NanoArt

Nanotechnology & Art

This week’s lecture and readings focused on Nanotechnology. Dr. Gimzewksi, a former IBM researcher and UCLA professor who works at CNSI, conducted our lectures and spoke about the importance and prevalence of nanotechnology in science and technology.

NanoArt by John Hart

NanoArt by John Hart

Nanotechnology is the science, engineering and technology conducted at the nanoscale. The term nanotechnology was coined by Norio Taniguchi in 1974. A nanoscale is roughly 1-100 NANOmeters. There are 25,400,000 nanometer in 1 inch. Nanotechnology is used in numerous fields including chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering. It is very broad, we can see nanotechnology present in almost everything in our everyday life including athletic socks, waterproof fabrics, and self-cleaning glass.

In "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", Richard Feynman suggests that bigger isn't always better. I like his quote "there's plenty of room at the bottom", which highlights that bigger isn't always better. As an example of this, he wrote 25,000 page of the Encyclopedia Britannica on the surface of the pinhead. He made a note that a pinhead actually has room for 260,000,000 pages.

Erin Drexler and Ralph Merkle came together to form the Foresight Organization and there created ‘the Assembler concept’ at the molecular scale. The discovery of the Bucky Ball and the scanning tunneling microscope led to a breakthrough in moving atoms as single-atoms. Richard Smaley argued against Drexler’s theory. Gimzewski discussed much farther in depth the history and impact of nanotechnology. But while science and technology are probably the first fields you think of when you hear nanotechnology, it is also used in art. Nano art is art in which the artist manipulates molecular matter. It can’t be seen by the naked eye because it is at the atomic scale. It can be seen through an atomic-force microscope.

Gimzewski and Vesna co-wrote “At The Intersection of Art and Science” and in it say, “nanotechnology and media arts, by their very nature, have a common ground in addressing the issues of manipulation, particularly sensory perception, questioning our reaction, changing the way we think. They are complementary, and the issues that are raised start to spill over into fundamental problems of the limits of psychology, anthropology, biology and so on. It is as if the doors of perception have suddenly opened and the microscopes imperfection of truly representing object form forces us to question our traditional (Western) values of reality” (Gimzewski and Vesna).

Nano artist, Frederik De Wilde is the creator of a new color called “blacker than black” or as he calls it “superblack”. It is said to be 10 times stronger than black and give an illusion of a black hole. De Wilde is a perfect example of blending science and art in the use of nanotechnology.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-09-30/scientists-are-becoming-artists-thanks-nanoart

Public Radio International did a great piece called "Scientists are becoming artists, thanks to 'NanoArt'" focusing on the ability for scientists to move into the art world through nanotechnology.

CITATIONS

"Feynman.com - Richard Feynman Online." Feynman.com - Richard Feynman Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 2017. <http://www.feynman.com>.

Gimzewski, J. "Nanotechnology + Art, Pt. 3." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 2017 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzXjNbKDkYI>.

Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The Nanoneme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact and Fiction in the Construction of a New Science." Technoetic Arts Technoetic Arts 1.1 (2003): 7-24. Web

Vesna, Victoria. “Intro to NanoTech + Art." UCLA, Los Angeles. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria, and Jim Gimzewski. "The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact & Fiction in the Construction of a New Science." (n.d.): n. pag. Web <http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/publications/publications/02-03/JV_nano/JV_nano_artF5VG.htm>.