Being a firm believer in my faith when I saw this weeks topic of Art and Body I immediately thought of God being the ultimate artist due to the fact him creating human beings and everything that makes us function. But continuing in this weeks material I found the Body Works project and the french lady Orlan to be really interesting.
The Body Works project was first mentioned in this weeks first lecture but I knew I have heard of it before. Then I remember having something similar to it in high school where there was this museum that showed the functions of the human body and how it was used in a artistic ways. It was in fact the same thing. The Body Works project shows plastinated bodies in which the body parts are used and put together to form certain functions of the body. This project travels all around the world and it has caused controversy in the past due the transportation of body parts. The project truly shows how the bodies can be used to form artwork and at the same time give knowledge to the people of the way the human body functions.
The idea of plastic surgery in comparison to art and medicine is my favorite. Whether or not it should be used for medical reasons or used in artistic ways. In World War 1 it was seen due to the new advances in war with chemicals used as weapons. Plastic surgery was used to help body defects or with limbs that were missing. In fact the Greek word for "plastic" is in fact to mold or form. However, we see how plastic surgery can also be used as in a artistic way when we look at the french woman Orlan. Orlan used plastic surgery to get the know the meaning of art, life, and beauty. She used artist work of previous years that gave her the meaning behind what true beauty is.
I do not have any desire of being a doctor or any motivation to do anything in medicine, the article of Hippocratic Oath was really foreign to me and had no idea that all medical students, in some way, had to know this particular oath. It was interesting that this piece is still in existence today and is still in some sort lived on by medical students today. While the technology has continued to get better and more advancement has been made with X-Rays and MRI's it is cool to see how the oath is still used in the same general way.Sources:
Tyson, Peter. “The Hippocratic Oath Today.” PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001.
Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic- oath-today.html>
Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine Parts 1-3.” Lecture. 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.
http://www.smm.org/bodyworlds. "Body Worlds and the Cycle of Life"
"The Architecture of Life". Ingber, E. Donald.
Hi Nick!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your article and I too really enjoyed the Idea of the worlds body exhibition. However, I do have one question for you. You mentioned the idea of plastic surgery as art, but do you believe that some plastic surgery goes to far? It is a question I too have asked myself and am interested in what you think.
I also recognize plastic surgery as its own art form. During other surgical procedures doctors can always hide their mistakes under the stitches, but mistakes during a reconstructive surgery cannot be easily covered up. This is why I see the surgeon's skill as an art form. Do you think that the surgeon's work in a way mimics God's role as molding and creating the human form?
ReplyDeleteI went to a similar exhibit of the human body called "Bodies Revealed". I remember the controversy surrounding the exhibit, in terms of transportation of bodies along with the unborn babies portion. Although it was hard to look at unborn babies on display, it was still a work of art.
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