MIDTERM PROJECT - Light and Telescope Interactive Exhibit in Astronomy

Zhongyue_Zhang_DESMA9_Midterm.pdf

Week 2 - MedTech + Art

Cosmetics has been an intermediate merry-go-around between medical technology and aesthetics.  It is also a very special kind of art that one with minimum art training can participate, interact and profession in; therefore it has gained its important status in modern stage, especially in aesthetics of women and human in general. Nowadays, those who apply makeup for a living are granted the names of makeup "artists", then it is safe that we call dermatologists as the technicians of such medical technology. 

Makeup art can range from emphasizing basic facial features to dramatic stage effect, or even character modeling/sculpting in film industry, and the level of technology required increases along. Basic makeup art requires no medical knowledge and introductory level of aesthetics of facial feature.  

Dramatic makeup art work has lots of similarities with painting. It is hard to say which is harder, painting on canvas or painting skin: while classic painting has more details and techniques, painting on skin requires the interaction between action/skin movements and art. Moreover, artists must learn the effects of different paints on skin and the interaction between skin residues and paints. 

                                                                                Dramatic Makeup Art                                                                                  www.prettydesigns.com%2F20-ingenious-makeup-art-designs%2F&psig=AFQjCNGfK-C9BdPIKPIP95dwzQjYgoJ1gQ&ust=1467710706231293

                                                                                  Dramatic Stage Art                                                                                   http://www.airbrushmakeupsalon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Airbrush-Makeup-Artist.jpg

Advanced medical technology has been utilized in film industry and theatre. Components such as sodium silicate, potassium silicate, magnesium aluminum and Polyurethane are widely researched and studied. For example, dermatologist has studied the function of polyurethane in film industry:

The good compatibility of polyurethanes has recently made it possible to develop systems for use on human and animal skin. Although polyurethane polymers stil play a subordinate role to the other polymers used in the cosmetic segment, such as polyvinylpyrrolidones, polyvinyl alcohols, polyacrylates and silicones, their market share is expected to grow significantly in view of the increasingly demanding requirements, e.g. elastic properties, shape memory effects, surface feel, gloss, water resistance, reduction of organic solvent content etc.

                                                        Make-up artist Dubi Preger finishing a make-up design                                                         https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Dubi_Preger.jpg

Another example would be a product that can temporarily tighten skin and reduce wrinkles in 10 minutes, in a cost that it might dry out skin and leave more wrinkles.  It contains sodium silicate and magnesium aluminum silicate which work together to produce a tightening effect on the skin.

 The extreme of medical technology in art is plastic surgery.  Since it can permanently change the shape of body features, many people have redefined the standard of beauty, even for very small body parts, pushing them into extremes, and they revolutionized the modern aesthetics and body images. I found a moving documentary about plastic surgery - Desire for Beauty, by M. Gaudencio that talks about the perception of beauty and body images changed by plastic surgeries.

Overall, in four different levels, art has integrated with medical technology and affects us in daily life, artistic painting, entertaining industry and even medical industries. Using medical tech, we have even redefined the standard of beauty and changed our perception of aesthetics.



Source:

Besanson, Kelsey. "Everyday Makeup Tutorial! | Updated 2016." YouTube. YouTube, 04 Feb. 2016. Web. 04 July 2016. 

Audiounusual. "'Miracle' Skin Cream Remove Wrinkles in Just a Few Seconds in This Remarkable Video." YouTube. YouTube, 19 June 2016. Web. 04 July 2016. 

Olga, Panteriusea. "Lion Makeup & Face Painting Tutorial." YouTube. YouTube, 09 Jan. 2016. Web. 04 July 2016.

Ipekoglu, Nihal Sahin. "Polyurethane Technology for Cosmetics Industry." Pulse. Linked in, 05 May 2015. Web. 03 July 2016.

M., Gaudencio. "Desire for Beauty.Drama 2013." YouTube. YouTube, 08 May 2016. Web. 04 July 2016. 

Image:

www.prettydesigns.com%2F20-ingenious-makeup-art-designs%2F&psig=AFQjCNGfK-C9BdPIKPIP95dwzQjYgoJ1gQ&ust=1467710706231293

http://www.airbrushmakeupsalon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Airbrush-Makeup-Artist.jpg

Dubi Preger. "Make-up artist Dubi Preger finishing a make-up design" Wikipedia. Wikipedia.

Week 2 - Robort + Art

The rise of computing electronics has been on the top edge of technology development since 1946, the year when the first computer ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvani. In 1981, world first laptop the Osborne 1, and in the same year the Epson HX-20, were released.

