UWW310 Technology & the Arts

This has been big in the new recently, but what better marriage of art, design and technology is there!? Very cool and very accessible to all.

Quite lovely...magical. It brings to mind the interplay of atoms, or even particles...the unceasing movement of the universe. And, yes, accessible to all!!

This is awesome, as a keyboard player that likes to keep his skills brushed up. Reminds me of the old Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing program I had on my first Packard Bell computer.

Daniel Levitin is the Author of "This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession". He is a musician and neuroscientist and this post is him giving a talk about his research and book at Microsoft Research. One of his main premises from his research is that music may be more fundamental to humans than language.

This is a very riveting talk. I didn't come away with the idea that music might be more fundamental to humans than language, but that music is fundamental, as is language, and that each of us is a musical expert, if not expert performers!

I have continued thinking about this topic...Levitin also intimated that musical capacity is similar to language acquisition in that there is a window of time in which that capacity needs to be triggered in order for fluency in music to be attained. The window for language acquisition is birth to puberty. If your language capacity is not triggered within this time frame, you can't learn to speak as we understand speech. I wonder if this is really true of musical capacity...perhaps, but perhaps not in the way that it is of language. Of course they massive amounts of research have been applied to the question of language.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins conducted a study on the neuroscience of creativity and our response to art. They have established a new field called "neuroaesthetics." The BSI website is really a thing of beauty: http://www.brainscienceinstitute.org/

Very interesting, it seems to me that these scientists are looking beyond the aesthetics of art towards it use as language or even medicinal. Look at an Escher and a Klimt and call me in the morning :)

The ability to create art and to think creatively is something that truly sets us apart yet they still know so very little about how it occurs in the brain. What exciting and important research!

This program at Ohio State encourages the intersection of technology and art. The school has a terrific bevy of resources and labs for the students to use in their creative work, CNC routers, 3D printers, high end graphic computers, robot labs, and electronic labs to name a few. The have a presentation on the link showing some of the work, take a look,

This is really cool...clearly universities are engaging in a lot of the exploration and experimentation around integrating art and technology. I am currently collaborating with a composer on a chamber music work that I would love to have incorporate a three dimensional visual aspect. We are working with a visual artists in Maine. Money is the only obstacle!

MIT is also exploring the intersection of arts and technology. This link is about a German-born composer, Trimpin http://arts.mit.edu/cast/artist/trimpin/ Here music is combined with technology, but he also brings in non-traditional instruments. The MIT website is http://arts.mit.edu/ There is a really long report written about their program: http://orgchart.mit.edu/sites/default/files/reports/20110628_Provost_ArtsatMITFinal6-20-2011.pdf and a shorter summary http://arts.mit.edu/about/arts-initiatives/arts-at-mit-white-paper/

3D Printing is all the rage in hacker spaces around the world. Some people claim that 3D printers will be in every home within a few decades. To learn more about 3D printing in general try this wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing. But these folks at Bathsheba have refined a 3D metal printing process to make some really interesting art, the technique link describes their process. I purchased a ring at the New York makers fair that was made with a 3D printer and cast in bronze using the lost wax process: http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/process/cast.html

Examples of sculptures made with old technology. Discussion of Steam-punk- the resurrection of long-dead technology. Interesting to see what we consider "old" technology.

An artist takes posts from the "missed connections" link on Craigslist, and turns them into beautiful works of art. Added to the list because I've never seen anything quite like it. I wish I would have thought to do this!

This is a look at some videos demonstrating live action art exhibits. I like the 'laser cave' installation the most. None of these would be possible without the use of technology.

A website where you can "draw" with your mouse. This is very addictive! Much more relaxing to 'draw' on here mindlessly than come up with an idea for a drawing or painting!

Results from a research project measuring whether or not technology has had a positive impact on musicians.

Digital technology is enabling people in Cuba to express themselves through film.

Artist Bruce Munro uses light to create natural feeling, large scale art installations.

There is much discussion about the manipulation of photographs using computers.  But as this exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art demonstrates, photo manipulation dates back to the 1800's.  So, is the method of manipulation actually relevant, or are computers just another step in a long history of the technological evolution of the medium?

An interesting look at what sculptors are able to create using computers.

The link has some good arguments. I think digital sculpting has it's place, especially with 3D printing, although the featured software, Zbrush isn't cheap, even for an academic license.