WEEK 4: MEDICINE, TECHNOLOGY AND ART

Da Vinci's Anatomical Drawings
When I saw this week’s lecture title, the only person I could think of was Leonardo Da Vinci, and more specifically his drawing, the Vitruvian Man, comes to mind. However, outside of that it is hard to imagine a connection between medicine and art. So, I found this week’s lectures to be very surprising, especially regarding the history of medicine. Medicine in the modern society is so heavily reliant on technology, that it is hard to imagine that artists were the pioneers of the field.

The artists mentioned in this week’s lecture were heavily involved in using the human body as a form of art. Although this form of art has come up in the past lectures, these artists really took it another level. A great example of this would be the Body World exhibition. 

This art is definitely fascinating, but on some level I find it unsettling. Although the art is meant to celebrate the beauty of the complexity of the human anatomy, I find the idea of both creating and using real human plastinates very unnatural. In plastination, the body’s water and fat is replaced by polymers, making it impossible for bacteria to survive and decompose the body. This essentially halts the natural process of decomposition.

ORLAN

Another example of this unnatural art is done by ORLAN. However, her art is really fascinating as she is projecting “new ideas of beauty”. I personally, think that plastic surgery in a lot of cases is a symbol of vanity, as the people are denying their body to take the natural course of ageing. But ORLAN is using it as art to question the society’s definition of beauty.


These two fields have come together with technology to develop incredible solutions to medical problems. One such example would be the use of VR technology to help deal with chronic pain, as described by Diana Gramola in her TED talk.  Similarly the use of prosthetic body parts has helped many people cope with severe injuries. This has transcended its original form of simply creating prosthetic limbs. Recently, a neuro-prosthesis was developed which reconnected a man’s brain with his muscles.

These three fields working together are resulting in great strides the field of medicine. This advancement can only be expected to grow faster, as the fields come closer together.

REFERENCES:
Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine Parts 1-3.” Lecture. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.
Gromala, Diane, perf. Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty. 2011. Video. 30 Apr. 2017. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cRdarMz–Pw>.
Sayej, Nadja. "ORLAN: 'I walked a long way for women'" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 Jan. 2016. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.
"Neuro-prosthesis helps man with complete paralysis to regain hand and arm movements, study shows." News-Medical.net. N.p., 30 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

"The Plastination Process." Plastination. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 4, 2017 at 6:16 PM

    I totally agree with you in that I believe that such art is unsettling, but artistically I see such artists' points in that they are meant to be unsettling to provoke thought. I find it interesting that you brought up prosthetics as I never associated it as art, but it totally makes sense in the context of the lectures. With such inventions in mind, how much more do you think we can progress and use VR technology in medicine given that they have already created a neuro-prosthesis?

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