                                                                                  Epson HX-20                                                                                            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop#/media/File:Epson-hx-20.jpg

Thereafter ever since, this portable device has been in high demand. Office working, entertaining, security, data process, and gaming, more and more functions were demanded and laptop has been evolved by 

However, as Benjamin Walter said, "Every fundamentally new, pioneering creation of demand will overshoot its target." The demand of functionality indirectly resulted in bulky, chunky, heavy computer, and the focusing on this demand had blinded many eyes of other requirements. 

                                                                                 Multi-function laptop                                                                                     http://superuser.com/questions/289794/what-features-should-i-look-for-in-a-laptop-that-must-be-durable

As Antonio mentioned in his tech blog,

 It wasn’t until recently that laptops actually started looking pretty good. They used to be clunky, bulky, dressed in an awful shade of dark gray, and were mostly void of any attention to design.

However, as technology improved, high functionality did not necessarily link to physical size of personal computer, and the appearance, or the aesthetics of electronics began to kick in the market. More and more customers preferred designs that integrated art concepts and/or architecture elements.

                                                                           LG Gram Laptop                                                                              http://www.businessinsider.co.id/most-beautiful-laptops-2016-4/5/#.V3oN3jWkEgU

Laptop hinge - Lenovo http://www.businessinsider.co.id/most-beautiful-laptops-2016-4/#.V3npRTWkEgU

This trend, or new creation of demand, has indeed overshoot its target and some side effects of such strict taste of artistic design has impacted and overpowered the technology of electronics. As laptop becomes more affordable and portable, it has became a fashion icon, so much as accessories or clothes, that represents personal identity and characteristics. This need has overpowered and effected many customers to choose artistic product over function-only product. Although not the best, Chromebook is a somewhat appropriate example.

                  Toshiba Chromebook                     
https://laptopninja.io/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Toshiba-Chromebook-13-inch1.jpg

Authority computer review website, the ComputerWorld, has commented on the present and future of Chromebook:

And I'll just come right out and say it: Chromebooks are ugly. The hardware is ugly, and the Web is ugly, for the most part. Thanks to the iPad, consumers have come to expect devices that are aesthetically beautiful, graphically appealing and fun. The Chromebook promises only drab utilitarianism. App-based touch tablets will be more popular for consumers than Chromebooks for the same reason that American Idol is more popular than C-SPAN.

In order to cape with the sleekness, futuristic design of laptop, functionality can even be compromised, opposite to the goal of technology. One appropriate example would be Voodoo Envy 133.

                                                                                   Voodoo Envy 133                                                                                    http://www.laptopmag.com/images/wp/laptop-slideshow/182281.jpg

Voodoo Envy 133 was an revolutionary design that could  be comparable to Mac from Apple. It was even the thinnest laptop ever. However, this striking design compromised its functionality and it was retrieved only after a year. The Laptop Magazine reviews this product as

A breathtaking design and innovative instant-on mode make this luxury ultraportable worth the splurge, but we wish it lasted longer unplugged.

For above and many other reasons, the future of laptop has based on not only electronic technology, but also on marketing and artistic design. Only those who can fulfill both needs can survive and thrive the new demand of modern electronics. Here I quote a conclusion from tech & science website Engadget:

 Now, we're not saying that Apple's continued success has been reliant strictly upon aesthetics, but there are a number of reasons why 1985 through 1997 were the lean years, and we don't think John Sculley's, Michael Spindler's, and Gil Amelio's sense of  style exactly helped.

 Source:

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Technological Reproducibility. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Villas-Boas, Antonio. "These Are the 10 Most Beautiful Laptops in the World - Business Insider." Business Insider. REV Asia Network, 18 Apr. 2016. Web. 04 July 2016.

Spoonauer, Mark. "Voodoo Envy 133 Review." LAPTOP Part of Tom's Guide. Purch Inc., 06 Oct. 2008. Web. 04 July 2016.

Block, Ryan. "30 Years in Apple Products: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Engadget. AOL Inc., 01 Apr. 2006. Web. 04 July 2016.

Elgan, Mike. "Elgan: Why Chromebooks Will Fail." Computerworld. Computerworld Inc., 2011. Web. 04 July 2016. 

