Week 7 Neuroscience+Art

This week we learned about how medical technologies such as brainbow, pharmaceuticals, and microscopy influence art concepts. Many artists are fascinated with topics about the separation between mind and body, what it means to be conscious, and having control over one's self. Both artists and scientists study consciousness and question if it has emerged before or after animals' evolution and what it will look like in the future. The neuroscience technology boom in the information culture has allowed us to expand our minds by use of man-made herbs, chemical stimulus, and fMRI. From the TED talk by Christopher de Charms, we see that new technology will enable us to see into our own brains and allow us to program and change our characteristics in real time. I’m exited for the time when people will be able to alter their state of pain and reduce it by controlling the parts of the brain that perceive pain and the biological functions that reduce it. 

(A look inside the brain in real time)

(Albert Hofmann quotes)

Humans can perceive language in nanoseconds, invert and process an upside down world, dream in an unconscious state, and alter our reality with neurochemicals - but it is not certain when/how these traits were obtained. Many people have hypothesized and suggested explanations for how we obtain and exhibit human attributes. For example, Jung suggested that individuals each have innate archetypes that put identity, self, and religion into perspective, while Albert Hofmann has influenced society's perception of reality and caused the government to question the effects of controlling people's minds.     

(Phrenology-Franz Joseph Gall in 1796)

One historic idea was phrenology, which was based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. This was a huge leap into understanding neuroscience and the progress of human evolution. Phrenologists would feel for lumps on the head, in an attempt to explain a person's attributes. While this notion was incorrect, the idea of localized functions in the brain that cause specific responses is accurate. The central nervous system includes the brain and spinal chord which serves as the processing center that controls all of the workings of the body. Within it, neurons send electrochemical signals that transmit responsive information through tree shapes structures. 

(Phrenology-Franz Joseph Gall in 1796)

(Butterflies of the Soul)

In the nineteenth-century, investigators of the central nervous system had to compensate for a lack of fMRIs, EEGs, and technology with artistic talent. The light microscope was the only way to investigate and illuminate small parts of the brain, which is what Santiago Ramón y Cajal used to find aesthetic fulfillment in depicting natural sciences. He compared himself to an entomologist and described pyramidal cells as “butterflies of the soul” and dendrites as wings and said “only artists are attracted to science.”  

Art and neuroscience coincide in process called ‘brainbow’, which has made a major contribution to the field of connectomics (the study of neural connections in the brain) by visualizing neurons with 90 different colors with microscopy. By using different ratios of color derivatives, neurons in the brain can be distinguished from neighboring neurons using fluorescent proteins, which were originally obtained from jellyfish. Proteins in fluorescent cyan, yellow, and red are taken up in random combination by neurons, which show the complex neural pathways in animals such as the zebra fish larvae.

(Brainbow)

Suzanne Anker is another artist attracted to science who exemplifies the intersection of art with neuroscience. Her new pieces on sea sponges highlight how simple organisms help neuroscientists understand how synapses work in the brain. They lack a nervous system but add to the understanding of the development and origins of complex neurological systems because they possess all of the building blocks used for the development of nerves. This is the ‘Holy Grail’ for stem cell research/understanding neurological disorders/origins of the brain, as 70% of sea sponges’ genes are shared with humans, including several that are associated with disease and cancer. 

Neuroscience inspires artists and art is useful for exploring and facilitating public understanding of science. Artistic representations of personhood, consciousness and behavioral manifestations remind us that these are all polymorphic phenomena shaped by biological substrata, culture, changing social norms and evolving practices. Neurocultural products are presented to society in film, TV, literature, education, entertainment, and visual arts and contribute to the construction and dissemination of brain-based narratives, thus shaping and reconfiguring concepts
of human identity and parameters of social life, such as in healthcare and legal policies.

Neuroscience attempts to answer questions that have engaged artists and scholars since the time of ancient thought. This science will continue to reveal the riddles about the workings of the brain and mind, while the arts will continue to portray and interpret neuroscientific findings, engage the general public, and provoke thoughts and imagination.

(Triangular Relationship Between Scientists, Arts and the Media, and the Public)

Works Cited 

(A look inside the brain in real time)

Christopher deCharms, Christopher. "Christopher deCharms: A look inside the brain in real time." TED: Ideas worth spreading. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_time.html>.

(Albert Hofmann quotes)

Albert Hofmann quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://xalienpunkx.blogspot.com/2013/02/albert-hofmann-quotes.html>.

(Phrenology-Franz Joseph Gall in 1796)

An 1883 phrenology chart. N.d. People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge, 1883. Wikipedia. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

(Butterflies of the Soul)

University Press Scholarship Online . N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195392708.001.0001/acprof-9780195392708>.

