Week 5 - Art and the Body

Art and the body is not simply tattoos or piercing anymore. With the artists featured in last week’s lecture art and the body is on a whole new level. When discussing Orlan and Stelarc during lecture and section I found what these artists were doing extremely bizarre. Why mutilate your own body simply for the sake of art? But I realized it has more meaning than that. Orlan, with her performance plastic surgery, is definitely sending out a powerful message. The way I interpreted her artwork is the power one has to do such things to his or her body. Orlan was in control of what procedures would be done on her and therefore was in control of the finished piece. I also felt that she was showing that plastic surgery is the new art. Anyone can be the artist (of course if you have enough money =) with the final results definitely determined by the person undergoing the surgery. I also feel with some of her own procedures that she is showing the absurdity of it all. Just like art, beauty is subjective and is different in the eyes of each person. Yet, many people undergo plastic surgery to change their appearance to what society thinks is beautiful. Stelarc on the other hand wanted to push the body’s limits through his artwork. With the combination of flesh and machine I felt that he wanted to show how amazing and how limited the human body is at the same time. With his third ear, although I was questioning why would someone want a third ear on his or her arm, I found it fascinating how this technology is possible. It reminds me of the movie Bicentennial Man, where robotic parts were used to replace “worn out” body parts. Although Stelarc was more focused on the art aspect with his pieces, I feel that this is revolutionary to the medical field and the future of medicine.



I wish that last week’s lecture had more information and examples of the influence of art on current medical technologies. Although all the topics discussed last week were very interesting I would have liked to see more of the different side of the merging art and science spectrum. We did touch on the topic slightly during the video on MRI imaging. It was a little difficult to search for examples of art’s influence on medicine online. Many of the links that came up were related to science’s influence on art. Many web sites displayed pictures of artworks with medical/scientific themes. I did however find some articles that I found somewhat related to the topics we discussed in class. One article discussed the influence of music on a physician’s own mental state. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4167265) Another web site of the Unit of Art in Medicine at The University of Manchester (http://www.medicine.manchester.ac.uk/artinmed/) has links to how art has affected facial anthropology, forensic facial reconstruction, research, etc. Just a suggestion for next year to possibly integrate these topics in the lecture a little bit more especially for those who are non-science majors.

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Section 4 week 5

I have always been and will always be interested in Superheroes. Comic books represent such a meaningful art form to me that I don't believe it's possible to explain. I mention this because this week's research led me to the idea of superhuman feats. When we think of medicine, technology and the human body, we are led straight to the idea of super-abilities. Just think, we live five years longer than we did 50 years ago and with each year, thanks to medicine, we live even longer. We can fight off diseases much better than we could before, and technology is making humans even more able bodied, according to popular science. There are metal strips of memory materials that are elctroactive, able to pull stronger or as strong as a human which could enhance or simulate our own muscles; implantations and electric signal sensing hats can allow a person to remotely control electronic objects while other implantations can make our skin fight cancer while giving us a tan; more and more, our bodies and our machines are molding together. The human body is almost like a blank canvas for engineers, biologists, and scientists to splash colors of technology all over. More and more, our "selves" have become more and more loosely defined in terms of body but rather consciousness. This, I think, is a very relevant point that Mr. Roy Ascott presented. I thoroughly enjoyed his lecture as I thought it was amazingly relevant and thought provoking. Related to this idea of technology and biology is his idea about cell phones being implanted into the human skull. In truth, I wanted to talk very badly but sometimes I'm too timid to speak up and sometimes I think what I have to say is stupid. I wanted to say, though, that I think that the idea of implanted cell phones is just too far ahead of its time for people at the moment. Actually, I believe it is an essential evolutionary step in communication. Look around at how communication has changed over the years. There was a time when we drew pictures as representations of an item but that was too easily misunderstood-after all, a picture is worth 1000 words. Then we moved on to speaking and then writing and reading all the while keeping speaking constant. Many wars are fought over speech, and many conflicts are created out of misunderstanding. What if, when we communicated, we skipped the step of translating thoughts into words and then interpretted words into thoughts again? What if we just sent people our thoughts and communicated with our minds? We will have to look to things like radios and broadcasters or phones that allow communication to be translated into electronics that can send that to be interpretted. What a beautiful concept. Everyone understanding one another. People wouldn't have to simulate experiences for people in speech but rather in pure memory. Mental pictures could be sent as they are in emails.
I suppose I have to include a lecture item so I'll talk about Orlan because i've already talked about Stelarc (even though Stelarc is WAY related to the idea of the rest of this blog). I love Orlan's art especially because it's such a new idea. I don't have much to say about her, but I think she's way bold an uses such a different medium and method that people find it both interesting and innovative.

