Week 4: MedTech and Art
During this week’s lecture,
Professor Vesna discussed medical technologies and advancements and how they
are related to art and its culture. The human body has always been looked at as
a work of art in not only the field of art, but also in the scientific and
medical fields.
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| CT Scan of a Brain |
The invention and advancements in medical imaging has allowed
doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel to better understand the human
body and have a visual understanding of the beauty and complexities of the
body.
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| MRI machine at Cedars-Sinai |
I remember a few years ago I was in
New York and my family stopped by the Bodies exhibition. For those who don’t
know, the exhibit showed dissected preserved human body parts to give the general
public an idea of how the body and its many systems worked. Without the use of
advanced medical technology, this exhibit would not have been possible. The
intricate ways the bodies were displayed showed how extraordinary and beautiful
the inside of a human body really is. Although medical tech and art are not
intrinsically related, the artistic value from observing this exhibit would not
have happened without medical technology.
 |
| Bodies: The Exhibition |
An article, written by The Guardian, addressed the exhibit
saying “This may not be entirely art, but there is a visual flourish
about Von Hagens' plastinations that many artists would die for”(Jeffries).
Even though the exhibition was not mainly aimed at art, it showed how both
medical technology and art could be combined to achieve something truly unique.
"Gunther
Von Hagens' Body WorldsThe Original Exhibition." Body Worlds
Exhibition NYC : Discovery Times Square. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
Jeffries,
Stuart. "Creator Gunther Von Hagens on His Body Worlds
Exhibition." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 19 Mar.
2002. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
"Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI)." Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
"Transverse
Cranial C T Scan by Daniel Hagerman." Fine Art America. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
Vesna,
Victoria. “Medicine and Art: Part 2.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
24 April. 2016. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded>.
Awesome, blog! However do you think there is a definition of art? I would disagree with that article written in the Guardian, because Body Worlds seems to be as artistically appealing as it is scientific. Would love to hear your opinion on this as the week's learning is about how the two professions of art and medicine intertwine, while that article is stating how they do not.
ReplyDeleteHey Sean,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog very interesting! I also wrote above the Body World Exhibit in my blog. I find the exhibit very interesting and intricate. I believe that you could have incorporated another form of medical technology to give your blog more information on the relation of art and medical technologies. I really enjoyed your blog. Thanks!
I like how you talked about the beautiful body image and what the medical advancements have been able to do as far as enhance our vision. I also enjoyed how you referred back to a personal experience and connected it with this weeks reading.
ReplyDeleteHello Sean,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading you blog, particularly your section discussing the Bodies' exhibit. I enjoyed this because while I was in middle school, I also attended the Body Worlds exhibit in Los Angeles. This was a very remarkable experience because it showed the very intricate and symmetrical aspects of what lies beneath the human flesh and the complexities of muscular functions. The intricacy and symmetry truly displayed itself as art to me and gave me a deeper appreciation of the collaboration of art and the sciences.
Hi Sean,
ReplyDeleteI think I heard about the exhibition when I was little but I never been to the Body World exhibition. The way you describe it sounds so interesting, I wonder if they will have in the future.