Week 4: Art and Medicine and Technology

Blog #4: Art and Medicine and Technology

This week’s topic was art and medicine and technology. When I began thinking about the intersection of medicine and art I really couldn’t see how they related. The medical profession seemed very removed from art because I was thinking of it too narrowly. I was imagining helping the sick and healing the wounded, but when I listened to Professor Vesna’s lectures one of the first things she mentioned was Body World. That surprised me, but I realized that it was a perfect example of this intersection — the use of medical plasticity procedures to preserve bodies, and then arranging them artfully in a traveling display. I personally visited this show when I was young at OMSI in Portland, Oregon. It really grossed me out at first, but it also intrigued me very much.

As I began thinking more about art and medicine and technology, I realized that this intersection is actually an everyday part of our lives. Any time we manipulate our bodies with the intent of a certain physical look, we are really engaging in art. And the reason we know that certain manipulations will have the desired effect is because of medical scientific research. One example of this is bodybuilding. These athletes have perfected their training regiments and their nutritional intake to achieve a certain look. Many of them consume certain chemicals (not just steroids; but creatine, casein, protein supplements, etc) in order to boost muscle output, and their entire methodology is medically-based to achieve an artistic result.

Another example of using medical technology to achieve an artistic result is plastic surgery. This has become widespread in our culture, and there are a few more extreme examples. A man named Rodrigo Alves has had sixty procedures done in an attempt to look more like the Ken Doll children’s toy. He recently even had four ribs removed to achieve this effect. There are several other people with similar goals, including one woman who wants to look like a cat, and another like a Barbie doll. While I don’t think this is healthy, physically or psychologically, it certainly wouldn't be possible if art, medicine, and technology did not all work in tandem.







Works Cited

Davison, Rebecca. “Human Ken Doll Rodrigo Alves.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 Jan. 2018, www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5329153/Human-Ken-Doll-Rodrigo-Alves-says-no-plastic-surgery.html.

M, Risahope. “New York's 'Body Worlds: Pulse' Makes Art Out Of Plastic Corpses.” Science in the City, 7 June 2013, scienceinthecityblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/new-yorks-body-worlds-pulse-makes-art-out-of-plastic-corpses/.

“The Hidden Dangers of Bodybuilding.” NewsComAu, 27 Mar. 2015, www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/debate-over-dangers-of-bodybuilding-resurfaces-after-images-of-deceased-bodybuilder-andreas-munzer-go-viral/news-story/09bbf254b392105616c7db352b4e874b.

Vesna, Victoria. “Http://www.youtube.com/v/Ep0M2bOM9Tk.” Lecture. Medicine
pt1 . Youtube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Http://www.youtube.com/v/FIX-9mXd3Y4.” Lecture. Medicine
pt3. Youtube, 22 Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX-9mXd3Y4>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Http://www.youtube.com/v/psjnQarHOqQ.” Lecture. Medicine

pt2. Youtube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psjnQarHOqQ>.

Comments

  1. Drew PlattMay 2, 2018 at 11:59 AM

    I really liked the statement you made saying "Any time we manipulate our bodies with the intent of a certain physical look, we are really engaging in art." This really opened up my eyes that almost anything can be related to art. I also like the fact that you talked about plastic surgery and gave a little story about Alves. Good post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 2, 2018 at 10:35 PM

    Hello Tyler, I think you did a great job explaining the relationship between art and medical technology. I like how you relate to your own experience in Portland and share it with us. The picture you use to show the muscular body is pretty cool but a bit scary. It's crazy that people will do surgeries in order to become an inhuman figure. It's smart of you to link these things up with this course.

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