Week 4 MedTech + Art

In this week's lecture, I am amazed that so many scientists/artists are willing to use their own body to test some controversial and even dangerous technology, like plastic surgery and microchip implantation. For example, Professor Ken Warwick implanted a microchip into his forearm to experiment how human body could interact with electronics and Orlan performed plastic surgery on her body to represent famous artist's masterpiece, like the forehead of Mona Lisa and the chin of Venus. They are pioneers in discovering how medical technology can profoundly influences our lives. 

Microchips can now be implanted into people's brain due to advanced medical technology. 

Before today's lecture, I thought plastic surgery was invented in Korea because there are stereotypes about every Korean girls want to do a plastic surgery to make them look prettier. In fact, I learned that plastic surgery was invented four thousand years ago in India! It is not difficult to see that human have had a long history of aesthetic need for their good-lookingness. And medical technology developed so fast during wars in recent centuries that make many people's wishes come true.

Some celebrities are obsessed with cosmetic surgery.

Furthermore, I once lied in an MRI machine to find out the injury in my ankle. The result was beyond satisfaction. I could observe layers by layers of my right ankle. It was an incredible experience to witness such advanced medical technology. This experience relates to what Casini describes in his article about how MRI can be portraits of human bodies. It allows patients to look deeper than normally can.

In short, without today's lecture, I can never imagined that medical technology can be related to art. Generally, I have realized that human body itself is a kind of art. Therefore, things that change or append to the human body must has something to do with art. With the continuing development of medical technology, we are going to witness more and more various form of MedTech art.

Work cited:

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine Parts 1-3.” Lecture. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.

Orlan – Carnal Art (2001) Documentary. Dir. Stéphan Oriach. Perf. Orlan. N.d. Film. YouTube. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations Between Science and Arts.” (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.