Week 8: NanoTech + Art

Watching Paul Rothemund's TED talk where he displayed his colorful DNA origami was a fascinating experience (Rothemund). The concept of NanoTech-based art seems to be a great next destination after last week's discussion of biotech and art. Rothemund being able to create maps using DNA seemed analogous to projects like who modified the genes of organisms to create artistic mutations. 

Examples of DNA Origami created via DNA folding
Liu, Huajie, and Chunhai Fan. “DNA Origami Nanostructures.” DNA Nanotechnology, 2013, pp. 207–224., https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36077-0_10.

NanoTech appeals to me as creating art at the smallest aspect of organisms while still maintaining a level of complexity. There appears to be a metaphorical side to such art as stated by Paul Thomas, whose Nanoessence project showed people how the cells from their breath functioned and lived (Thomas). He believed the project was a way to connect to the biblical likening of breath and life. It would be interesting to see if one could use the cells from organic paint used in older paintings to create some meta-art (a cellular Mona Lisa sourced from the Mona Lisa!) ; nanotechnology is already used to preserve such artifacts (Pramanik).

Thomas, Paul, and Kevin Raxworthy. Nanoessence. 2014.

Listening to David Pogue's assigned episode on Nova about how the future shall consist of a lot of pivotal nanotechnology really helped my understanding of this concept (Pogue). The idea of every facet of our life from health to entertainment becoming dependent on tiny objects raises the question of whether science programs in universities should also train their students in the aesthetics of these objects. For example - nanorobots that shall be used in medicine lead to compaines differentiating themselves by efficacy but also by the artistic quality of these robots (Grifantini). NanoTech art could then become a marketing necessity.

“Infographic: Nanobots and Nanotech Deliver Medicine's Future.” Robotics Business Review, 18 Oct. 2019, https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/news/infographic-nanobots-and-nanotech-deliver-medicines-future/.


Rothemund, Paul. “DNA Folding, in Detail.” TED. 2008.

Thomas, Paul. “Nanoessence: God, the First Nano Assembler.” Technoetic Arts, vol. 6, no. 3, 2009, pp. 217–231., https://doi.org/10.1386/tear.6.3.217_1.

Pramanik, Sunipa. “Art Conservation and Nanotechnology: A Wonderful Confluence of Arts and Sciences.” Sustainable Nano, 12 May 2017, https://sustainable-nano.com/2017/05/12/art-conservation-and-nanotechnology/.

Pogue, David. Making Things Smaller. NOVA.

Grifantini, Kristina. “The State of Nanorobotics in Medicine.” EMBS, https://www.embs.org/pulse/articles/the-state-of-nanorobotics-in-medicine/.







 


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