katierDESMA9

Learning about Orlan and her plastic surgery performances this week made me think about using the human body as a canvas for art. Some people, as Orlan did, use augmentation of their body to further express themselves. Rodrigo Alves, known as “the Human Ken Doll,” has had more than 60 surgeries in order to make himself into the ideal man, complete with fake six-pack abs. However, not everyone feels the need to change anything about the body in order for it to be considered art. The human body has long been a focus in artwork, whether in paintings or art exhibits, like Body Worlds, done by Gunther Von Hagens. I formed a friendship with an orthopedic surgeon who worked with my dad (we share a love of Taylor Swift’s music) who also has a love for photography. This passion for photography bled into his work life as he used his skills to take professional-looking photos of patients to enhance his lectures. In this way, he used his love of art to help other doctors

A picture of my favorite piece of Fontana's work   The first event of the quarter I went to was the Acoustical Visions presentation by Bill Fontana. He places cameras and microphones on and around various pieces of man-made technology, like bridges and power plants, and collects the images and sounds emanating from those structures. The video above shows a piece he did in which he took sounds and video from a bridge and pieced them together. In the past, I had always thought of the traditional “artist” as someone who draws or paints, and this presentation opened me up to the idea that there may be many different categories of an “artist.” As this event occurred during Week 1, we were learning about the two cultures of art and science described by C.P. Snow. I enjoyed how Fontana was able to see the beauty in these amazing structures, as well as the sounds present in their very being. I would argue that Fontana really exists in the third culture which unites art and science,