winnielDESMA9

This week in lecture I learned about Nano-tech + Art. This form of art differs from the past eight weeks' in that nano-tech seems to go against the common phrase, "seeing is believing" (Gimzewski and Vesna). Through the emergence of nano-tech exhibitions such as the John Curtin Gallery (specifically, the Phillips eye exhibition), it’s clear to say that nano-tech's impact on human society through medicine and art is certainly immense (Curtin). Sunflower Nano-art, taken with a Scanning Electron Microscope (Ho)  I found this week's lecture exciting because, as I said in my last blog post, I currently work in a synthetic biology lab working with things I cannot see like DNA. DNA, it turns out, has been the basis of many nanotech art projects! Paul Rothemund, for example, has been folding DNA along with the help of synthetic biologists and molecular programmers. This DNA “origami” creates beautiful structures that also help us learn more about DNA’s pattern b

    While studying Art History back in high school, I often noticed that some of the most talented and creative artists suffered either from a brain disorder or some drug addiction such as LSD (Vesna). Artist Katherine Sherwood, for example, was 44 when her brain suffered a hemorrhage in its left hemisphere.  Previously, Sherwood’s art was fairly linear, controlled, and used dull colors. After the paralysis of her dominant hand however, her art style changed and it became more free-form, natural, and vibrant (Sohn). Sherwood's art before hemorrhage (Neuroskeptic) Sherwood's art after hemorrhage (Neuroskeptic)     Partial damage to the parietal lobe, the area of the brain that controls spatial recognition, influenced this sudden change in style (Gardner 324). Another example portraying the essential relationship between brain function and art is Georgia O’Keeffe, known for her paintings during a migraine attack. Normally, O’Keeffe drew sensual and vibrant pai

Over the weekend, I attended LACMA and the exhibit The Inner Eye: Vision and Transcendence in African Arts . Although this is unrelated to the exhibit, I found it interesting that the first artwork I encountered at LACMA wasn’t even in the building… but rather in the parking lot elevator.  Heartbeat Elevator As the elevator ascended into LACMA’s main floor, I was completely surrounded by heartbeats rather than the usual elevator music in an elevator painted completely red, both inside and outside. This installation employed real life heartbeats collected through FitBit over the course of a year. Thus, it brought back memories from DESMA’s Medicine + Art unit. Sorry his eyes are closed :(  This exhibit connected to what I learned in both Art History AP (back in high school) and from DESMA 9. I enjoyed having both a cultural perspective (from HS) and a technical/science based view from DESMA as I walked through the exhibit. My favorite piece of work was the Chi Wara Society

This week, I learned about BioArt and how extremely controversial its projects are in regards to ethics. However, I found everything particularly interesting because I currently work in a Synthetic Biology lab on campus. The controversies of Synthetic Biology work overlap with BioArt immensely – Is it right to transfer a gene from a jellyfish into mice to make it glow in a way that nature never intended? (Vesna). Transgenic mice glowing due to "foreign" GFP gene (Herper) In my lab, I encounter these ethical issues at a milder level because I work with “mindless” bacteria (E.Coli) genomes instead of mice when inserting genes. While my perspective may be controversial, I believe that genome editing and lab-grown life/tissue (Atala) are relatively harmless and can even be applied to human gene therapy in the future when regulated carefully . However, I definitely agree that for BioTech + Art to continue advancing, it must have one of the strictest ethics and regulation bo

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-R8wRzZetjlaF93X18wd3RfTkk *Access is limited to UCLA students/faculty Link to PDF of my Midterm (Link was also submitted through UC Canvas)