(Brainbow)

DESIGN, Co. "FastCompany Magazine." Fast Company. Version 1. FAST COMPANY, 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://blog.fastcompany.com/post/3638690034/heavy-the-human-brain-is-the-most-complex>.

(Triangular Relationship Between Scientists, Arts and the Media, and the Public)

Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. "Neuroculture." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10.11 (2009): 815-821. Print.

U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002311.htm>.

The Beautiful Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://thebeautifulbrain.com/2010/02/exquisite-data-a-review-of-cajals-butterflies-of-the-soul/>.

"Neuroscience+ Art | Lectures." UC Online. Instructor , n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/63226/wiki/unit-7-view?module_item_id=970446>.

Week 6 BioTech + Art

BioArt either goes into the cellular tissue level directly and/or constitutes collaboration with scientists and scientific imaging.

Joe Davis, who aims to connect unrelated things, synthesized DNA and inserted it into genomes of living bacteria. As a bio artist, he used audio microscope to image particular living cells while simultaneously listening to their greatly amplified and species-specific micro acoustic signatures. E coli responded to jazz music by pulsating to stressful sound frequencies. I found this particularly fascinating because I just watched a video of cells “dancing” rhythmically to the base of songs in my LS1 class.

Outnumbered

(Butterfly wings with holes)

"In Outnumbered I portray bacteria in different contexts. Bacteria grown in petri dishes were photographed, scanned, digitally manipulated, transferred onto paper and further manipulated," Levy explains. "Then I applied generative growth algorithms that caused the image to proliferate further. When happy with the results, I fixed the image on the computer." Ellen K. Levy presents a perfect intersection of Biotechnology and Art through her use of art to manipulate science, and vice versa. Her mechanism and manipulation of material to interact and overlay create BioArt.  

Art and Biology are also combined in Marta de Menezes’ work on butterflies. She altered the butterfly’s wing pattern to simultaneously create art and life. She artistically changed the biological structure of the living organism, which quickly disappeared from nature due to evolutionary processes. Her art was literally alive and had a lifespan – the lifespan of the butterfly, which would never be seen again after its death. This is a very symbolic representation of the advancements in BioArt effecting living organisms and whether that is a good direction. Butterflies undergo metamorphosis, like BioArt changes, but the holes and inevitable death of the creature also symbolize ‘holes’ in Menezes’ attempt to change nature. Who are we to change nature? What is even ours/who are we if 90% of each of us isn’t actually human – but bacteria?

Victimless Leather 

Conservative groups question the use of transgenic technologies and tissue culturing from a moral standpoint. However, many BioArt projects deal with the manipulation of cells and not whole organisms. Victimless Leather creates "an actualized possibility of wearing ‘leather' without killing an animal”. It raises questions about the exploitation of other living beings and problematizes the relationship to non-human animals and the use of animal products in scientific processes. It is part of the Tissue Culture & Art Project where artists grow victimless, semi-living garments. “This artistically grown garment confronts people with the moral implications of wearing parts of dead animals for protective and aesthetic reasons and confronts notions of relationships with manipulated living systems.”

Alba

Eduardo Katz used French scientist’s work as art piece (transgenic art), which he named Alba. Through zygote microinjection, magnified genetic glowing properties of DNA were inserted into the rabbit’s fertilized egg cells, which replicated throughout its body and turned it fluorescent.

Dyes and fluorescents tag genes on proteins, which provide animal models to study biological processes and diseases. The different colors show contrasting striations under telescopes, which allow scientists to use art to further their understanding of cells and bacterial structures/behavior. The technology of the microscopes and photography produce amazing images. This is really interesting because I love photography and I got to look at different dyes cells in my Anatomy and Physiology class. I never realized how much art could influence scientific understanding, but all of the illustrations in textbooks make a huge difference. 

However, my favorite topics were about Kathy High and George Gessert because their forms of BioArt just make me feel warm and fuzzy. Art evokes emotion, and through Kathy’s relationship with the rats she evoked empathy through reducing stress. George was a bioartist who began as a painter but began breading and modifying plants. Hybrid flowers are at the intersection of aesthetic art and science/genetics and produce beautiful species of plants.

 (Also, hybrid-Pomeranian-Huskies are the cutest hybrid EVER)  

 Links:

http://digitalarts.lmc.gatech.edu/unesco/biotech/artists/bio_a_ekac.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaThVnA1kyg#t=133

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUENH6GLzXY&list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&v=z7zHIdsFS3A

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/barry_schuler_genomics_101.html

http://www.artnews.com/2013/03/18/biotechnology-as-art-form/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victimless_Leather

http://www.faseb.org/News-and-Publications/The-FASEB-Journal.aspx