experimentsforitski-blog - Tumblr blog

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Tumblrs for other classes

I've been uploading to other tumblrs for other classes:

SOMA1002

COFA1002

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Today’s class was about glitch art which is pretty cool! We played around with the panorama app on the iPhone, where if a subject moves while you’re taking the photo it would look stretched or skewed. I also found an app that glitches your photos which I played with. The last picture was of the courtyard stairs and I thought it was weird how there were two random steps to the left of the handrails.

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Made two tumblrs for our remaining assessments, both managed by the group members: Soma1002 Cofa1002

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Concept Statement and Bibliography

Research Question:

The question of what constitutes the ‘human’ is an enduring one. What are the limits (physical, social, political, cultural, legal, etc.) of a human subject? In our contemporary moment, what is the relationship between the human subject and non-human agencies and technologies? Art, design and media respond to these questions in the form of works that explore humanness. Considering concepts such as those in Donna Haraway’s cyborg manifesto, investigate the possibilities for the expansion of the ‘human’.

Concept Statement:

My work is a sculptural model of the brain, but comprised of the brains of four different animals; the dolphin, dog, elephant and human. It is an attempt at comparing the similarities and differences of our animal brethren to show that we aren't all that different. Humans pride themselves on their supposed superior intellect due to our advanced knowledge of technology. However it has been highly disputed that there are several other species in the animal kingdom with an intellect and brain capacity that is greater than ours which fueled my research.

I have been looking at the question of humanity,  what is ‘humanness’ and what are the physical/social/political/technological limits and how we are able to extend our limits. As I researched into this topic, I veered towards the core of the question on the subject of what makes us human. As I rain stormed the various unique features that we as humans have obtained over the course of evolution, I did some research into what separates us as mammals from other animals of the Earth. We all share the same air, water, land, and resources, however we see ourselves as the dominant and superior species. As I did more research I began to realise that we are not so different and in fact, are in ways far less superior than some animals. This led me to look at the similarities rather than differences, and how humans are always striving to become the better race via technology, and using that as an extension to lift the limits of the human body.

  For my work, the first concept idea I had was to mash together different animal’s brains together with the human brain as a way to show how we all evolved from the same brain, except just evolved differently. It made me think of what specific animals we as humans are always trying to mimic through technology. We invented planes and hang gliders to simulate flight, scuba gear to breathe underwater, and question how the dolphin could be smarter than us. So I began researching the different shapes and sizes of animal brains where I made a change to the concept. The specific animals I looked into were the dolphin, crow, fish and human. I took the area of the brain that made a specific animal unique. I chose the dolphin because of it’s disputed superior intellect compared to humans. What is unique to the dolphin is the ability to let one side of the brain sleep while the other stays active, allowing them to sleep but still be aware of their surroundings. The cerebellum of a bird’s brain which allows it to rapidly process what it sees so that it could fly at high speeds while maintaining high reaction times. I chose the crow because it demonstrates problem solving skills which suggests an understanding of using objects as tools, a trait that is rare amongst the animal kingdom. I began sculpting these brain parts using modelling clay. I first constructed the right hemisphere of the human brain from pink clay which is considered to be the ‘artistic’ side of the brain; through previous research, I found that a big part of what makes humans unique is the appreciation of culture and spirit. I chose pink as the human brain to establish the ‘base’. The viewers would associate more with the more natural looking shape and colour. The left side which is the statistical, critical and analytical side, I replaced with the dolphin brain coloured in blue. The cerebellum I took from the crow in yellow, and the rest I filled with green fish brain parts. However as I did not like the aesthetics of clay and how each colour cross-contaminates the other, I switched to 3D modelling using CAD software. This way I could create sculptures that were more accurate to my vision. Instead of sculpting each brain part separately, I simply added onto the existing brains to create a more Frankenstein-esque aesthetic of these objects fused and blended together. In my final design of the franken-brain, I incorporated green lines that ‘stitch’ the parts together which I attempted to try and resemble computer chip lines. It represents our integration with technology and how it would eventually extend the limits of our brain directly. The light source from below creates an eerie atmospheric effect on the sculpture, making it look like a child of a radical scientific experiment.

  z3414054 - Itsuki Tanikawa

  Bibliography

Artdesign.unsw.edu.au, (2014). Body Image. [online] Available at: https://www.artdesign.unsw.edu.au/unsw-galleries/body-image [Accessed 7 Sep. 2014].

