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I was extremely intrigued by Professor Vesna's and Cohen's project as it explored communication through brain waves, or electrical signals that can be detected on surfaces of our heads. Since all of our emotions stem from this organ, it makes sense that we'd be able to indirectly compare our mental processes with another person using electroencephalograms. Due to the fact that cephalopods are able to communicate through flashing colors on their body, an octopus was sort of like a "mascot" for this event. Initial set up for the exhibit Octopi crowns were used as electrodes to detect the brain activity and measure waves that are processed wirelessly through a computer program. This technical background ties in with themes from Week 2 (Math + Art), since programming requires mathematical algorithms when completing the task of comparing two different waves in hertz by type and strength. After processing, the computer sends back information to the crowns and...

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As an artist, an understanding of anatomy is a necessity for realistic human illustrations. I frequently use anatomical references myself for guidance whenever I'm drawing people. In Vesna's lecture videos, she explains that the dissection of the human body during the Renaissance helped both artists understand anatomy for their drawings and scientists document the findings for medical purposes. She jokingly attests that every artist that works with the body has Henry Gray's Anatomy  on their book shelf, despite it being written for the medical community. However, this confidence and knowledge of human body is leading technology towards bodily modifications that step outside of plastic surgery. Female Anatomy Reference - condensed version by ReneeViolet Professor Kevin Warwick at the University of Reading is experimenting with the concept of cyborgs - a human fused with computer parts. He underwent surgery to install a silicon chip in his forearm. This allows his com...

Reaching back to the Renaissance, industrialization has helped the arts thrive. As explained in Vesna's lecture videos, the printing press and the movable type revolutionized the way information could be distributed. As a result, mass production of books and newspapers was effortless, causing a rapid distribution of knowledge. Marshall McLuhan compares this past breakthrough to our current progress with information technology and predicted the world wide web. He analyzed the effect of mass media and how this level of communication allows for a village-like mindset throughout the entire world with the creation of global economy and culture. From:  myhomegadgets.com Industrialization facilitates the accessibility of technology in order to quickly spread ideas and art. With websites like DeviantArt and Etsy, people from all over the world are able to share and sell their work. However, concerns are raised that this mass reproduction destroys the "uniqueness and authenticit...

I went to Linda Weintraub's Lecture at the Broad Art Center on April 18th. Throughout her presentation, Weintraub explored various contemporary arts dealing with eco-materialism. One particular project that stood out to me was Daniel Steegmann Mangrane's "Phantom". Using Oculus Rift technology, he was able to create a virtual reality environment of, what I later found out, the Brazilian Mata Atlántica rain forest. With his collaboration with ScanLAB Projects, there was an effective communication between "literary intellectuals" and the "scientists", a real life example of the third culture forming that Snow theorized and Vesna elaborated upon in her article. Oculus headset in use in empty room Snapshot of the wearer perspective With this technology, Weintraub explained that there was no orthodox "frame" to separate the artwork from the surroundings. This harmonized with her lecture's overarching theme of connecting one'...

Even before this week's material, I had a sense that mathematics had always existed in art. Math is a prominent aspect in the world around us and our perception of it. In nature, we are able to perceive a variety of patterns and shapes. In Flatland , this characterization is taken to the extreme to demonstrate that our world can be reduced to mere shapes. For some, such world observations might become inspiration for their own artwork. Prints inspired by animals, such as the leopard, are commonly used in fashion and clothing. Much of art inspired by real-world landscapes is accomplished by both geometry and optics. According to Vesna's lecture, one of the early forms of the art technique of linear perspective was accomplished, at least in the west, by the artist Giotto. He was able to create the impression of depth by manipulating lines that were supposed to be above, below, and to the sides of the eye level. Alberti was able to visualize this with his "On Painting"...

Reflective of John Brockman's views of the "third culture" to be contemporary scientists, the field of computer s cience stands to be substantial evidence to his beliefs. With such a broad range of study, from artificial intelligence to web design, I in no way feel as if I'm only part of either the "scientist" or the "artist" side of the supposed separation when majoring in Linguistics and Computer Science. As an enthusiastic designer, I love taking care in integrating the proper aesthetics through front end web development. In my free time, I also enjoy mindless doodling or even some recreational reading. I'm also especially interested in studying the natural language processing area of CS, a discipline that uses linguistics to analyze and appropriate human languages for a variety of purposes, as researcher Chowdhury explains. My interests might seem to be a little abnormal for a "STEM" major, but these disciplines, in reality, ...