AnnaSofiaGuerraDESMA9

     This week we looked the intersections of medicine, technology, and art. We started off in lecture one we discussed how the acceptance of human dissection made way for not only a succession of medical advancements, but for the representation of the human body in art as well. Perhaps one of the greatest medical outcomes of the taboo removal regarding the study of the human body was the Human Genome Project. The Human Genome Project which determined the entire human DNA sequence, base pair by base pair. The first working draft of the human genome sequence was actually assembled at UC Santa Cruz, one of our sister campuses! An impressive feat that was largely made possible by the study of the human body which showcases the subject in an artistic form is the Body Worlds exhibition, which celebrates the human body using authentic specimens. I actually had not heard of this exhibition before this course, and was surprised, yet intrigued, when learning about this exhibition....

This week we covered topics of industrialization, knowledge production, and mechanization in the context of robotics and art. In lecture 1 we were introduced to different inventions of the industrialization and mechanization period including the camera, the automobile, and eventually cyborgs. Walter Benjamin, a literary critic and philosopher, gave an interesting perspective on how mechanical reproduction contributes to a “withering of the aura” and authenticity in art, which he further elaborates in his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Benjamin is able to view this as both a positive and negative change – this development makes art more accessible to a broader audience, but more liable to exploitation and devaluation of the “original.” Lecture 2 introduces the concept of cyborgs which are different from robots because there is an effort to give human qualities to their appearance and behavior. With cyborgs especially, there is a worry that these huma...

A representation of the merging of two cultures      T he arts were the first thing I remember peaking my interest as a curious little girl. In 6th grade I signed up for band class, choosing the clarinet as my instrument. Little did I know how much I’d grow to love it. When I started playing, whether alone or with my orchestra, everything just made sense. There was a level of understanding that could not be expressed in words soaring through the music.    Little 6th grade me and my clarinet My sophomore year of high school I had to abandon my clarinet because I didn’t have the schedule space for it. Economics, government, geography, computer science, were new classes that demanded my time. My school system clearly gave importance to these subjects over more humanitarian, non-STEM endeavors.       The Youtube video, “Changing Education Paradigms”, notes how this is a common occurrence in the school system – we get “educated” and encouraged to ...

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