Week Eight

This week, the lesson covered nanotechnology and art. I had a hard time grasping the whole concept of nanotechnology and how it applied to art. Nanotechnology deals with dimensions and manipulation of things less than 100 nanometers. So, nanotechnology is not visible to the naked eye. Nanotechnology uses “old ideas and imagery…[and] nanotech products range from molecular sensors in underwear, smart washing machines…artificial red blood cells and nanobots that repair our bodies” (Gimzewski and Vesna). Nanotechnology was coined by Richard Feynman in the late 1950s. Through nanotechnology, we see the paradigm shift from regular science to science on such a small molecular level. Other scientists successfully produced a laser to write the entire encyclopedia on a pin head (Gimzewski Lecture 1-6). In nature, we utilized the geckos’ feet to create a new adhesive through nanotechnology. People have been trying to reproduce the structure of hairs on the geckos’ feet to create a tape like the strength of adhesive used by geckos. Scientist have been the main creators and utilizers of nanotechnology.

Example of the Nanoscale

Art has also shifted; artists have begun to utilize nanotechnology to create art work on a molecular level. One student of Jim Gimzewski drew UCLA into carbon monoxide molecules through using nanotechnology. Other artists such as Boo Chapple and Victoria Vesna have begun projects that use nanotechnology and other medias to produce art work unheard of before. Boo Chapple is trying to use bones to make an audio speaker by making them vibrate in such a way to create an audible sound.

Boo Chapple's Transjuicer, The Bone Speaker

The art that I was most interested in was Professor Vesna’s Nanomandala. When I was younger, I remember my mom was always using mandala coloring books and one day she dragged my brother and me to downtown Sacramento to watch the Tibetan monks work on the sand mandala they were creating. Professor Vesna does something like this, except she uses a “video projected onto a disk of sand…as images are projected in evolving scale from the molecular structure of a single grain of sand” (Curtain Gallery). She takes things a step further than the monks and creates the picture from the very basis of life. She manages to do this with help of James Gimszweski who put together the nanoscale of the mandala, which was the building from the atoms of the sand. Vesna and others combine art and nanotechnology to create “micro masterpieces”.

 

Nanomandala Process, From Atom to Complete Mandala

Works Cited

Curtin, John. "Art in the Age of Nanotechnology." Art.Base. The Art Base: John Curtin Gallery, n.d. Web. 28 May 2017. <https://art.base.co/event/2104-art-in-the-age-of-nanotechnology>.

Gimzewski, Jim. "Nanotech Jim Pt3." YouTube. UCOnline, 21 May 2012. Web. 28 May 2017. <https://youtu.be/X0HCNiU_108>.

Gimzewski, Jim. "Nanotech Jim Pt1." YouTube. UCOnline, 21 May 2012. Web. 28 May 2017. <https://youtu.be/X0HCNiU_108>.

Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact & Fiction in the Construction of a New Science." The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact & Fiction in the Construction of a New Science. UCLA, n.d. Web. 28 May 2017. <http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/publications/publications/02-03/JV_nano/JV_nano_artF5VG.htm>.

Strickland, Jonathan. "What Is Nanotechnology?" HowStuffWorks Science. HowStuffWorks, 06 Apr. 2010. Web. 28 May 2017. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/what-is-nanotechnology.htm>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Nanomandala." NANO | Nanomandala. UCLA Art, n.d. Web. 28 May 2017. <http://nano.arts.ucla.edu/mandala/mandala.php>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Setting up NanoMandala at Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe." Victoria Vesna. Victoria Vesna, n.d. Web. 28 May 2017. <http://victoriavesna.com/blog/2015/03/setting-up-nanomandala-at-gerald-peters-gallery-santa-fe/>.

Visceral. "Album Archive - Visceral." Google. Google, n.d. Web. 28 May 2017. <https://get.google.com/albumarchive/103193300361997524805/album/AF1QipOfHi55CRteLAfv7mH_jUxKDCXLetOuGUArKKAZ>.