Friday, March 13, 2015

Project 1: Responding to Heidegger

Technology has changed people's lives a lot. But as technology is more important in our society, we become to rely on it more often and sees everything through its eyes. Heidegger said technology is a mode of revealing. The techne means activity (technology) and aesthetic, implying technology may have a strong connection to art. How was art developed in the beginning? I think it started from the appreciation of nature, as we know many ancient crafts were inspired by things in nature. Therefore, in "The Question Concerning Technology", I think Heidegger was trying to give the idea that technology is just a way to reveal nature. But because we tend to figure things out based on technological concepts, we ignore and show no respect to nature. So to be aware of this problem, art is a way to question it.
My idea to respond to this article was biotechnology application on DNA codons. As being biology major, I want to connect Heidegger's idea with biotechnology. DNA is consisted with the small molecules called nucleotides. There are four types of nucleotides: A, T, C, and G. Just like computer codon, they are the codon coded for all genetic information of an organism. The work was built as an interactive sculpture. I made the sculpture as a human's heart and placed a green light bulb inside of it. Reason of using green light was that the fluorescent green is a common dye used for viewing DNA sequence. The light bulb was set in a DC circuit with a switch that could turn it on or off. When an audience switches the light on, the four letters ATCG are shown on the surface of the heart. I used paper towel for my sculpture building because it was an accessible material. Before putting the last layer on the sculpture, I cut out the letters. So this is how those words can only be seen when turning the light bulb on. 
Having a base under the sculpture, the work can be just installed on any flat surface (such as on a table) to allow audience to interactive with it. The heart sculpture means a creation of Nature and the codons are the invention of human technology. To allow the audience view my work more easily, I also wrote the words Nature and Technology on each side of the switch. However, it seems to make the work has a too simple meaning. A further consideration of finding a good balance between abstract and simplicity is needed.
               


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