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Extra Credit: National Museum of Mathematics

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Bloom  by John Edmark (still position) While visiting New York, I also took the opportunity to visit the National Museum of Mathematics. The exhibitions of mathematics and artistic displays within pushed me to choose mathematics for my final paper. One interesting exhibit was Bloom by John Edmark, which utilized rotation at a specific speed and a 3D printed bowl to create a dynamic and evolving object. Mathematics was required to create the display, since the rotation speed must perfectly match the strobe light and features on the bowl. Additionally, 3D printing technology allowed the artist to easily create new objects for rotation with the great precision required for the exhibit. The next work of art that was directly inspired from mathematical principles was Human Tree , an interactive exhibit that utilized video cameras and fractal patterns to allow audience members to become trees made of themselves. I especially liked this exhibit because it was entertaining enough to...
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Event 3: Technology and the Moving Image

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While I was visiting New York this quarter, I decided to take a trip out to Queens to visit a museum I'd been meaning to see for a long time: The Museum of the Moving Image. Across it's three floors are numerous technologically-based exhibits that display the essential inventions that furthered art across two different media: movies and video games. Glass Slides for Projection One interesting innovation required in the early days of movie making was the glass slide, which could be used by a theater to inform the audience on rules, show advertisements, and entertain while reels for the movie were changed. Musical Selection Overlaid on a Scene In addition, the moving picture art form was heavily influenced by advances in film technology: when better lighting, cameras, and recording methods were invented, acting changed considerably. Early movies have very unrealistic acting in order to make up for low frame rates, a lack of sound, and a lack of color. Larger-than-l...
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Week 9: Space + Art

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Galileo's First Sketch of the Stars https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/sites/default/files/resize/ images/education/physicists/galileo_orion-200x275.gif Blinking and squeezing his eye against the the cold metal, Galileo peered through his telescope and, for the first time in human history, recorded his vision of the night sky onto a sketchpad. Even in the very beginning, our relationship with space has been intertwined with art by representing the untouchable and unreachable through sketching and imagination. Since then, through second world war rocket technology and cold war guidance technology, the stars became more attainable and the public's interest in space grew exponentially (Vesna). Jean-Pierre Luminet's Black Hole (1978) http://www.astronomy.com/-/media/Images/News%20and%20Observing /News/2019/04/LuminetBlackHole.jpg?mw=1000&mh=800 Art remains essential in capturing the complexity and vastness of space and making it approachable to a common audience. For in...
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Week 8: NanoTech + Art

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In much the same way that the microscope and access to micro-scale technology revolutionized the past few centuries, nanotechnology will come to define art and science in the coming ones. Nanotechnology is best defined as the manipulation of objects on the nano-meter scale, permitting the creation of minuscule medical devices and art pieces (Vesna). Single Tungsten Atom Visible to Naked Eye https://cosmos-magazine.imgix.net/file/spina/photo/ 14008/180215-SingleAtom-Crop.jpg?fit=clip&w=835 When imaging on the nanoscale, we are held back in resolution by the Raleigh limit, which posits that an object cannot be resolved if it is measured with a wave larger than itself (Gimzewski & Vesna). However, modern technology has allowed for breath-taking images of objects on this scale, such as the tungsten atom on the right. Having the power to see the aspects of our nature we take for granted is awe-inspiring and draws the attention immediately, since it opens a new canvas for unde...
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Event 2: Technological Influences in the Broad Museum

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For the second event, my friend and I took a trip to the Broad to explore their new modern art exhibitions. In the first room we walked into, I noticed a perfect example of how technology has furthered modern art: the ability to create dynamic and responsive content. The famous Double America 2 by Glenn Ligon utilizes neon signs, an invention of the 20th century, to create an ever flickering and changing piece of art (Ligon). Seeing the sign change between an upright “functional” America, an upside-down America that represents the various social and political issues that erode the nation, and a state of both illuminated at once in unity. Double America 2 by Glenn Ligon Longing for Eternity by Yayoi Kusama The next compelling piece of art also utilized light technology, in combination with mirrors, to present an ethereal and multi-dimensional experience.  Longing for Eternity by Yayoi Kusama, similar to her world-famous “Infinity Room” work, combines dynamic flashing ...
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Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

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Every time we enjoy a work of art, a hidden multitude of chemical reactions and electric potentials within neurons govern our perception and understanding of that experience. Neuroscience and art have always been intricately intertwined, with the "father of neuroscience" Ramon y Cajal using his artistic skills to draw beautiful representations of the neurons he observed (Vesna). Ramon y Cajal Sketch https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/ uploads/2017/09/Drawing_03-1151x1720.jpg It is strange to see how the populace...disdains the world around it as commonplace without suspecting that at bottom it is all secret, mystery, and marvel. - Ramon y Cajal (Kalat) In modern times, the public and artist's interest in neuroscience has increased dramatically, with research being done on the ways in which our brains respond to different visual cues in art (Frazzetto). In my opinion, Salvador Dali is one of the most influential artists who used an understanding of the human bra...
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Week 6: BioTech + Art

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As biotechnology moves at a breakneck pace, a new artistic medium is becoming available: the manipulation of life itself. In 1928, scientist and artist Alexander Fleming, who had just discovered and received a Nobel prize for penicillin, created the world's first "germ art" (Smithsonian). Germ Art by Alexander Fleming https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/ciAlw3et1br9pgJ5Vmgc3DdMbPw= /fit-in/1072x0/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/microbial-art-2.jpg In the decades that followed, genetic technology advanced significantly, permitting bio artist Joe Davis to genetically modify E. Coli to carry an encoded picture of the symbol of Venus (Vesna). Life itself was being turned into an expressive medium with its own merits: being naturally visceral and emotive, due to its living state, and providing a platform for commentary on gene editing and other controversial scientific issues. Current ethicists and artists need to grapple with the unlimited potential for creativity, a...
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