ruiyiyDESMA9

Nanotechnology is a rising industry that is affecting our lives increasingly. I am always aware of its existence but have no idea what it really is. This week’s lectures gives me a refreshing introduction to nanotechnologies and this subject is truly amazing to me. One of the topics that strikes me most is the scanning tunneling microscopy. It is able to image surfaces at atomic level to a precision of 0.1 to 0.01 nanometers. This allows people to get rough images of molecules and atoms, which is inconceivable before. Another application of nanotechnology is in medical areas, in which case it can target specific tumors in human body and directly cure disease. This is more efficient and effective than the usual drug treatments in that it directly attacks the ill cells. Apart from scientific applications, there are possibilities of artistic practices. One of them is for stain glasses and glazing purposes as mentioned by Jim. Back in the Middle Ages, people had found ways...

Human mind has always been an intriguing subject throughout history. How we think determines how we percept the world, and then influences how we interpret the world. To me, art is about our interpretations and perceptions of the world. So understanding our own minds is crucial to the development of art. In particular, neuroscience is of great significance to art. Neuron Trees To begin with, the human mind itself is a great art piece. The neuron connection patterns discovered by Ramon y Cajal exhibit tree-like input and output structures. Such complicated and delicate patterns are inherent in each of us and it is hard to believe that they have no artistic purposes. Our imagination is a result of interactive activities between these neurons. Dreams The next thing that comes into mind is dream. Professor Vesna mentioned that although plenty of researches have been done, we still know little about dreams. Indeed, dreams are mysterious in the sense that even under th...

At the beginning of this week’s lecture, professor Vesna mentioned that biotechnology and art is a controversial area. After viewing all the lectures and readings, I found myself in the same situation. To me, biotechnology is a rising discipline that will probably be the leading industry in the 21 st century. Indeed, there have been great breakthroughs in curing diseases and increasing agricultural productivity, improving the quality of our life. However, when art is associated with biotechnology, I am not so confident that the same conclusion can be drawn. Biotechnology itself is a very controversial area due to its unforeseen consequences and the fact that most of the experiments are carried out on animals. It to some extent breaks the balance of nature by altering the original compositions of creatures. But science is about trial and error and if we accept this fact, biotechnology for scientific purposes is still probably legitimate. However, if the purposes for changing t...

This week I attended Eli Joteva’s art solo show-- -- Mnemoawari. Upon entering, I first encountered a refreshing projection on the wall (image below). It turns out that the image is a transcription of Eli’s roommate’s brain wave while sleeping. A cup of water was put aside her roommate and recollected to exhibit this result. This is quite exciting for me because I have been fascinated by the idea of human brain wave for a long time. If we can somehow collect and interpret these brain waves, we can communicate without speaking a word. This is very helpful for those who are suffering from aphasia and furthermore people speaking different languages may communicate without difficulty. Now it is amazing to see that a cup of water is able to capture these brain waves. Without our awareness, the fluctuations our brain waves have caused are permanently inscribed in the ambiance. And this seems to induce the main body of the show, which I will discuss next. As I stepped into the room, ...

Here is the link to my midterm presentation. https://www.dropbox.com/s/dkn76jiffhqksoz/Ruiyi_Yang_Desma9_Midterm.pdf?dl=0