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Justin Nordheim: The Digital Body (Week 5)

The digital body is a statement about society, science, art, evolution. For example, society, humans as a collective body, formulates the morals and laws that affect our lifestyles. Therefore as society progresses and allows for the acceptance of such art or science, it is going through a change. It is a combination of art and science that has allowed for the concept and actual digital body. I believe that this week has passed from non-actual modifications to actual modifications of the body. Stellar seemed at first to only use robotics externally for his presentations or scientific contributions. However, he also performs by placing hooks under his skin, an actual modification of the body rather than sensors on his arms and legs.


By the far the most outrageous and grotesque topic was discussed in section this week. I don't say these words in critique. They are merely words, one word used to describe an entire art piece is impossible. A picture is worth a thousand words, cliche but true. Anyway, Orlan could very well be viewed as outrageous and grotesque. I recently viewed her webpage: http://www.orlan.net/. She is quite an interesting lady with an even more interesting autbiography that is either written in a weird style or I comprehended it completely wrong. Either way, her manipulations of the body are very striking and are not an area of art that has been exploited, ever. Once again, technology has allowed for this new art form to emerge. And once again, mid-writing, I make a connection to the very beginning of class: art vs. technology. Technology, arguably mostly scientific, allows for these new art forms to emerge in a sense. This is not always true, but it is notable as an observation since much of art is subjective anyway. Anyway, Orlan tests the bounds of acceptance: can we do this? are we allowed to do this? It is similar to the idea of Steve Kurts stuff, just generating a reaction from the audience ultimately drawing a lot of people to him while also getting a message across. Making us think. Another common theme of this class that continually pops up in discussion and lecture. And by common theme I mean a characteristic of how the class is designed. Moving on, Orlan's performance art does probe at the mind and create a reaction that ripples outward strongly. People who see the art affected; granted, some are more acceptant than others.

I will end my post by referencing Kelly Banh's post this week. I thought she was very intuitive in her image selection. Also, it sparks the mind as to if these were intended or not. Also, to me it gives whatever he does the meaning it deserves to be classified at all as "art." Kelly Banh, you are smart. Anyway, Orlan and Stellarc have an ultimate different style but seem to focus on a similar idea: manipulation of the body. Stellarc seems to focus on preserving and improving the body rather than just altering it for image sake (and possible harm). Either way, both of these made me think a lot this week.

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Allen Wang Week 5 - Human Art

To some, the human body is just a lump of lay, waiting to be molded. To others, manipulations of the body is repulsive and disorienting. Though, by manipulating the body, people actually enhance the body, but at times, there are serious drawbacks, damaging the body. Some people suffer permanent damages, or enhances as some would call it, such as obtaining or having to live with a collapsed nose.
It is interesting how the human body is studied as both an art and for scientific purposes. We all love our bodies and are always aiming to improve our appearances on the short run. That is why we would put on make-up or wash our faces daily to keep our facial appearances dirt free. As human, we are a lazy race, always looking for the shortest and most efficient route possible. That is why so many have turned to plastic surgery other methods to make beauty last.
By utilizing artificial methods, we may enhance the quality of life. As such, new technology is created to make jobs easier and faster. As some believe, if we can use robots to enhance humans temporary, there must exist methods in which the human body can be changed permanently. Therefore, people put their bodies in the most extreme situations, such as hanging of one's body by chains piercing through the skin of the person. By stretching the body like so, people escape from such treatment with a high rate of deformed bodies and bodily "enhancements" as they would like to call it.
We cannot stop people from loving to manipulate their bodies for the sake of humanity, but nor should we love them for it. Though I admire those who to push their bodies to the limits, I am quite shocked by the extremes that the people would push their bodies to just to prove to the world that humans are meant to evolve and nothing, not even nature, can stop humans from striving to become better.

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Limitations of the Body- yes or no? (Kelly Banh, Week 5)

Much of our studies about Australian performance artist, Stelarc, have emphasized his presentation of the body and its connection to futuristic mechanisms and technology. After seeing images of his exhibits in class, I was inspired to speak about how his works actually have a relationship with images from the past. I saw the image of body suspended in the air with hooks in a pose of mediation. And I found an image of a robotic arm attached to his own. These immediately reminded of religious images that have displayed Gods in states humans have been incapable of being in themselves. Here is the first image:

And the image I chose to compare it with:

This is an image of Buddha, one of the gods of Buddhism, floating in a Lotus flower amongst the clouds.

