What's Wrong with Fat?

Yesterday I went to the What's Wrong with Fat book discussion panel. Although I haven't read the book, I found it really interesting and I would be curious to read it in the future and find out more about the topic. Body image and obesity seem to be constantly discussed in both the medical and social worlds. Medically, it is often brought up in relation to health issues. Although after attending this event I have learned that there is excess emphasis put on anti-obseisity when we should really be focusing on good health in general. Socially, we are constantly exposed to "good" and "bad" body images in the media, fashion magazines, and advertising, creating a skewed version of health.

The author, Saguy, as well as one of the other speakers, Bianca Wilson, made the point that attacking obesity could actually be a way of our culture indirectly attacking certain minorities who are more likely to be obese. And while some people don't fall into the demographic of a body type that we perceive as "healthy"this does not necessarily mean that they are in worse health than someone who does fit the stereotype. Tamara Horwich, a cardiac doctor pointed out that heaver people are actually less likely to suffer from respiratory problems, which is a benefit of excess weight that often goes unmentioned.

One of the main points I got from the presentation is that our culture puts a huge amount of emphasis on fighting obesity and being "healthy" but in doing that we are ignoring what being healthy really means. Weight isn't the only determinant of health and there is a difference being fat and obese but these groups are often merged together. Fatness is looked down upon in our culture and while it can be caused by unhealthy diet and exercise patterns, being fat does not always have a direct correlation to being unhealthy. At the same time, being skinny does not necessarily mean healthy. Especially in the media, where the body images we are shown as the image of beauty are usually edited versions of celebrities who may not even lead healthy lifestyles to begin with.

Exploratorium

I had been to the Exploratorium many times before, but last weekend was the first time I visited their new location on the pier. The new location allows for a lot more space and also has an outside area as well as a few exhibits out in front that anyone walking by can observe. I've always loved how interactive the museum is and how most of their exhibits involve everyday things.

After seeing the movie 21 a few years ago, one of my favorite parts was when the professor is talking about the situation in a game show where a contestant has to pick from 3 doors, one of which contains a prize. Once the contestant chooses a door, the host reveals that one of the other two doors does not contain the prize. It is always mathematically beneficial for the contestant to switch his choice to the remaining door. The Exploratorium has an exhibit in which you can test this theory by having one person play the host and move a disk behind one of the doors and the other person is the contestant and guesses. After trying it many times over the years, I can say that the theory discussed in 21 is definitely true.

One of the most impressive exhibits allows you to change the shutter speed on a camera which then takes a picture of a water drop falling into a cup of water.

Another of my favorite exhibits is a coil that is hot on one side, cold on the other, and the middle is hot and cold coils intertwined. When you put one hand on each side and then touch the middle of the coil, the temperature in the middle feels significantly more hot or cold than each side because of the contrast in temperatures. 

The Exploratorium takes a very hands on approach to teaching science and is completely based on demonstration and experimentation. This reminded me of many of the art projects we were exposed to in the course which explored the boundaries between everyday life and art. I would definitely recommend visiting the Exploratorium to anyone in San Francisco because it is a much more fun and interactive approach to science than most other museums. 

Week 9: Space and Art

Ever since the space race began around the time of the Cold War, space has been increasingly common as a subject of art and movies. Due to the United State’s efforts to compete with the Soviet Union for dominance in space, an emphasis was put on math and science in schools and space travel was a huge focus at the time. The entire country was a captive audience for anything involving the previously out of reach realms of the universe. Huge amounts of publicity were given to each new attempt to reach the new frontier. Both the Soviet Union and the US sent animals into space and publicized each step of the journey. 

The Cosmic Dancer is a sculpture made by Arthur Woods that was taken into space to study the  effects of weightlessness on it. It was left to float around the living quarters in the Russian Mir space station and was photographed and videoed. This is an interesting example of space art because a simple sculpture taken into space became mesmerizing due to the way it reacted to the absence of gravity. The cosmonauts in the space station were able to experience a typically immobile sculpture moving and dancing in the air. 

Our advancements in space allow for new types of creativity in art and scientific design because of the recent accessibility of a new environment. Without the restraint of gravity, and the creative limits of the earth, possibilities for future inventions and creations are limitless.

First Animals in Space. N.d. Photograph. Amy Shira Teitel. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://vintagespace.files.wordpress.com/>.

First Dog in Space. N.d. Photograph. Rocket City Space Pioneers. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.rocketcityspacepioneers.com/>.
Garlick, Mark. "Space Art." Mark A. Garlick's Space Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Woods, Arthur. "Cosmic Dancer - a Space Art Intervention by Arthur Woods." The Cosmic Dancer Project : Cosmic Dancer Introduction : Arthur Woods. N.p., 1993. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.cosmicdancer.com/cosmic_dancer_introduction.php>.

