During our third week of DESMA 9, we learned how art is influenced by medicine and the technology associated with it, as well as how art and medicine can work in conjunction with each other.
First, we were introduced to the ethics of medicine by taking a look at the Hippocratic Oath, a statement of ethical principals that new doctors swear by as they are inducted into their profession (Tyson). However, as the needs of medicine and of its patients evolve in our modern society, we find that the original oath increasingly fails to meet these, and so new modern versions of the oath are developed. This reminds me of the paradigmatic shifts we learned about in the first week of this course, where the current paradigm (analogous to the original Hippocratic Oath) increasingly struggles to solve major world issues, and thus a new paradigm (analogous to the modern versions of the oath) is needed.
Hippocrates, Greek philosopher and founder of the Hippocratic Oath
Next, we learned about how art can be influenced by medicine. We looked at medical texts like De Humani Corporis Fabrica and Grey's Anatomy, to which anatomical artists contributed medically-accurate sketches of body parts. We also learned that almost all human body artists have a copy of the latter text and use it as a reference for their work (whereas not as many doctors personally own a copy of the same text) (Vesna, Body Medicine Intro).
The Gray's Anatomy textbook
In addition, we learned how medical technology can influence and bring about new art forms, such as that described by Silvia Casini in her essay about acoustics and visuals derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Another great example is the work of Michael Harratt, who captures images of stained biological cells using a medical microscopy technique called fluorescent microscopy to create beautiful polychromatic works of art.
A work of fluorescent microscopy art
As a final topic, we learned about body modifications and procedures including prosthetics and plastic surgery. Particularly for plastic surgery, we learned how many used this field of medicine to create art, as seen in Orlan's video-taped procedures (Vesna, Medicine pt3). Others have also been known to use plastic surgery to artistically beautify themselves; two infamous examples of this are Valeria Lukyanova and Justin Jedlica, known as the "Human Barbie and Ken dolls". They used extreme surgical modifications in order to create a more "ideal" body-type for themselves, creating what they think is a work of art out of their own bodies.
Real-life dolls: Justin Jedlica on the right, Valeria Lukyanova on the left.
1)The original vs modern version of the Hippocratic Oath: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html
2)Professor Vesna's first lecture video: http://youtu.be/zEgn-fZQ8po
3)Silvia Casini's essay on MRI acoustic art: https://instructure-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/account_30000000000529/attachments/1377959/19.1.casini.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJBQ7MOX3B5WFZGBA&Expires=1374353302&Signature=WNo5VPkZNAdayQR518ye56IqXgA%3D&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3D%2219.1.casini.pdf%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%2719.1.casini.pdf
4)More on Michael Harratt's fluorescent microscopy art: http://ignitebristol.net/2011/06/michael-harratt-%E2%80%93-art-in-science-fluorescence-microscopy/
5)Professor Vesna's third lecture video: http://youtu.be/FIX-9mXd3Y4
6)More on Valeria Lukyanova and Justin Jedlica: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/valeria-lukyanova-real-life-barbie-justin-jedlica-real-life-ken_n_2575786.html
Works Cited
Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." Nova. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html. March 27, 2001.
Vesna, Victoria. "Body Medicine Intro." Youtube. http://youtu.be/zEgn-fZQ8po. March 26, 2012.
Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations Between Science and the Arts." https://instructure-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/account_30000000000529/attachments/1377959/19.1.casini.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJBQ7MOX3B5WFZGBA&Expires=1374353302&Signature=WNo5VPkZNAdayQR518ye56IqXgA%3D&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3D%2219.1.casini.pdf%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%2719.1.casini.pdf. July 13, 2013.
Dan. "Michael Harratt - Art in Science." Ignite Bristol. http://ignitebristol.net/2011/06/michael-harratt-%E2%80%93-art-in-science-fluorescence-microscopy/. June 23, 2011.
Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine pt3." Youtube. http://youtu.be/FIX-9mXd3Y4. April 22, 2012.
Sieczkowski, Cavan. "Valeria Lukyanova, Real-Life Barbie, Blasts Justin Jedlica, Real-Life Ken, After First Meeting." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/valeria-lukyanova-real-life-barbie-justin-jedlica-real-life-ken_n_2575786.html. January 29, 2013.
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