Week 4 Medtech + Art
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| Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings
After this week,
I never realized how much art is surrounded in our culture and is used everyday
in society through mathematics, technology, science and medicine. Professor
Vesna helps explain how important the human body is for artists and how medical
technology has changed starting since the first time humans were created. Leonardo
da Vinci, first helped explained the human anatomy through his anatomical
drawings which put him hundreds of years ahead of his peers. MRI scans show that Leonardo’s work is still
relevant to scientists today (Furness 2013). In lecture we
learned that the human body and medical advances have been a huge importance for
artist. For example the new forms of an MRI and X-ray scanning are a perfect
example of a medical technology that is also a field of art practice.
Angela Palmer
takes MRI and CT scans and etches them onto a sheet of glass, over and over.
In the article, “Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between
Science and the Arts”, Silvia states that MRI scanning looks the same as a
portrait would but in more anatomical detail showing soft tissues and organs. The first artist to use MRI scanning in
their artwork was Justine Cooper. She used multiple MRI images to create a sculpture
of the body. However, MRI images weren’t created just through visual effects but
the scanners used sound to become aware of the wholeness of the bodies and “show how it is possible to gain an experience of wholeness through sound, rather
than through a portraying or mirroring image” (99).
RAPT II is an installation comprised of 76
of the MRI axial scans, printed on architectural film, suspended and aligned to
create a 24 foot long floating body.
Resources
1. "Angela
Palmer | Artist." Angela Palmer Artist RSS. Web. 25 Apr. 2016
2. Casini, Silvia.
"Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI
Configurations between Science and the Arts." Configurations 19.1 (2011):
73-99. Web.
3. Furness, Hannah.
"Leonardo Da Vinci Was Right All Along, New Medical Scans Show." The
Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
4. Orlan – Carnal Art (2001)
Documentary. Dir. Stéphan Oriach. Perf. Orlan. Film. YouTube. 24 April. 2016.
5. Vesna, Victoria. “Medtech +
Art.” Lecture 1, 2, 3. 2016
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