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Space and Art

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The idea of space exploration and travel is something that has definitely been an influence on pop culture as well as technological advancements. I remember learning about the space race in high school and thinking about how strange of a time that must have been to live in. It seems as if the interest in space travel had exploded overnight. Even though the circumstances for all of the technological advancements were strange, many great things were still accomplished, which opened the door for an endless amount of possibilities. And even though we have learned so much about space, there is still an inconceivable amount of information still unknown to us. I think that is why space related science fiction media is still so popular, because it can be so imaginative, and people really enjoy that. One of my favorite cartoons is Futurama, which is a series that focuses on life in the 31st century, and how everything has changed. In this series space travel is common, and the universe is m

Event 3

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For event number three I visited the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. I wasn't sure if i would find any work related to the subjects being taught in this course at first, but I was pleasantly surprised to find stuff that was relevant to what we have been learning about. One of the artists whose work was on display was Lina Espinosa. The particular work being shown was photographs of drawings made using genetically engineered E.coli bacteria which was designed to glow. The drawings, which depicted maps, immediately reminded me of the topics that were discussed in the Biotech  and Neuroscience sections of the course. The artist that produced these photographs used similar concepts and technology to the artist that created the GFP bunny, and the artists that created the Brainbows. Both of these art projects also altered the DNA of animals in order to achieve a desired outcome. I thought the work created by Espinosa was interesting, and I was pleasantly surprised to f

Neuroscience and Art

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There were many interesting topics discussed in this week's lectures. One topic that I found to be very interesting were the Brain bows. These images are visually stunning, and offer a lot of insight into the inner workings of the brain. I didn't know about brain bows before this lecture, so I looked into how these images are made and found out that transgenic mice were used to create them. This was interesting to me because it ties back in to what was discussed last week with the Biotech and Art lectures. It is interesting to see how these topics can overlap and build upon each other. The other subject that interested me was the technology discussed in the TED Talk by Christopher deCharms. The use of mri technology to train yourself to control your brain is something that sounds like it came from a movie. I was surprised to learn that this technology is being tested, and in many cases is allowing patients with chronic pain to learn how to control their brain and manage thei

BioTech and Art

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This weeks topic of Biotech and Art included a lot of information about projects and work that I had no idea about. Many of the artists mentioned in the lecture worked with genetics, specifically altering the genetics of animals. I can definitely see how many people find the work these artists are doing as controversial. It seems that messing with genetics or biology has this stigma of 'playing God' surrounding it. This is understandable, since if the experiments or art being done have the potential to have absurd, or negative impacts on the animals involved. However, I find this work to be fairly interesting, as it allows us to gain insight into how genes and biology really operate, and has the potential to lead to new discoveries. I think it is important to go about this in an ethical and considerate way though. Animal testing is very controversial, and many people strongly oppose it. Yet, so many modern medial advancements were able to be developed partly because the use

Event 2

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For event number two I went to a local museum/gallery called It’s Showtime. This space features a large collection of antiques and vintage movie memorabilia. There were many props, cameras, and posters, as well as collectibles and other film related merchandise on display. There were a lot of robot related objects and movie posters from films featuring robots as well. This automatically made me think of the section on robotics and art. The amount of films that featured robot related storylines during the mid to late 1900s was pretty significant, and showed how culturally relevant these themes were at the time. It also sort of shows some of the widespread fears held by society. Things like evil robots, aliens, and technology gone wrong were recurring storylines in films of this time, and still are today. Some of the posters that I first noticed were the ones from the film Metropolis by Fritz Lang, and the film Blade Runner, by Ridley Scott. Both these films feature a futuristic so

Midterm Project

Midterm Project  click link to view

Medicine Technology and Art Week 4

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It is so strange to think about the way our bodies work. For most people, not much consideration is put in to our daily routines and bodily functions. When you think about it though, the human body is incredibly complex, and it seems almost impossible that something so fine tuned could exist. Yet here we are. We have been able to use technology and medicine to our advantage to benefit people with all kinds of different needs. These medical advancements, along with the ever growing understanding of the human body have allowed for artists and scientists alike to develop their own compelling work. A body preserved through plastination as part of the Body Worlds exhibit. The process of plastination, which was created by Gunther von Hagens was one of the topics mentioned in lecture that really caught my eye. This process allows the human body to be on display and preserved. This made it possible for the average person to be able to view the human anatomy first hand. I personally did n