Image:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop#/media/File:Epson-hx-20.jpg  

http://www.laptopmag.com/images/wp/laptop-slideshow/182281.jpg

http://www.businessinsider.co.id/most-beautiful-laptops-2016-4/#.V3npRTWkEgU

http://www.businessinsider.co.id/most-beautiful-laptops-2016-4/5/#.V3oN3jWkEgU

http://superuser.com/questions/289794/what-features-should-i-look-for-in-a-laptop-that-must-be-durable

https://laptopninja.io/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Toshiba-Chromebook-13-inch1.jpg

Week 1 - Two Cultures

In The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, C.  Snow points out two groups, sharing similarities and differences, which have been set up against each other. He describes the phenomenon of "two cultures'' as 

two groups - comparable in intelligence, identical in race, not grossly different in social origin, earning about the same incomes, who had almost ceased to communicate at all, who in intellectual, moral and psychological climate had so little in common that instead of going from Burlington House or South Kensington to Chelsea, one might have crossed an ocean.

                Division of functions of human brain: each person has an artistic side and a scientific side                              http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-206233468/stock-vector-creative-brain-idea-vector-concept-textured-background-sciences-and-arts-back-to-school-icons.html

The division of two groups, if conveniently summarized as the artists and the scientists, seems to arise from their dissimilarities, as if they have forgotten of what they indeed share in common. In the experience of C. Snow, who is a profession scientist and a amateur writer, the intellectual life of western society is "increasingly being split into two polar groups", and he believes that the reason of such lies in mutual misunderstanding:

Between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension--sometimes (particularly among the young) hostility and dislike, but most of all lack of understanding. They have curious distorted image of each other. Their attitudes are so different that, even on level of emotion, they can't find much common ground.

                                             Student popular is divided as art students and science students                                                                      http://thevarsity.ca/2015/11/01/art-vs-science

He particularly points out a special group -- the young, as the majority in two cultures. In fact, I believe, that the young is the most vulnerable group to such mutual incomprehension and misunderstanding, because they are so passionate and emotional towards what they believe, and sometimes, the first thing they have believed in, and they are so lack of life experiences in other disciplines. 

The best example I can think of is the college students. As a member of College of Art and Science, similarly my study life has been divided between mind of science and mind of art. My major in Astrophysics is in south campus, and my minor in Latin in north campus. Every day I spend more than 10 minutes walking from a physics class to a classics class, and experience totally different mind set in class. Not only are the history of Rome and the Roman poems two romantic and full of imagine, but the theories of astronomy and physics too strict, well-defined and has no room for any change. The more I immerse in these two fields, the more I feel that the college education has indeed separated art and science for me in advance. For example, the writing style changes dramatically in terms of rules and regulations. Humanities stresses the use of signs, the style of quotation, the sequence of elements and the use of vocabulary, and sometimes too strict about how to write, rather than what to write. Moreover, every assignment has strict requirements of page numbers and it is almost always more is better.

                                                                     Rules of Writing in Humanities                                                                                              http://teacherweb.com/FL/SouthPlantationHighSchool/Reeves/photo3.aspx

However, scientific writing focuses on the clarity, preciseness, accuracy, and conciseness of content. If I can state a fact in 5 words, then using 10 words would lead to a point off. If I use an adjective that is ambiguous, such as "very" or "many", then points off definitely for the sake of accuracy. Sometimes it has strict requirement of the maximum pages you can write so they keep your writing as concise as possible. 

                                                                           Rules for Scientific Writing                                                                            http://slideplayer.com/slide/2672079/

Other than writing, the distance between north and south campus separates physically science students and art students, creating the opportunity of miscommunication and misunderstanding. Thus each of them has unrealistic, stereotypical imagination of each other's world.

                          Misunderstanding of students between south and north campus.                      https://www.theodysseyonline.com/hierarchy-survival-ucla

In many aspects of grown-up's worlds, business, management, industry and many other fields are still using the stereotypical division of art and science, as they are naturally opposite to each other. 

                                                      Art and Science of marketing.                                        https://www.marketingtechblog.com/art-science-content-marketing/

                                                                               Art and Science in Management                                                                    https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/humanities.asp

However, Stephen Wilson states that the misunderstanding of art and science is not symmetrical, for that 

 Scientists and even technologists to some extent do not believe that artists have much to tell them about their business. Scientists tend to invest respect in a researcher's disciplinary credentials and in membership in established networks. Many are quite engaged by the classical worlds of art, theatre, and music but do not see art as relevant to their professional work as researchers. In part this is because they do not understand contemporary arts reach beyond objects and performances." 

and even one physics professor of mine quoted himself in class, in front of a hundred of student, "I have read a book, titled The Use of Humanities, as I finished reading it, I found no use of humanities."

