Event 2: Hammer Museum

I recently visited The Hammer Museum and saw some work from the Heatherwick Studio. Although there were a number of interesting pieces, several pieces stuck out to me and related directly to my engineering background.

 Photo Credit: Calvin Sung

The first piece that was extremely interesting was called “Spun” I believe. Once you sat in it, you could shift your body weight and have the chair rotate about the pivot point on the ground. This related to my first physics class that discussed angular velocity given by the equation

ω = dθ / dT

Cross Section of the "Spun" Piece

Depending on your center of gravity and how much force you applied, you could control the rotation speed of the art piece. The best part was that it was an interactive art piece where a bystander can not only touch the art, but also interact with it and produce some kind of result. In this case, it was simply spinning myself in circles endlessly. With this interaction, I was also able to employ my education of basic physics and understand what was physically occurring with this unique piece.

 Video Credit: Calvin Sung

One of the other pieces on display was a model of a new learning hub done for Nanyang Technological University. The building consisted of a number of circular buildings taking the general shape of a cylinder. Each cylinder was made up of smaller cross sections stacked on top of each other with a garden on top. Although geometrical and mathematical in nature, the tapper of each cross section of each cylinder moves the structure away from symmetry. 

Scale Model of Learning Hub

The last piece that was very intriguing to me was the rolling bridge. Initially I was really skeptical of the feasibility of such a device on any reasonable scale. But upon closer inspection and research, it appears the studio had already made one that can have someone walk across it. The project starts out as an octagon and splits at the top rolling out each section that produces a walkway.

Scale Model of the Rolling Bridge

These three projects reinforced the idea that art and engineering have a firm place together. I often get caught up with all of the technical details of a project and lose track of the artistic aspects and fail to realize sometimes that just because something is atheistically pleasing does not make it impossible technically. However this studio display mediated that gap and reminded me of the how even amazing engineering feats can be beautifully designed.

Week 4: Art and Medicine

Many do not see the connection between art and medicine. However, in academia, universities like John Hopkins School of Medicine offer a degree of Master of Arts in Medical and Biological Illustrations. This specific degree focuses on giving students the skills needed to produce detailed illustrations of the human body using the most recent technologies. The media produced by such a degree has a huge variety and include: illustrations, 3D models and animations that service the medical, research and publishing communities (John Hopkins School of Medicine).

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, Galleria dell' Accademia, Venice (1485-90)

The earliest illustrations used for medical purposes begin as far back as 1485.

In an interview conducted by WRIC, James Abraham claimed “[a]ll the doctors and surgeons love medical illustrators” because they bring to light through a visual representation of their work on the human body. These students with their degrees not only use their art to highlight the work of current medical practitioners, but also to educate future medical personnel. They highlight the intersection of art with medicine where the art produced is highly valued beyond the visual appeal. The art created is used to benefit the human condition.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeZQW4rrmIg

This video depicts a 3D model of a human body and a person attempting to correctly identify different parts. It reflects the ability of the art form to education the medical community.

Art through illustrations enable better teaching and evaluation of health. Furthermore, medical schools now believe that “students with more “right brain” qualities–related to imagery, visual and drawing skills–have begun to emerge as more successful” (Glatter). Schools believe that students who have the visual skills derived from the artistic part of the mind bring more to their performance as potential doctors because of the growing field of visual media that is engrained in medicine. These students tend to exhibit greater understanding and comprehension of the imagery that is traditionally thought to be skills reserved for artists. In a sense, medical schools believe their students will be better doctors if they have a wider array of skills and knowledge, especially those generally thought to be artistic and not scientific.

Paolo Mascagni, Anatomical Illustration. Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Although more of an artistic piece, this depicts the potential detail that art used for education can be.

 

Abraham, James. "Richmond Man’s Contribution to Medical Research Could Change Lives." Interview. ABC. WRIC Newsroom, 6 July 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Glatter, Robert. "Can Studying Art Help Medical Students Become Better Doctors?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine Pt1." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

"Visualizing Science and Medicine." Art as Applied to Medicine. John Hopkins School of Medicine, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Week 3: Art and Robotics

According to History.com, the industrial revolution started when humans figured out how to mechanize the production of clothing though the steam engine. During this time, the very first “robots” in a sense, took the form of textile and iron machines. In this context, the development of robots greatly benefited humanity in providing many goods and jumped started a time of mass production.

 Courtesy of Britannica

The earliest conception of a humanoid robot was from the play Rossum’s Universal Robots where robots were used initially as servants to humans that later started a rebellion that wipes out the human race. Similarly a modern version takes the form of the film I, Robot. Both these media sources depict humans as creating robots for our own personal uses and greed. Then the robots become sentinent and turn on the humans.

 Courtesy of Wikipedia

In Lipson’s TedTalk, he displays the current technology available to have robots take on a sense of being “sentient” where they can learn how to walk efficiently. Although this is impressive, it is very limited in capabilities. However, in I Robot, the cinematographers depict a time where a single robot has learned and evolved to a point where she has determined humans are no longer safe in guiding their own existence and instigates a robotic takeover to better care for humans.