  Asnaghi, S. (2006). Behance. [online] Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/338938/What-have-you-got-in-your-head-series-1 [Accessed 7 Sep. 2014].

  Dawkins, R., 2014. This Organ Separates Humans From Animals. [online] New Republic. Available at: <http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116181/humans-vs-animals-organ-makes-all-difference> [Accessed 18 Aug. 2014].

  Goldenring, J. (1985). The brain-life theory: towards a consistent biological definition of humanness. Journal of medical ethics, 11(4), pp.198—204.

  Grimm, D. and Miller, G. (2010). [online] Available at: http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2010/02/dolphin-person [Accessed 10 Sep. 2014].

  Langer, S. (1967). Mind: an essay on human feeling. 1st ed. Baltimore, Md., [etc.]: The Johns Hopkins Press.

  Schleifer, B., n.d. Human Mind vs. Animal Brain – Why So Different?. [online] Realtruth.org. Available at: <http://realtruth.org/articles/090806-002-science.html> [Accessed 18 Aug. 2014].

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Final Experiment

This is my final result. I finally got the right material to give the model that squishy gross look, and fidgeted with the lighting until it gave an eerie glow from below which made it look more like a lab experiment. The green lines represent technology and how we're so integrated with it, and maybe one day our brains will look like this when we harness all powers we desire.

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Experiment #2

I moved on from physical clay to virtual modelling, simply because I had more flexibility in choosing the right materials, lighting, and I found out this is much easier than using actual clay. Maybe I'm just bad with sculpting. I was able to more accurately draw what I had in my mind, and successfully combined my chosen brain parts together in a way that I liked.

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One of my early experiments to visualise my research. I tried to replicate various animal brains using clay. From left to right; fish+bird, dolphin, human. I didn't end up using this material because I didn't like the hard appearance. I was hoping for a more squishy look, and the clay moulding and putting them together weren't what I really hoped.

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Martinos Center For Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital

These scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital developed a way to track water and neuron movement in animal brains, which resulted in these cool looking scans. Even though it's not meant to be an artistic piece, the colours and patterns caught my attention and never thought MRI scans could look so pretty.

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Body Image - Felicity Fenner, Dr John McGhee

This exhibition currently on display at the UNSW Galleries in COFA was a little related to my art project of the human brain and other parts of the body. They took medical scans of patients and re-visualised them in an artistic way. Some objects on display were actual dissected organs and tissues that were diseased in some way. The most interesting part was the Oculus Rift installed in the gallery. The artists took a patient's veins and turned it into a virtual space that the viewers could virtually move around in with the help of the VR module. 

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Prosthetic Knowledge Picks: Computational Sculpture Before 3D Printing

For my latest submission for rhizomedotorg, a selection of sculptural projects from the mid-60s onwards that employ the computer in the creative process.

As with all fields of the arts, the role of computing in the field of sculpture and form-fabrication is rapidly growing. 3D printing is the most obvious example, with its now familiar method of taking a 3D design file and producing a physical object to match, line upon line from the supporting surface upwards. Also, with the assistance of programmable electronics, installations of arranged matter can be maneuvered into various forms and performances, receptive to local stimuli or external data, all of which is connected to an out-of-range laptop orchestrating the spectacle. 

For this submission, though, the aim is to explore some of the earliest examples of computing and sculpture, by artists who were in a position to explore the potential in an at-the-time esoteric field. These artists glimpsed the possibilities and problems that emerge when the object becomes a digital entity, long before the rise of 3d printing.

Artists include Zdeněk Sýkora, Robert Mallary, Nicholas Negroponte, José Luis Alexanco, Ron Resch and Isa Genzken.

You can read the whole submission at Rhizome here

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"What have you got in your head?" By Sara Asnaghi

Sara Asnaghi, a sculptor who works with culinary alchemy, creates sculptures of the human brain with different foods. Chili flakes, seeds, breadcrumbs and more. Although her works is about representing how anyone only has one thing on their mind at a time, I like her concept of crossing food with sculpting. Since I enjoy cooking I might make something similar to this based on my research, maybe splice together different animal brain parts out of different materials. 

