Skip to main content

Week 3: Robots + Art

Original printing press design.
In response to this week’s material, I focused primarily on the ideas presented in lecture regarding the evolution of technology beginning with the industrial revolution all the way up to the present popularity of robots.  In Lecture Part 1, Professor talked about how the invention of the printing press is what sparked the exchange of knowledge around the world, which was vital in the development of some of recent history’s most brilliant minds.  However, I feel that during the development of technology since this time period, we have turned this method that once helped to spread knowledge and ideas into a mechanism that doesn’t make us think at all.  I think this was the biggest juxtaposition that I noticed while reading the material this week, especially in the piece written by Walter Benjamin. 
Walter Benjamin
           





Futuristic robot model.
In his writing, Benjamin references the introduction of mass production into our culture, and how this affected the world of art, specifically in terms of paintings.  He continues by making a comparison between artists and cameramen, in other words comparing old-time art with a more contemporary form. He says that the beauty of paintings is the idea that they elicit contemplation in viewers, making them stop to think, interpret and distinguish meaning behind the piece.  Now, with the preferred method of creative work being films, there is no need to think because before a person can contemplate a specific scene, it has already switched to the next.  I think this idea of mindless consumerism of new forms of art is reflected in how we manage our technological advances.  This was also discussed in the TED talk given by Rodney Brooks, who is convinced that robots will soon take over every aspect of our lives.  This is because we will not stop until we create robots to make every aspect of our lives easier.  This seems so obvious at first glance, but when thinking about the industrial revolution and how people used this technology to share ideas and spread knowledge, we have turned that desire to grow intellectually into spending our lives inventing robots to think for us.  Before reading Benjamin’s piece, I had never realized how toxic the introduction of robots could be because of their basic purpose to replace human action.

References

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Stardom and Celebrity: A Reader (n.d.): 25-33. Web.

Brooks, Rodney. "Robots will invade our lives." Rodney Brooks: Robots will invade our lives | TED Talk | TED.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

PSDFinder.com. "Futuristic Mechanical Robot Graphic PSD Freebie - PSDfinder.com." Pinterest. N.p., 03 June 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Slaughter, Jamie. "Invention of The Printing Press - Who Invented The Printing Press - InventionReaction." Invention Reaction. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Uconlineprogram. "Robotics pt1." YouTube. YouTube, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.






Comments

  1. Hi Kodi, loved reading this blogpost. I didn't think about how the creation of machines is leading to our demise because we are no longer thinking. I liked your point about film moving from one scene to the next which mimics mindless consumerism.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2: Math + Art

The Flagellation by Piero de la Francesca After reviewing this week’s materials regarding mathematics and art, I was astounded with some of the information that I learned.   I decided to focus my attention on the artist named Piero de la Francesca who was mentioned in Lecture.   As shown in his painting, “The Flagellation”, he employed several strategies in order to create the illusion of depth by developing a foreground and background and depicting each object in a real-life scale.   This attention to detail in the proportions of his painting came from studying the geometry of vision.   Francesca was committed to creating accurate and real-world like images in his paintings, so investigating the relationships between the eye and an object, as well as the way the eye would see objects in relation to one another shaped the way he created his artwork.   And although it seems obvious to use math when distinguishing accurate proportions in a drawing, it never o...

Event #1

Sophie Lamparter presenting. I decided to attend the art symposium for my first event blog and was fortunate enough to hear two presentations by Sophie Lamparter and Dr. Olivia Osborne.   Both of these lecturers embodied the practice of combining art and science in their presentations, and I was extremely impressed by the ingenuity that their projects involved.   I think that by attending this symposium, I was able to grasp the seemingly abstract idea that art and science are connected by seeing the real-life examples that they had created in their research. Dr. Olivia Osborne and I outside of the symposium. In Sophie Lamparter’s presentation, she mentioned a project that really caught my attention because of its futuristic nature.   She introduced a project that her company is working on called the “Science Communication Project” where they are building two greenhouses side by side and creating a unique and separate type of environment within each of them. ...

EXTRA CREDIT Event #5

For my final extra credit blog, I decided to attend the African-Print Fashion Now! exhibit at the Fowler Museum on campus – and I am so glad that I did.   This art gallery was not what it seemed at first glance.   When I entered the gallery, I was struck by all of the incredible colors and patterns that the textiles reflected throughout the room. There were cloth samples of a variety of patterns, as well as a plethora of mannequins adorned in beautifully constructed garments.   At first, I was mesmerized by the clothes themselves, but I realized so much more after I started to read the blurbs that were placed next to each photograph, garment, and textile.   This exhibit was about much more than just clothes, and as I began to understand the history behind the development, popularization, and production of these textiles and clothes, I understood why it had been included as an event option in this class.         ...