megan_ronan_desma9

Today, I attended an the “Atmoshphere of Sound” event put on by Patricia Cadavid and Professor Vesna. I did not really know or understand what I was signing up for, but I came away with a more enriched knowledge of how the Andean peoples used different information processing devices. The Khipu is an Andean information processing device that was used before the Spanish colonizers banished them. This was one of the first textile technologies and these devices were made from fibers, hair, and cotton and have such a rich history behind them. These devices were used to record government meetings and rituals.   Our wonderful speaker today Patricia Cadavid, a Columbian artist, has brought a modern day spin on the Khpi. She has created an electric khipu which plays sounds. By tugging and tying of knots in a particular fashion, sounds frequencies can be heard. Cadavid’s work comes from a deep passion in understanding “the relationships and effects of colonitality in ...

Artists, past and present, have always been interested in and have used the human body as a muse. Beginning with dissections, artists have been helping scientists for centuries by drawing diagrams and detailed sketches of the human body. In the lecture, Professor Vesna speaks about Gray’s Anatomy, a book of human anatomy for surgical procedures. This book was originally intended for scientists and doctors but has ended up in almost every artist’s arsenal who uses the human body as their inspiration (Vesna).  In this week’s lectures, I found the section on plastic surgery most interesting and influential. I have a plastic surgeon in my extended family and have seen some of the clients of my family member usually rich women who want to get botox but learning the origins of this job I realize it is so much more than my initial perspective. The use of plastic does not mean fake but it actually derives from a word meaning mold and originally was used to reconstruct t...

While watching the “Robots will invade our lives” Ted Talk, I noticed how robots and similar technologies are becoming a larger part of society as a whole with self-driving cars, robotic cleaners, and delivery services. Brooks mentions how when it comes to robotics compared to the timescale and development of computers we are still in the late 1970s and 80s. This idea made me feel both excited and anxious at the same time because I believe this development is a double-edged sword. Robots are already doing amazing things, but also if they are able to do everyday tasks, will they replace human workers?  In Benjamin’s writing, he talks about the surgeon and magician analogy comparing it to how a “painter maintains in his work a natural distance from reality, the cameraman penetrates deeply into its web” (3). I believe this idea relates to robotics as it fills both the roles of the painter and the cameraman. Robots can coexist with humans but also attempt to be human...

The quote by Buckminster Fuller,  “Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them”, really resonated with me because I remember growing up having horrible math teachers which made me always lean more towards the arts. I always considered art and math more separate, but this week watching lectures I know that I greatly overlooked the important role that math plays in art. Through learning about perspective and the golden ratio, I saw how math can help artists with intricate pieces. A few examples throughout history are the Last Supper, the Pantheon, and the Great Pyramids. The Last Supper uses a vanishing point to bring the audience in and make the art look more realistic. The Vanishing Point Theorem or "one point perspective" explains how two lines can have the same vanishing point if they are parallel in the real world but not parallel in the art piece itself (Franz). In the Mona Lisa, the golden mean can be applied as if one draws ...

Growing up in the Bay Area, I’ve always felt and noticed different attitudes towards jobs in arts or science. CP Snow developed the idea that the world was split into two different groups: literary intellectuals and scientists (Snow 4). While I agree that western society is very much split, there have been many bridges built between the two throughout the past few years during the covid pandemic with people having to find more creative ways to do once normal things. The “Changing Education Paradigms” video lecture argues this divide begins at the root of our education system acting like a factory pumping children out by age group keeping them in categories that stunts creativity. Being a part of this education system while also living so close to Silicon Valley, I always felt a huge pressure to go to a “top” university and study something within the STEM field, and as a first-year here at UCLA, nothing has really changed. Source: travelinusa.us As I’ve now had class...