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 understanding the basis of our nature.

Participant Interacting with Nano-Scape
https://www.digitalartarchive.at/fileadmin/_processed_/
csm_i000001469NanoScape3_6f91240d6f.jpg
Nano-scape utilizes haptic feedback to let users "feel" nano-particles in an imaginary landscape, introducing audiences to the new arena of nanotechnology (Nano-Scape). Allowing this visceral communication between the participant and the atomic scale opens up new avenues for helping the public understand the oft-invisible molecules that make up our existence.

One my my favorite and most direct examples of nanoart is A Boy and His Atom by IBM, which is a short animation showing carbon monoxide molecules on a copper sheet making up a boy playing with a ball named "atom" (IBM). At this scale, one can see the quantum waves created by the objects: the ripples around the ball and the diffraction patterns between the atoms (Porras). As our understanding of the quantum and nano world increases, art will take a more and more central role in helping general audiences understand how things function on a scale so miniscule and unfamiliar.

A Boy and His Atom
https://zippy.gfycat.com/FearlessDiscreteAmericanwirehair.webm
Sources

 “A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie.” IBM Research: A Boy And His Atom, IBM, www.research.ibm.com/articles/madewithatoms.shtml.

Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. “The Nanoneme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact and Fiction in the Construction of a New Science.” Technoetic Arts, vol. 1, no. 1, 2003, pp. 7–24., doi:10.1386/tear.1.1.7/0.

“Nano-Scape.” NANO-SCAPE BY (COLLECTIVE) SOMMERER / MIGNONNEAU - ADA | Archive of Digital Art, www.digitalartarchive.at/database/general/work/nano-scape.html.

Porras, D., et al. “Microscopic Theory for Quantum Mirages in Quantum Corrals.” Physical Review B, vol. 63, no. 15, 2001, doi:10.1103/physrevb.63.155406.

Vesna, Victoria. “Nanotech Jim pt2.” YouTube, UCLA Online, 21 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEp6t0v-v9c.

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