Week 8: NanoTech and Art

Nanotechnology is much more present in our lives than we are aware of and its presence is increasing rapidly into the future. Many of our clothes, cosmetics, and even food contain some variety of nanoparticles. They are typically modeled based on something in nature that has a particular quality we want to replicate. For example, the water repellence of a lotus leaf inspired technology to create self-cleaning glass, concrete, and fabric.

This isn’t a new concept; nanoparticles can be found in ancient art and were used to achieve qualities that cannot be formed from basic pigments. The Lycurgus Cup from the Roman era of 400 AD contains a glowing red color when seen in the dark that comes from nanoparticles of gold. When particles are resized, their properties often change which can be both dangerous and beneficial. For example, gold on a nanoscale becomes a catalyst. This is why there is some debate over using nanoparticles in food or items that we regularly interact with. It is difficult to determine what unsolicited effects these particles will have on humans when their chemical properties are completely altered.  

Quantum dots are one example of the progression of nanotechnology. They are created in different colors corresponding to their size. Currently they are used to tag diseases because they are small enough to enter cells and can be sent to target specific ones. However, in the future they will be used even more commonly to replace chemicals in cosmetics. They offer similar benefits to other, larger chemicals but with the advantage of a smaller size. They can potentially increase the strength, texture, shelf life, and UV protection of common cosmetics.  

Lotus Leaf. N.d. Photograph. Ask Nature - the Biomimicry Design Portal: Biomimetics, Architecture, Biology, Innovation Inspired by Nature, Industrial Design - Ask Nature - the Biomimicry Design Portal: Biomimetics, Architecture, Biology, Innovation Inspired by Nature, Industrial Design. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Lycurgus Cup. N.d. Photograph. Nicola Ginzler Design. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
"Nanotechnology." Cosmetics Info. N.p., 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Quantum Dots. N.d. Photograph. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. <http://lamp.tu-graz.ac.at/~hadley/nanoscience/week2/>.

Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

Reading about the Global Conscious Project was fascinating to me because it is so interesting to think that there could be some factor that causes humans to collectively react to events in the same way.  The GCP emphasizes its focus on engaging global events and studies patterns in brain activity in the universal collective consciousness. Researchers study these patterns in relation to random event generators and have noticed that during particularly captivating events there is a collective deviation from the expected pattern. This represents a collective shift in consciousness. This idea reminded me of Jung's concept of the collective unconscious of which everyone is supposedly subconsciously aware of. While it seems unlikely that all human minds are somehow linked, despite our differences, humans do all share similar reactions and thought processes to certain stimuli. However it is hard to conclude whether this is a result of nature or nurture.

As researchers begin to study the patterns of neurons in the brain, they not only discover more about their functions, but also create beautiful pictures. With a technique originally used to make mouse brain cells glow, scientists have developed images of the brainbow- which shows neurons distinguished by color based on fluorescent proteins.

"Brainbow." Center for Brain Science. Center for Brain Science, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
"Collective Unconscious." Carl Jung - Collective Unconscious. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"Global Consciousness Project." Global Consciousness Project Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Piepmeyer, Anna. "Collective Consciousness." The Chicago School of Media Theory RSS. N.p., Jan. 2007. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"The Global Consciousness Project." Frist Wall Display of GCP. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Getty Museum

I visited the Getty Museum when my parents were here for parents weekend, and I was really impressed by its design and how pretty the grounds are. The whole atmosphere of the museum made it easy to appreciate the art and enjoy the scenery. I definitely think the Getty is worth visiting because there is so much to do there and you end up learning so much about art and history just by looking at all the exhibits. The outside area is also really nice to walk around and see the amazing views of the city.

One of my favorite parts was the exhibit on French art and furniture, especially those belonging to Louis XIV. When I took AP European history in high school, Louis XIV was my favorite person to learn about so it was really interesting to see furniture and paintings that actually belonged to The Sun King. His style was very over the top and was done in the French Baroque style. The exhibit showed rooms set up to recreate scenes from Versailles which really embodied the culture of the time. 

There was also a really interesting photography exhibit where the artist, Abelardo Morell, used a tent to project an image of the sky onto the ground and then took a picture of the ground with whatever was outside projected on it. They didn't allow pictures in the exhibit, so I was only able to get a portion of one of the pieces. But I thought it was really cool how this is an actual photograph that hasn't been altered, but it looks like an outline of the bridge was photoshopped on a picture of grass. 

Here's a picture of the entire piece from the website. 

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/morell/creativity.html