Kabir's Blog

The terming of space as ‘The Final Frontier’ could not be more apt in my opinion, as after all the lectures, a common theme that resonated with me was how mystery, curiosity and the defined limit of man with regards to space has transcended generations. When space exploration scientists explore regions never before seen, they find themselves having to dream up new ideas to try and explain what they observe. As we go further into space to understand its expanse, that is what is taking place. Even going as far back as Copernicus, who wasn’t even the first to postulate about heavenly motion, it boils down to man studying the stars and our solar system to find our place in it. When there is an absence of knowledge, speculation and fantasy usually try to fill the gaps. Space has been the subject of our lack of knowledge and consequently so much of our imagination that space fiction was born from this. I find it to be a remarkable phenomenon that the fantasies of space we have written ab...

This week’s module on nanotechnology  and art revisits the intersection of technology and art, as well as our manipulation of the natural world to achieve some objectives of man. As a business student, I always assumed that the laws of physics were universally applicable at every scale. On finding out that at the nano level, they change as quantum forces dominate, I became curious about the artistic applications of this new basis of the laws of physics. Perhaps the art itself can be based on the new environment, using surface tension and thermodynamics in creative yet scientific ways. The Fetter Nanoscience and Art Museum in Israel has dedicated itself to show viewers an experience based on the partnership between art and science. Through collaboration between researchers and artists, these transdisciplinary works has arisen that sends messages and displays learnings.  Arabesque,  by Mahmood Kaiss and Professor Adi Salomon is a construction of archers using carbon nanotub...

Drugs have had a big role to play in the human experience for centuries, and man-made substances like cocaine and LSD, and a lower case but still relevant, nicotine in cigarettes, have their roots in the natural world, inducing chemical imbalances in our bodies that provokes different sensations. Iconic figures through history like Freud, The Beatles, and Barack Obama have each had their engagement with these drugs respectively and documented the effect it had in some form.   Freud started taking cocaine to relieve nasal lesions in the 1880s, and his documentation in the Cocaine Papers highlighted how it reduced his stress, but that the addiction was so strong he was blinded to its medical uses. He was convinced this addiction was just a moral defect and could be cured through routine and prayer. It ultimately made him anxious about the state of his personal relationships. Arguably, the use of the enhancement drug could have been the driving factor for his insights that today we re...

The session with Jess Irish was very educational for me about the environment, as well as how the message can be delivered effectively by using the artform of storytelling. I saw the theme of the session as an extension of professor Vesna’s lectures on ecology and art, and biotech and art.   The development of plastic fascinated me as it marked a feat of human innovation. However, tying back to my blog on the relationship between biotech and art, innovation can have a line it could cross after which it harms us. In Jess Irish’s short film, ‘This Mortal Plastik’ I heard arguments about the good side of plastic I can confess I never heard before. That we will no longer have to ransack the earth, and its animals, for resources would have been a very compelling sales pitch for plastic. One of the animals is the whale, whose body fat will no longer be required as a resource for our own essentials. Riding the wave of a slim morality, and mostly the multiple uses of polyethylene, plastics...

Where is the Line? The field of biotech has grown immensely over the last few decades, and its intersection with the domain of nature, which we have always held to be a product of its own single origin, has been controversial with regards to how much it should be allowed to invade the space. Where is the line to stop, and has it already been crossed?     We already see the influence of the biotech revolution in many aspects of our daily lives, in our food production, botany, cosmetics, and even science fiction to name a few. The ethical aspect of bio-art is consequently the biggest point of controversy. in the last two decades have artists collaborated with biologists to create works that use live human and animal tissues as materials. This emerging field of "bioart" can be extremely provocative, and brings with it a range of technical, logistical and ethical issues. One example is transgenic art, that uses genetic engineering to create visually aesthetic progeny.   ...

Diagnosing the Relationship: Medicine and Art This week’s topic was the interplay of the fields of medicine and art. Medicine cannot be discussed without the role technology has had in its progression and based on last week’s discussions we must include technology in art’s role too. The human body is the point of intersection of these three topics, and throughout history, and even today, we have strived to learn as much about it as we can however possible. As mentioned in professor Vesna’s lectures, as far back as In ancient Egypt and Greece, study of anatomy was conducted through dissection as it was the only way of actually observing the inner body. Over time, owing to developments in understanding of technology, and the applications of electricity, sound, and radiations, we have new tools like X-rays, CAT scans, and MRIs to observe the body in a non-invasive manner. I really enjoyed reading Casini’s take on the MRI as a portrait because it is a view into how artistic culture reacted...