Week 4: Medicine + Technology + Art


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 by using the body as the focus of his work.

One of my favorite things about art that uses medical imaging is that it demonstrates just how similar we all are as people. Silvia Casini uses MRI scans in her art, and considers them to be like a “mirror” into ourselves, using not only visual, but also acoustic, properties to give us a sense of ourselves. Additionally, A PSA from the Ad Council recently used x-ray to show different people who loved each other, regardless of race or gender. Using medical imaging as art allows us to see our similarities on the inside, rather than our differences.

Another way medical imaging is used to create art is in optogenetics, which involves mutating genes (usually of rodents) to express traits taken from algae, which allows neurons to glow when they fire. The images taken from scans of these lit-up rodent brains look like a galaxy of colorful stars, all grouped together and connected to one another. I think they look absolutely beautiful, and convey so much complexity and connectivity. Research using optogenetics technology has greatly enhanced what we know about the brain and how it is connected because it allows us to see how different types of neurons interact with each other. The art aspect is an added bonus to important neurological breakthroughs. 
Transgenic mouse hippocampus - optogenetics is used to make the neurons flash different colors when they fire

References
ABCNews, director. Love Has No Labels: Skeletons Kiss Behind Screen. YouTube, YouTube, 4 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv-htkf21P0. 
Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Con gurations between Science and the Arts." Configurations 19 (2011): 73-99. Web.
Green, Stuart. “About Me.” Stuart Alan Green, stuartgreenphotos.com/?page_id=2. 
“'The Human Ken Doll' Has Had over 60 Surgeries .” YouTube, Fox Business, 29 Jan. 2018, youtu.be/_WRQRNkpDh4. 
Mather, Lee. “Optogenetics Shows That Memories Live in Specific Brain Cells.” BioOptics World, 23 Mar. 2012, www.bioopticsworld.com/articles/2012/03/optogenetics-shows-that-memories-live-in-specific-brain-cells.html. 
Orlach, Stephan, director. Orlan - Carnal Art (2001) Documentary . 
“Transgenic Mouse Hippocampus .” Nikon Small World, 23 Mar. 2013, www.bioopticsworld.com/articles/2012/03/optogenetics-shows-that-memories-live-in-specific-brain-cells.html. 
Vesna, Victoria, director. Medicine Pt. 1. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2012, youtu.be/Ep0M2bOM9Tk.

Comments

  1. Julianne JonssonApril 29, 2018 at 2:38 PM

    I find the information about Rodrigo Alves to be super interesting in this blog post. I had recently read about how he personally felt a little regretful for some of the decisions he made in his quest to be the perfect "Ken Doll." He had four ribs removed to make way for some of his plastic surgery and he suggested that this decisions ultimately may not have been the best for his overall health and well being. I think this example demonstrates the limit there should be on artistic use of ones own body. It's so amazing that you know an orthopedic surgeon who has decided to use his love of the artistic side of photography to improve his work in the medical field. The image you have of the transgenic mouse hippocampus is quite beautiful, and something I could see on my own wall one day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MichelleMay 1, 2018 at 11:04 AM

    Your blog introduced me to the idea of optogenetics, which I found fascinating. What is amazing about the mouse hippocampus is how orderly the neurons are laid out. It is seemingly random, but there is structure to the layout of the neurons. This reminds me of one of our previous units, where we discussed math and art, since much of the human structure has mathematical basis. Neural networks are in fact based on many mathematical concepts including the Backpropagation algorithm and activation function, which explains the organization of the neurons.

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