Unit 4 - MedTech + Art

The Art of Medicine: Mapping the Body in 2,000 Years of Images and Imagination by Maria Popova.

It was amazing to see so many examples of art in medicine and medical technology. But there was a factoid mentioned in this week's lectures that intrigued and showed me how drastic the changes of a paradigm shift really are. In Professor Vesna's Medicine pt2, she stated that technology was actually not incorporated in hospitals until the beginning of the 20^th century. This was due to the belief that medicine was considered art; if you used tools or technology, you were not considered a doctor. That view is totally different from our view of medicine. We see technology in almost all kinds of medical practices nowadays and the art produced by medicine is subject to the viewer. I rarely saw art in medicine; I usually saw science. The achievements in modern medicine were beautiful to me, but solely for their scientific contributions to society. Today I will be discussing some uses of human medicial procedures that are considered art.

 Man's face slowly rebuilt following 1997 shotgun accident by Sarah Brumfield.

Plastic surgery was always considered art to me. Essentially, a plastic surgeon shapes a person's appearance to something the person considers beautiful. Plastic surgery was created during World War I after the technological advancement of military weapons. Survivors of the war suffered and had to go through facial reconstruction to try to return to a normal life. Eventually plastic surgery developed into a high standard procedure to look a certain way. It's a beautiful process though and I consider the human body a piece of art. I go to the gym to keep my body at my expectation of beauty. Plastic surgery is a short-cut.

Plastic Surgery as Performance Art? by K. Gould.

Some uses of plastic surgery worry me. Orlan is a prime example of this. She does body performance art to show to the audience what it means to be beautiful. She performed nine surgeries so far, each with a theme while reading philosophical excerpts. While I applaud her for merging medicine and art and it's her own body to manipulate, the question is when does it stop? At what point does the doctor performing the task stop the artist with the vision? Peter Tyson's The Hippocratic Oath, an ancient morality code for doctors, brings things into perspective. A doctor helps the patient but has to account for safety. However, without pushing boundaries, there would be limited development. The issue of ethics is beautiful yet complicated and will influence how we each view these daring artworks.

The Hippocratic Code Today by Peter Tyson.

Yours truly,
Calvin Cam



Works Cited
Brumfield, Sarah. "Man's face slowly rebuilt following 1997 shotgun accident."  The Associated Press. Lebanon Daily News, 28 Jun. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2013 <http://www.ldnews.com/ci_23555944/mans-face-slowly-rebuilt-following-1997-shotgun-accident>.

Gould, K. "Plastic Surgery as Performance Art?" Serendip Studio, 7 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/9145>.

Popova, Maria. "The Art of Medicine: Mapping the Body in 2,000 Years of Images and Imagination." Brain Pickings. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/03/the-art-of-medicine/>.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Code Today." NOVA. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine pt2." Cole UC online. Youtube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psjnQarHOqQ>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine pt3." Cole UC online. Youtube, 22 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX-9mXd3Y4>.