Week 4

                                                      Medicine + Technology + Art

This week's reading “Magnetic Resonance Imaging as Mirror and Portraits” examines how magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is essentially a form of art. “MRI images become a portrait in so far as they can look back at the viewer” (Casini, 95). My first time getting an MRI was so amazed, at how advanced the machine was, it gives a detailed picture of the inside of your body. I always wonder how people survived back then without this advanced technology. In the lecture, I was surprised when the professor stated, “ technology was not incorporated until the 20th century, and if you used tools and technology you were not considered a doctor” (Vesna, Human Body & Medical Technologies”). I cannot imagine living in a world where technology was not used especially in the medical field. 

3 Tesla MRI

Is Chemistry Art? Some might say the two are opposite however, I believe the two subjects are intrinsically connected, chemists are artists, they create. It all depends on how it is viewed. In the reading for this week, “The Architecture of Life,” the visuals in the reading caught my attention at first glance. Looking at how detailed these visuals were for example the buckyballs. In the reading, the buckyballs were made up of “60 carbon atoms form a geodesic sphere covered by 20 hexagons interspersed with 12 pentagons” (Ingber, 55). Although buckyballs also known as buckminsterfullerene are chemical compounds, because of their unique spherical shape this figure is also seen in many art exhibits. 

Going to the doctor is never a fun experience or at least for me, it isn't. Usually when I go to the doctor something is wrong and I am trying to figure out what it is. Therefore if it's nothing really “serious” I usually go to Google to find remedies or self-diagnosis myself. However, I have noticed when I turn to Google for health issues I end up more scared because Google will list the worst possible outcomes. I had really bad heartburn one day and went looking on Google, by the end of the night I had convinced myself I was having a heart attack. For people like me who are intimidated by doctors' offices, the Medical Avatar is amazing. The Medical Avatar is a mobile app that creates, “personalized 3-D digital anatomical bodies to visualize health information in the past, present, and future” ( ``The New School Studies”). This app was created by artist Virgil Wong who wanted to make a difference using art. 

“ Healthier communities start with healthier individuals” (Wong, Virgilwong.com). 

.   

“Artist + Digital Technologist Transforming Human Health.” Virgil Wong, 3 Apr. 2022, https://www.virgilwong.com/. 

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts.” Configurations, vol. 19, no. 1, 2011, pp. 73–99., https://doi.org/10.1353/con.2011.0008. 

Ceceri, Kathy. “Happy 25th Birthday to the Buckyball!” Wired, Conde Nast, 4 Sept. 2010, https://www.wired.com/2010/09/happy-25th-birthday-to-the-buckyball/. 

Ingber, Donald E. The Architecture of Life. 1998. 

Library, Clive Freeman/biosym Technologies/science Photo. “Computer Graphics Image of C540 Fullerene - Stock Image - A700/0029.” Science Photo Library, https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/9228/view/computer-graphics-image-of-c540-fullerene. 

“The New School Media.” Virgil Wong | The New School, https://www.newschool.edu/media-studies/faculty/virgil-wong/. 

Vesna, Victoria. “Human Body & Medical Technologies.” Apr. 2022. 

“Why the 3 Tesla MRI Is the Best Scanner for Diagnostic Imaging.” Radiology Affiliates Imaging, Sept. 2016, https://4rai.com/blog/why-the-3-tesla-mri-is-the-best-scanner-for-diagnostic-imaging.