Here is the second image:

And the image I chose to compare it with:

One of the gods of the Hindu religion.

Because Stelarc tends to revolve around the idea that the human body is obsolete, it appears he has been searching for ways to extend the body’s capabilities in order to achieve almost “godly” tasks. Although Stelarc did not draw inspiration from the two religious images above, there are definitely parallels between them. In the first, he is levitating in mediation. In the second, he has more than two arms. If we think about it, what he has done to his body is no different than what artist, Orlan, has done to hers. Orlan uses images of operation of cosmetic surgery and supplements them with props that provide symbols and implications of her opinion. The evils of plastic surgery are neverending. Addicts continue to change one thing after another in hopes of achieving perfection, in hopes of achieving the “above average” and the exceptional. This is beyond human as well. The body is being extended beyond its capabilities, beyond its natural state to a standard that is inhuman. In the past, humans have been unable to attain this standard. They only existed in images of worshipped gods. These worshipped images may very well be the inspiration for the procedures that the human population has taken upon themselves to undergo. And thanks to modern day technology, it has gradually become more and more possible. It is important to point out that although there are similarities between the works of Stelarc and the works of Orlan, they both take different sides: one positive and one negative. Stelarc pushes the limitations of the body, expressing that machinery can perhaps aid as a beneficial extension of the body. On the other hand, Orlan points out the evils of plastic surgery through her images in a darker, more unpleasant way. The underlying question is: Should the body be pushed to its limitations? This is what these artists suggest their audience to think about. I believe that Stelarc and Orlan have done this is the most effective ways- through visual and performance art, tying in concepts that the common crowd is familiar with: technology and cosmetic surgery.

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Jacob Karp - Week 5 - Bodily and Cellular Inspiration

This week’s concept of the body being the medium of art or the direct inspiration of art is one that I find fascinating and never realized how broad of realm it is. From Stelarc’s mechanical and artificial additional limbs to Orlan’s plastic surgery performances to the tensegrital quality of cells and the sculptures that have been directly inspired by this.

Because Stelarc has been previously discussed in previous weeks and Orlan’s performances are somewhat dated as so many people have undergone plastic surgery and the process to change and adapt one’s appearance is pretty common and understood today. Her performances of plastic surgery are connected to how many performers have had plastic surgery. I felt that Orlan’s message in her art was contrary to Stelarc that the body is not obsolete but rather so adaptable, so easily improved. Many of the people that have somehow risen to the top: famous performers, successful businesspeople, and other influential and monetarily well off people have undergone some form of plastic self-improvement surgery, whether it be liposuction and a tummy tuck, a nose job, or breast augmentation. This helps improve their image and be seen as a perfect (or closer to) being. It seems that the theme is that the body is not obsolete because it can be so easily improved and altered.

I was most interested this week in Donald Ingber’s article “The Architecture of Life”. The article analysis an attribute of cells called tensegrity. Tensegrity or tensional integrity is a structural quality caused by a uniform pull between all of the firm structural supports, which leads to a structure that mechanically stabilizes itself. This quality can make very beautiful and very unique cellular shapes. This art is the cell; the naturally occurring attribute of living organisms fundamental components is the art. This tensional integrity has been the inspiration of artists to create sculptures that have this quality also. I began searching tensegrity on the internet and discovered artist Kenneth Snelson. Snelson has constructed many sculptures that have a structure with tensegrity.

Kenneth Snelson claims that his art is based on nature in its natural state and involve “patterns of physical forces in three dimensional space. I find it amazing that the natural structure of a cell has inspired such incredible sculptures on the small and large scale. This is a perfect example of a scientific discover being evident in art, and a very geometric and mathematical form of art it is. Snelson would definitely qualify as a member of the 3rd culture with his amazing sculptures.

http://www.kennethsnelson.net/icons/scul.htm

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Blogging Instructions

Each week by Sunday at midnight each student must post a 500-800 word blog entry. Reflect on the questions raised in Prof. Vesna's lecture, guest lectures, and readings. Connect these concepts to self-directed research. Provide one link for each post to something you've discovered. Examples are news articles about scientific, artistic, political events etc. that relates to class topics. Images are optional but enjoyable for everyone.

Use the "Create New Post" button in your "dashboard" once you've logged in. Use the buttons above the text box to add photos, links, and text formatting.

When Posting Always...

Label your post with your section in this format (without quotes): "Section 1"
This allows your TA to find your blog posts.

Email myself or your TA if you have technical issues.
oleary@ucla.edu
xarene@ucla.edu
zblas@ucla.edu
datadreamer@ucla.edu

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