WEEK 8: NANOTECH+ART

Stained glass art uses nanotechnology. 
Beginning unknowingly in ancient times through pottery and later stain glassed art, nanotechnology is a field that is fairly new and often misunderstood. As described in this week's article, it is difficult to comprehend the notion of nanotechnology in the traditional philosophical and visual sense in that "there is nothing even remotely visible to create proof of existence" (Gimzewski and Vesna 2003). Beginning with the structuring of carbon to the recent findings in the field, nanotechnology is slowly growing to become a part of everyday life through its applications and uses in art, medicine, and other fields. 
In order to visually grasp such small material, many researchers use Scanning Tunneling Microscopes (STMs) as the STM images the surfaces of the material at the atomic level. Through the imaging, they use contour mapping to outline the structure. I found this very interesting as it was very applicable to some of the topics I have learned in my curriculum as a mathematics major, as I have looked at the traces of various mathematical functions and models; I had never known this connection between nanomaterial and contour mapping.
Researchers use scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs) to map out what these structures may look like.

 What really resonated with me is the idea of the importance of society understanding how nanotechnology works because as mentioned in "The Nanoneme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact and Fiction In the Construction of a New Science". As such, through this type of modeling, I also saw this connection between what we have looked over in the past, particularly the topic of Medicine Technology . Given that MRIs can be viewed as portraitures of the human body and be performative, I think that the development of the structures of nanomaterial through STMs may be the bridge that helps individuals lacking knowledge of the field to visualize something that cannot be seen. By understanding the history and structure of this field and emphasizing to artists can bridge the gap between society and science, I think that people may then begin to accept nanotechnology and further help its development in important fields such as medicine, food, and infrastructure.

Works Cited

Chan, Chi. "From Nanotech to Nanoscience." Chemical Heritage Foundation. N.p., 12 Apr. 2017. Web. 26 May 2017. <https://www.chemheritage.org/distillations/magazine/from-nanotech-to-nanoscience>.

Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The Nanoneme Syndrome: Blurring of fact and fiction in the construction of a new science." Technoetic Arts 1.1 (2003): 7-24. Web. 22 May 2017. <http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/publications/publications/02-03/JV_nano/JV_nano_artF5VG.htm>.

Lovgren, Stefan. "Can Art Make Nanotechnology Easier to Understand?" National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 23 Dec. 2003. Web. 27 May 2017. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1223_031223_nanotechnology.html>.

"Nanotech for Artists Part 2 - Dr. Gimzewski." 26 May 2017. YoutTube. Web. 26 May 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEp6t0v-v9c>.

Stained glass. Digital image. Nanotechnology. BlogSpot, n.d. Web. 26 May 2017. <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgS-QlrDv6zWQp__4FXHp7sPTjeXLXnczHDszacCDwN53UCsa1JXnxZH3otLC4hHVeRuycfTpkob1eQ3xJAqvS5e3o6sGDjG6_e5sxVhgFfmY7eGXzoZCdNBITgUKgWn7ESa7XxGSjgoN/s1600/stained glass.jpg>.

Structure. Digital image. Unisci, n.d. Web. 26 May 2017. <http://unisci24.com/293126.html>.

The normalized wave function and contour plot for the first state in SS mode for the case of two identical cylindrical quantum wires . Digital image. Ascend Technologies, n.d. Web. 27 May 2017. <http://www.ascendtechnologies.co.uk/expertise_nanotechnology.php>.

"The Scanning Tunneling Microscope." Nobelprize.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2017. <http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/physics/microscopes/scanning/>.

Comments

  1. Jordan JamesMay 29, 2017 at 4:33 PM

    I loved your blog! I also wrote about stain glass because I think it is not only beautiful, but the process of creating it is very interesting. I liked how you related part of the blog to prior lecture such as biomed and technology. It is cool to see how everything connects in various aspects. Great Post!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WEEK 3: ROBOTICS + ART

Image
Prior to this week's unit, I was not aware of unique back and forth relationship between art and technology. I had always assumed that technology reflected art, as seen through digital art, but not the other way around. In retrospect, literary and film pieces I have seen, such as George Orwell's   1984   and the film   The Wizard of Oz , demonstrate how art can precede and conceive future technological advancements. The novel 1984 , published in 1949, introduces a dystopian future society that uses technology such as the Telescreen, described as something similar to today’s flat screen, to survey and communicate with its people (Smith). 1984 is a dystopian novel written by George Orwell that portrays various pieces of fictitious technology that have later been invented. Although The Wizard of Oz is not the first technicolor film, it is one of the first films to effectively use the process of technicolor to bring to life a piece
Read more

WEEK 2: MATH + ART

Image
Being a math major, I often view mathematics as an art. As explained by Professor Vesna, mathematics is "the study of the relationships of numbers...structures, spaces, transformations" (Vesna). For me, I see the beauty in the relationship between such numbers and mathematics' ability to explain all phenomena, whether it be the physics of atoms or the explored fourth dimension (or nth dimension) mentioned in both required readings. In spite of my perspective of mathematics as an art, I have never delved much into the specific connections between math and art. Although I had a basic understanding of math's relation to art in terms of architecture, due to my lack of background in art and my ironic lack of appreciation for geometry, I was not aware of the various principles of art that stemmed from mathematics. For example,  Professor Vesna in lecture discussed math's involvement in the shifting paradigm towards realist art,  in particular the concepts of va
Read more