                                                                             Scientists' humor for humanities.                                                                           http://www.slideshare.net/kvdibrugarh/management-as-an-art-and-science-mr-anil-kumar-gupta-eva

However, as Bohm points out in On Creativity, "the scientist is perhaps not basically different from the artist, the architect, the musical composer, etc., who all want to create this sort of thing in their work." as we all have the analytical part of brain and creative part of brain. Although what scientists and artists do are totally different, they are still part of one intellectual training. Moreover, art and science interact and corporate to make the world a better place. I feel the need to bridge these two cultures, between Latin and Astrophysics, between Shakespeare and Einstein, between north campus and south campus for both sides to realize how important each other is in this world.

                                                     Science and Humanities Corporate Together.                                               http://duckofminerva.com/2015/04/thinking-about-the-intellectual-future-of-higher-education.html

Reference:

Snow, C. P. "The Two Cultures." The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.

Wilson, Stephen "Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology" Paper presented at College Art Association Meetings, NYC, 2000

Bohm, D. "On Creativity" Leonardo, Vol. 1, pp. 137-149. Pergamon Press 1968. Printed in Great Britain.

 

Week 1 - Math + Art

Defined by Wikipedia, "In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities." This golden ratio, also known as the golden division, the perfect ratio or the golden mean, is the a mathematical geometry property. It appears in basic constructions of an equilateral triangle, square and pentagon placed inside a circle.

                                                                     Geometry properties of golden ratio                                                                     http://www.goldennumber.net/golden-ratio/

It has math representation

 where the Greek number Phi has value

It seems like that our perception of beauty is tightly wired with Phi, as if it is embedded into our genes (the shape of DNA also follows the golden ratio) that we perceive the beauty in men and women and we judge the appearance of structure by how closely the proportions of facial and body are to Phi. For this reason, Phi is applied in both cosmetics, painting, sculpture and architecture. 

It has been discovered that many artists have found this golden ratio and utilized it to maximize the aesthetic perception produced by the proportion of objects or the division of different parts of the painting. The most famous example is the mixture of art and science, Leonardo da Vinci painted many human figure portrays, and many of them follow the golden ratio as in a pentagon.

        Leonardo da Vinci's human portray.    

In his most famous painting, The Last Supper, we can find Phi everywhere, almost in every sub-structure of the overall structure.: the painting on the arch window on the wall, the position of Jesus and his surrounding men, and the supper table and etc.

                                                             The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci                                                       http://www.goldennumber.net/art-composition-design/

Michelangelo's painting on the Sistene Chapel, The Creation of Adam, also is found to follow the golden ratio.

                                                              The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo                                                            http://www.goldennumber.net/golden-ratio/

Moreover, the golden ratio is discovered way before mathematics became a well-defined field. Some ancient architectures and furniture, which are built way before the mathematics burst in 14 century, are discovered to be following Phi as well. It well supports the point that the aesthetic perception of Phi is embedded in our gene and we human kind naturally uses Phi without mathematically defining it.

For example, the Parthenon in Athenian Acropolis, Greece, built by Greek from 443 to 438 BC, has a perfect golden ratio structure.

                                                                  Greek temple, Parthenon.                                                              http://www.goldennumber.net/architecture/

The Egyptians described the golden ratio as "sacred ratio" and utilized it in their design of Pyramid.

                                                          Pyramid follows the golden ratio.                                                http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emat6680/parveen/ancient_egypt.htm

Mathematics is widely used in the building of Pyramid. Other than the golden ratio, geometry, calculation of area and other techniques were also learned by Egyptians and utilized in building of the first and oldest Pyramid, the Step Pyramid in Saqqara. Gamwell states that 

Students of the Rhind papyrus were taught the surveyor’s rule for calculating the area of a trapezoid, and scribes have recorded that Egyptian builders knew the related rule for finding the volume of a truncated pyramid.

This integration of mathematics and art gives rise to a more accepted, more appreciated form of aesthetics. It elevates expressions of art and broaden the application of mathematics. Claude summarizes this integration, or the juxtaposition of mathematics, in projective and geometry as 

For at least 32000 years, when they used to ornament the walls of the caves, the artists have painted on plane or curved surfaces using sometimes the rules of perspective in a spontaneous manner. We are indebted to the painters for having founded a rational theory of perspective ... these elements lead the archtect from Lyon, Gerard Desargues, around 1639, to base projective geometry: that is the classical example of the phenomenon of symbiosis between art and mathematics.

Reference:

Gamwell, Lynn, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Mathematics Art: A Cultural History. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. “The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion.” Leonardo. 17.3 (1984): 205-210. Print.

Bruter, Claude Paul. Mathematics and Art: Mathematical Visualization in Art and Education. Berlin: Springer, 2002. Print.