

Bohm, D. "On Creativity". Leonardo, Vol. 1., No. 2. (Apr. 1968), pp. 137-149. 

Snow, C.P. "The Two Cultures and The Scientific Revolution". Cambridge University Press, NY. 1961.

Graham-Rowe, Duncan. "John Brockman: Matchmaking with Science and Art". 3 February 2011. 

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture". Science, 279., No. 5353. (13 Feb. 1998), pp. 992-993. Web. 06 Oct. 2013 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/279/5353/992.full

Wilson, Stephen. "Myths and Confusions in Thinking About Art/Science/Technology. College Art Association Meetings. New York City, 2000.