Posts

Week 9

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As a child, I always have fascinations about the universe. This is the last blog for Desma 9, and the space contains all of previous topics, such as mathematics, biotechnology, and etc.. The video, powers of ten, shows an adventure through changes in magnitude. By watching the powers of ten, I realized that how tiny human beings are inside the universe. The powers of ten is created by first focusing on a couple having a picnic. Then, our viewpoint is ten times further out after every 10 seconds. It changes from Texas to United States to the Earth to the Galaxy and to the universe. One of my favorite artworks related with space is called Black Moon created by Benjamin Bergmann. It discusses the relationship between gravity and freedom. There is a new black balloon filled with helium every day. Since it is inside the room, it is against the ceiling as shown in the picture below. Since there is a new ballon everyday, the old one is replaced and released to the sky every night. The a...

Week 8

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This week's topic is Nanotechnology and art. Nanotechnology is a combination of biology, science, and chemistry. More specially, nanotechnology is the study of changes made at the atomic level. Through these changes, the material become more durable and better for people's usages. The machine on the left can help people to see at an atomic level, such as at 20 nano-meters. One of the common examples, as introduced in the lecture video, is diamond and carbon. Diamond and carbon are made from the same material. However, when we change the position of atoms, carbon may become diamond, and vise versa. The picture on the right shows atomic structures. There is an artwork which makes the Nanotechnology tangible. For example, people can wear magnetic ring and therefore feel the magnetic forces. The combination of Nanotechnology and art is usually presented in the form of videos and sounds. I watched the TED video created by Ray Kurzweil. He discussed the advantages of the tec...

Extra Credit Event 2

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Last week, I went to a fantastic Desma event named "delete me". There are many artworks in this exhibition. Below is a picture of the entrance. It shows projects made by graduating art students. There are more than ten artworks, and there are three which I find particularly appealing. The first one is named Knicker Twister, and it is my favorite art piece. This artwork is in a form of the tree. Its materials have only one color, white. White is generally a symbol of pureness, but the person who created this artwork put three rolls of toilet paper at the bottom of the tree. It is an irony. By pulling the string, the tree starts to twist. There are many random things about the tree. For example, it has many cutes Disney characters . As shown in the picture on the left, the woman in the screen barely wear anything. This sense of sexually and Disney characters' innocences contradict, and it is an interesting combination between childhood and adulthood. There ar...

Week 7

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Through this week's material, I explored the relationship between neuroscience and art. I totally agree with Gregory Bateson's view such that mind is complex, aesthetic, intricate, and elegant. It is an artwork in nature. Artists are interested in how human being's mind works. For example, in my last Desma event, one of the art works shows neurons' activities when people dream. I am always curious about my own dreams and want to interpret them. Artis t  Henri Rousseau also explores the dream world. In the painting below, the women is sleeping. The lion may appear in her dream, or she may appear in the lion's dream.  This week's material also helps me to explore the definition of consciousness. Consciousness include the conscious of gender, race, country and etc.. I also learned that Franz Joseph was the first person who suggested that different functions to various part of the brain. He thought that the shape of the skull was connected with a person's in...

Week 6

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This week’s main topic is the connection between Biotech and art. This connection is about not only art but also science. For example. I was so surprised when I saw this picture because a  person’s DNA  from his blood has become  part of the red veins on this flower. It shows creative ways about different species involving with each other. Personally, I think that it is a magic in art.  In the lecture, professor discussed about human body’s manipulation for artistic reasons. This reminds me the novel Frankenstein. The young scientist created a gigantic creature named Frankenstein from scientific experiment conducted on human beings. In his novel, he explored about what defines a human being. Similar to this idea, people are able to plan genetically about babies  through bio-technology  n owadays. Biotech is connected with people's life. For example, there is a plant named "super weed" growing in Utah. It toxins other plant...

Event 3

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This Thursday, I went to E. Joteva’s art show named Mnemoawari. This presentation explores the connection between the past and future. This presentation contains many interesting subjects, and I think the main theme of this presentation is matter, the different forms it takes and ways it disappears.   There are three parts of the show. The first part is a blue picture, and the selfie which Joteva and I took is in front of this picture. This image is the brain wave during a dream because the dream connects with the future. The second part is the rather huge balls from flowers and ice. There are three balls, and Joteva created these balls in layer. They are made from flowers, mushroom, sand, ice, and so on. I feel that they are related with the material that I learned from Chemistry. Both melting and vaporization are the processes of changes in matter. The matter does not change, but it takes on different forms. Another rule from Chemistry is that matter cannot be created ...