 Courtesy of Comingsoon.net

In the small era of humans, machines and particularly robots have greatly improved the human experience. They take everyday menial tasks such as vacuuming and automate it so humans can spend their time doing other more worthwhile endeavors. However, the future of robotics is unknown. Many authors and artists have predicted that robots may one day reflect human consciousness and be able to absorb and understand knowledge self sufficiently. This has alluded to potential catastrophes where robots over take humans and potentially wipe them out. With many uncertainties, I believe that robots will continue to improve human life until the day they gain consciousness when human and robot interaction will be completely redefined.

Brooks, Rodney. "Robots Will Invade Our Lives." Www.Ted.com. TED, Feb. 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

History.com Staff. "Industrial Revolution." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Tudyk, Bruce Greenwood. 20th Century Fox, 2004. Film.

Lipson, Hod. "Building "self-aware" Robots." www.TED.com. TED, Mar. 2207. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

Rossum’s Universal Robots. By Karel Čapek. Prague. 25 Jan. 1921. Performance.

Event 1: PSWC: 4/9/15 - 4/11/15

This past weekend I attended a civil engineering conference, the Pacific South West Conference (PSWC) hosted by the University of Arizona, Tucson for the American Society of Civil Engineers. A number of projects that compete at the PSWC include but are not limited to: concrete canoe, steel bridge, dog-house, geo-wall and environmental design. All of these projects have the obvious engineering component, but also have an aesthetics part. The projects are ranked based on its combined engineering, performance and appearance value.

Courtesy of: http://www.cppasce.com/pswc-2015.html

One of the most aesthetically obvious projects was the concrete canoe project. Besides the engineering design decisions that are made about the concrete mix and reinforcement, the appearance of the canoe must be considered. All teams stain their canoe based on a theme. UCLA went with a medieval theme this year naming our canoe Arcturus as seen below.

University of California, Los Angeles

Depending on the theme, a number of different staining patterns and colors can be used. With a limited time, teams have to choose the tradeoff between time spent on the engineering aspect, the visual appeal and paddling practice. Although many stain designs have a very mathematical approach to it, many also vary considerably and are seemingly purely creative. Despite UCLA’s simpler stain design, UCLA took 2^nd place overall out of 17 universities. A number of other schools’ canoes design can be seen below.

University of Hawaii, Manoa

University of Arizona, Tuscon

University of California, San Diego

University of California, Irvine

Another project with a heavy aesthetics value is the dog house project. The premise of this project is the design and fabrication of a dog house with emphasize on sustainability. This means that the materials used could be locally grown and meet local water/ nutrient standards. Similarly to the canoe, each school had a themed dog house that had to be designed and constructed artistically. Many dog houses were donated to a local animal shelter upon completion of judging.

PSWC 2015: School Unknown

PSWC 2015: School Unknown

Although considered engineering feats, all of the projects have an artistic aspect that is valued greatly. In this context, the engineering provides safety and a usable product while the creativity and artistry proved visual and emotional appeal. When engineering and art are combined, a functional and beautiful product can be created.

Week 2: Art and Math

Although many may think that art and mathematics are polar opposites, this is not entirely true. Many current and past art practices are directly related to math. As described by both Abbot and Henderson, many artists were concerned about the multiple dimensions that can be achieved through art. Art can take the forms of 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D and even 5D as imaged below. Such a reference and use directly comes from the mathematical studies of dimensional space.

Courtesy of: The Many Dimensions of Reality

An example of art depending heavily on math is sheet music written by Beethoven. Considered by most as art, music relies heavily on mathematical sequences at its core. Tonality can be categorized by math through a hertz value while length of a sound is depicted by the beat and given note value. Music as written relies greatly on math in order to produce a song that makes sense and sounds right. However on the other hand, the performance of music is greatly dependent on the performer. This is where his or her artistic side can come to use where he or she can creatively interpret the mathematical language written down.

 Courtesy of: Page Large RSS

Although math in its purest form is considered a science, it also has a distinct place in art. Math is applied indirectly in art in order to achieve pleasing pieces that stand out and is appreciable to society. While for the sciences, math is directly applied to continually make developments towards progressing humanity’s knowledge and understanding of the physical world around us.

Courtesy of: Dr. Pindea

Dr. Pindea claims that art acts as the visual representation that documents and celebrates scientific achievements. With this in mind, math is rooted in both the production of innovation and the public conveyance of said innovation. In this context, all three math, science and art are directly juxtaposed together.

Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. New York: Penguin, 1998. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.

"Beethoven Keyboard Sheet Music for Piano." PageLarge RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.

Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion." Leonardo 17.3 (1984): 205-10. JSTOR. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.

"The Many Dimensions of Reality." The Many Dimensions of Reality. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.

Pindea, Mario, PhD. "Letting off STEAM Assignment." Letting off STEAM. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.