Hello, my name is Mayra Zaragoza and
I am a Fine Arts major. One question that I always get after people find out
that I am an Art major is, what I specialize in; I tend to give them the answer
of Painting and Ceramics but in the back
of my head I know I do not want to settle for one thing. My thought is to learn
many new things and to not settle for one because there are many more
possibilities of making things with different thoughts and skills. I have a lot
of free rein to make many different things and have tested the waters of
technology through Photoshop and video. Here are a few examples of what I have
done.
I enrolled in this class because I
thought it would expand my knowledge in art and technology and needless to say,
the first topic of the class is Two Cultures.
C.P Snow talked about the divide between art and science and that the
educational system was one of the main reasons for the divide. As a student
myself, I agree that this divide is active because I have only been to south
campus a handful of times and vise versa for the south campus majors I know. I
come across the phrase, “Oh, I’m not north/south campus so I wouldn’t know”
(something in that line) commonly. This phrase is used as a crutch to forgive the
division between the humanities and sciences quite often.
Technology serves as a bridge for
both science and the humanities; making it the third culture. In art, I see
this third culture a lot for example: in Aparna Rao’s work which incorporates a
mix of the two cultures.
This collaboration of the two
cultures into one can also be seen in Neil Harbisson’s life and work. Harbisson
is an official cyborg and can hear color. Through this technological
advancement he is incorporating it in is paintings and everyday social life.
After reading and listening to the
lectures of professor Vesna I have concluded that the division of the
humanities and sciences can no longer fully become one and there is always
going to be a gap between them even if there is that third culture of the two
fused together for a moment. Like professor Vesna said, there are always going
to be stereotypes and those turn into divisions.
Sources:
- Snow, C.P. "Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution." Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.
- Vesna Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between." Leonardo 43.2 (2001): 121-25. Web.
- Harbisson, Neil. "I listen to Color." Youtube, 20 July 2012. Web. 27 June 2014.
- Rao, Aparna. "High-Tech Art (With a Sense of Humor)." Youtube, 8 November 2011. Web. 27 June 2014.
- Zaragoza, Mayra. "Colors and Sound. Relaxation and Concentration." Youtube, 21 March 2014. Web. 27 June 2014.
- I got Chased by a Duck, Los Angeles. Personal photograph by author. 11 March 2014.
- Vesna, Victoria. "Two Cultures pt2." Youtube, 32 March 2012. Web. 25 June 2014.
