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This week’s material showed me how advances in medical technologies, specifically in plastic surgery and prosthetics, are not only used to improve human appearance and anatomical functionality but also by artists to create unique, thought-provoking performances. As Vesna discussed in her lecture, plastic surgery has evolved through war as physicians had to treat many soldiers’ facial and head injuries. While this type of surgery is seen in shows such as Nip Tuck and Botched, it is also used by artists, such as Orlan. Orlan's body performance art is a “critique on beauty” and how cosmetic surgically is typically used. The advancements of med tech here allowed Orlan to explore her artistic abilities and makes viewers question beauty ideals. Orlan in one of her body performances; photo taken from v2.nl site Similarly, other advances in med tech, such as MRIs and X-Rays have enabled us to see into the human body and better understand how it functions. As our understanding gro...

For my first event, I attended Youjin Cheng’s Dead Wood solo exhibition. Upon first glance, Cheng’s work had a mysterious aura, yet when I took a closer look and interacted with both Cheng and the video game she created, I began to understand the underlying messages behind her work. The solo show featured two main pieces. One piece (as seen below) was a mechanical-like sculpture surrounded by 3 bright lights. Cheng described it as a depiction of the birth of a non-living thing, of which the lights symbolized the audience. The other, more central piece was a video game that featured a barren landscape made up of artificial, nonlinear objects. The goal of the game was to destruct the environment by using the controller to touch or obstruct the inanimate objects that appeared on the screen. Sculpture of the birth of a non-living thing by Youjin Cheng The video game’s environment, similar to the experience of the event, made me feel detached and unfamiliar, which, after speaking w...

As highlighted in Vesna’s lecture, and believed by Walter Benjamin, mechanical reproduction has led to the aura of works of art to “wither away", however, I disagree with Benjamin’s stance. Although the growth in mechanization has made copying works of art, such as paintings, photos, and handwritten works, much easier, it is through these acts of duplication and attempts at producing works of g reat fidelity that have enabled human beings to further their knowledge and improve upon existing work to innovate and create even better products. Innovation Cartoon from gapingvoidart.com For example, had famous pieces of art, such as Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, not been able to be mechanically reproduced and distributed in a variety of books, many people would not have had the opportunity to see the amazing work. Although the first time one sees the piece of art they may be looking at a reproduced version, similar to the point Davis brings up in his paper, that moment the...