With the concept of art and creativity being as broad as it is, I find it interesting to view the results of medical technology as being artistic. I am also surprised by how much of medicine can be viewed through the lens of art. Great examples of this from class are exhibits like Bodies or artistic viewings of MRI readings. One of my favorites, however, is brainbow. Brainbow is a neuro-imaging method where different cell types are differentiated using fluorescent proteins. There are multiple different colors available and each color can be used to color a specific cell type. This method of visualizing the brain produces some beautiful images which are not only fascinating to look at but also can provide scientific insight into the anatomy of our brains.
X-Men character undergoing a medical procedure
Another area where art and medical technology cross over is in movies, specifically in the recently more popular super hero movies. Some of these films, such as X-Men and Spiderman, weave medical science into their stories in order to ground them in reality. For example, the X-Men movies use the hero characters (who are people with genetic mutations which give them superpowers) to discuss social stigmas and responses to a group of outsiders. One of their main focuses is on the genetic mutations themselves and the medical technology and policy which would go along with the discovery of genetic superpowers. By combining art and medical technology in this way, the creators of X-Men are able to tell a story which is both entertaining and which contains relevant social criticisms for the time.
Trailer for X-Men
Sources:
“Bodies: The Exhibition.” Premierexhibitions.com, Premiere Exhibitions, Inc. , www.premierexhibitions.com/exhibitions/4/4/bodies-exhibition. “Brainbow.” Harvard University Brain Tour, braintour.harvard.edu/archives/portfolio-items/brainbow.
Briest, Sarah. "The Allegorical X-Men: Emblems, Comics, and the Allegorical Potential of Text/Image Hybrid Genres." ImageTexT, vol 9, no. 1, 2017, n. pag. Dept of English, University of Florida. 29 April 2018. Web.
Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts.” Configurations, vol. 19, no. 1, 2011, pp. 73–99., doi:10.1353/con.2011.0008. Ingber, Donald E. The Architecture of Life. 1998.
As a psychobiology major at UCLA, I have already had some exposure to the subject of biotechnology. As a matter of fact, I took a course as a freshman titled Biotechnology and Society which spanned the length of three quarters. Because of this previous experience, the artists Joe Davis and Eduardo Kac stand out to me as doing a great job in bridging biotechnology and art. Example of Brainbow Kac holding his GFP Bunny Eduardo Kac is famous for his work done with GFP (green fluorescent protein), a technology which has helped to advance the field of biotech through applications such as fluorescent labeling. While it has facilitated many other important discoveries, Kac used it to create a fluorescent rabbit as an art piece. While some may argue that this was a useless exercise, I see it as an expression of art through a canvas no one has been able to use before. It is somewhat similar in this sense to brainbow, a form of art where fluorescent tags are used to color neurons in a
Poster for Blade Runner Today, robots have become a part of our daily lives, even if we don't notice them. Despite their modern presence, however, I am personally interested to see where robotics advance to in the future. Fortunately, I'm not the first person to be interested in this, so there are numerous pieces of media which depict others' interpretations of our future. One great example of this is the movie Blade Runner, which takes places in a future where synthetic humans (called replicants in the movie) are used as a labor force in developing new worlds for humans to live on. These replicants are artificially created to be just like humans so they are basically hyper-advanced robots made from biological materials and which have their own consciousness and intelligence. While it would take incredible science and technology to develop "robots" like this, it would also take an incredible amount of artistry to make them so close to being human. A Bl
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