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In last week's class, we took a trip down to the cofa library to do some experimental research on our topics. After browsing a bit and using the online database, we found an aisle that was filled with books on psychology, the mind, perception, and postmodernism.

This one book titled "MIND" stood out from the other more modern looking books. It was completely black with no cover art or anything, just the title on the binding. The contents were about the evolution of human understanding as opposed to animal intelligence. It is exactly what I have been looking at so it's a perfect find for me. 

The borrowing sheet was completely empty and I found a receipt of the person that last(?) borrowed it, and realised the sheet was empty because the library switched to using receipts instead of stamping the inside. This was quite sad to think about, and as I examined the other books nearby, I found that most of them are just covered in a layer of dust, unused and unnoticed. 

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Desire for a connection, a relationship. Half the heart is full while the other is empty and barren. The scraps represent past relationships how the heart is slowly torn apart by it.

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My final poster on display. I went with a kids science fair theme, nice and simple with my research findings and experiments illustrated.

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Annotated Bibliography

1. Dawkins, R., 2014. This Organ Separates Humans From Animals. [online] New Republic. Available at: <http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116181/humans-vs-animals-organ-makes-all-difference> [Accessed 18 Aug. 2014].

This is an article looking at what makes us ‘human’, because humans are still animals (mammals to be precise) so what is the difference between us an other animals? Writer Richard Dawkins takes us through the evolutionary perspective, describing how through evolution we were able to go from monkeys walking on all fours to primates walking on our hind legs which allowed us to use our hands, which led to the creation of weapons and fire. This is again a biological point of view of looking at humans but also looking at cultural evolution as well; the sudden boom of music, art and religion.

2. Goldenring, J. (1985). The brain-life theory: towards a consistent biological definition of humanness. Journal of medical ethics, 11(4), pp.198--204.

I chose this article by Dr. John M. Goldenring, a paediatrician and academic physician reviewer, because it relates to my direction of attempting to answer the question of ‘what is humanness’. I believe that what makes us human is our unique motor skills and understanding of the world around us thanks to our even more unique human brain, which I believe is what sets us apart from the millions of other living beings on this planet. Though this article is purely on the human brain and not other aspects of the human body, I found it interesting to read a biological perspective of what a human is.

3. Schleifer, B., n.d. Human Mind vs. Animal Brain – Why So Different?. [online] Realtruth.org. Available at: <http://realtruth.org/articles/090806-002-science.html> [Accessed 18 Aug. 2014].

Shcleifer lists a number of ways the mind of a human is unique to our species and different to every other animal. Some examples include our ability to appreciate art, humour and understanding of time. Humans also have self consciousness and ponder the meaning of our existence. This is an interesting point, because it made me think if animals really have a conscious or just live their animal instincts (eat, sleep, reproduce). I could research if self-consciousness is just a ‘human’ concept, or if it is even real and only unique to humans. Humans are also a species that can adapt to almost any environment, as we can just create shelter or clothing to suit the environment around us. Another interesting point in the article is that humans seek worship (religion) to a higher power, while animals are not known to do so.

4. ScienceDaily, 2008. What Is The Cognitive Rift Between Humans And Other Animals?. [online] Available at: <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080217102137.htm> [Accessed 18 Aug. 2014].

This article by a scientist at Harvard University looks into the similarities and differences of cognitive abilities between humans and animals. The article describes how humans and animals both share some mental intelligence but humans are the only species that are able to exploit these abilities to increase our mental capacity which is what makes the minds of humans unique. The article calls this ‘human thought’ and believes it is what sets humans apart from animals. For example, animals have just one linear way of thinking to solve a problem, while humans use the knowledge of solving one problem, but also apply it or combine it with another problem/solution to create a number of outcomes.

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Examples related to experiment

Since I 'nuggeted' my pencil case, I looked for art works/projects related to turning things inside out:

Deconstruction of books to sculptures: http://bit.ly/1vde1fZ

Turning software inside out: http://bit.ly/1zW2WPb

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Combining the element of 'rhythm' from stop motion animation with 'turning stuff inside out'. So andrewcofa and I tried to erase the rhythmic stripes from this patterned paper by folding and hiding lines to make irregular beats and rhythms, since rhythm is about keeping a beat whilst the opposite would be not to.