Event 1 Blog: The Huntington

The Huntington: Where Art and Science Meet

    Last Week I had the pleasure of visiting Huntington Garden and Library in Pasadena. The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by the Huntingtons all the way back in 1911. Over the years Huntington has collected not only scientific books and research but as well botanical species from all over the world.

Walking through the Huntington Gardens and Library felt like stepping into the physical manifestation of C.P. Snow’s “Two Cultures”, and something more. On one side, you have the lush botanical gardens, carefully cultivated but undeniably poetic, an ode to aesthetics and sensory experience. On the other, the library and museum house centuries of scientific texts, data, and discoveries, ever disciplined, rational, and empirical. But what struck me most was not the contrast, but how seamlessly these worlds coexist.

The experience reminds me of Victoria Vesna’s essay “Toward a Third Culture” where its argued that artists using technology create a new cultural space, one that bridges science, art, and the humanities through collaboration and conversation. The Huntington is exactly this kind of space. Its very design encourages movement between beauty and data, nature and structure, emotion and evidence. Sitting in the gardens with a view of the research library, I felt like I was literally between the two cultures an idea Vesna calls both "a privileged and a dangerous position".

Even without stepping into a specific exhibit, the Huntington makes a case for synthesis. Scientific understanding informs how we tend gardens; aesthetic appreciation deepens how we experience scientific texts. The Third Culture emerges not as a compromise, but as a kind of dialogue creating this active, evolving space where disciplines don’t just meet but make something new.

I’d definitely recommend this spot to classmates, especially if you're looking for inspiration that lives at the intersection of curiosity and craft. The gardens are beautiful and extremely peaceful, the multiple interesting exhibits and library have some fascinating pieces of history, and they have a hands-on greenhouse that was really cool to explore. 

References

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge University Press, 1959. 

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. "The Huntington." 2024, https://www.huntington.org.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being in between." Leonardo, vol. 34, no. 2, 2001, pp. 121–125.

“The Science-Art-Sky Activity Guide.” The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Thompson, Diana W. “Hearing NASA’s Earth Science Satellites.” Verso, The Huntington, 2018. https://www.huntington.org/verso/2018/08/hearing-nasa’s-earth-science-satellites. 

All photos were taken on my phone or digicam

Week 4: Medicine + Technology + Art

MRI

    Until recently, I saw medical imaging as something purely diagnostic, an objective window into the body. But this week’s course materials invited me to rethink that assumption, especially through the lens of art and expression. What if imaging technologies like MRIs are not just tools for medicine, but also mirrors that shape how we see ourselves?

Examples of Didou's work

    

    Silvia Casini’s essay on MRI revealed something I’d never considered: MRIs are not only visual, they’re also acoustic. The machine's rhythmic pulsing, the isolation inside the scanner, and the communication between patient and technician all form a sensory experience. Artists like Marc Didou have used MRI not for medical diagnosis but for personal expression, transforming the scan from a clinical artifact into a kind of expression of self.

    Donald Ingber’s article, The Architecture of Life, added another layer to my understanding. He describes how life is structured through principles like tensegrity, a balance of tension and compression. This architecture appears everywhere in the human body, from cytoskeletons to organs. Understanding how cells are physically “wired” helps explain not just form, but function and even gene expression. That insight links biology to design and, unexpectedly, to sculpture.

Genetic Architecture

The ethical side of medical technology was brought into sharp focus in the PBS article on the modern Hippocratic Oath. While the original oath emphasized not doing harm, today's versions have to recognize the complexities of technology, consent, and empathy. As technology becomes more advanced and in a sense more intimate, it seems that so must our responsibility to patients as whole people, not just bodies to scan.

Reflecting on all this, I’m beginning to see MRI not just as a window into the body, but as a mirror that reflects identity, vulnerability, and even creativity. Through sound and structure, art and ethics, the medical image is no longer neutral and cold but rather personal in scope.

Refrences:

Casini, Silvia. Magnetic Resonance Imaging as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts. Configurations, vol. 19, no. 1, 2011, pp. 73–99. Johns Hopkins University Press, https://doi.org/10.1353/con.2011.0000.

Didou, Marc. “Marc Didou: Resonances.” Digicult, curated by Claudia D’Alonzo, Digicult, 6 Oct. 2007, https://digicult.it/design/marc-didou-resonances/.

Ingber, Donald E. “The Architecture of Life.” Scientific American, vol. 278, no. 1, Jan. 1998.

Joyce, Kelly. “Appealing Images: Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Production of Authoritative Knowledge.” Science, Technology, & Human Values, 2004, University of Michigan, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.7523862.0008.022.

Nova. “The Hippocratic Oath Today.” PBS, WGBH Educational Foundation, 27 Mar. 2001, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/hippocratic-oath-today/.

Photos:

1- https://www.embs.org/pulse/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2024/08/Ultra-High-to-Ultra-Low-MRI-Goes-to-Extremes.jpg 

2&3- https://digicult.it/design/marc-didou-resonances/ 

4-ingber_architecture-of-life.pdf

5-https://www.coreimpactstrategy.com/article/hippocratic-marketing-oath 

Week 3: Robotics & Art

This module brings to mind the rapid rise of AI-generated art and how that challenges the very heart of artistic identity. In the age of mechanization and robotics, can a robot truly create art? Or are we simply seeing the latest wave in the ongoing disruption of the aura of authenticity?

AI and Human Art

Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction warned us that mass production would erode art’s “aura” , its uniqueness rooted in time, place, and ritual. As he argued, “what withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art”​. I’d say that in today’s digital world, this idea is more urgent than ever. Douglas Davis expands Benjamin’s concern in The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction, claiming “there is no longer a clear conceptual distinction between original and reproduction”​

Whether it's a Rembrandt painted by a human hand or a surrealist piece conjured by AI, both seemingly circulate with equal weight online. It reminds me of a video I saw a while back where participants were asked to guess whether images are human or machine-made. A large portion often couldn't tell. This reflects our shifting perception: when everything is reproducible, intent may outweigh origin. I’d say at this current point I’m still able to devise whether something is authentic or AI but it seems that reality passes with each coming day. Can you tell the difference below? (answers are at the bottom)

Comparison AI vs Human Art

Comparison AI vs Human Abstract

This dilemma also remind me of the same ideas in the movie Her (2013), where the AI Samantha composes music and writes letters evoking deep emotion without a physical presence. Like AI art, her creations beg the question: is emotion the foundation to constitute authorship? And are we able to create machines that can create authenticity?

Still from Her

It seems that in today’s society we respond to industrialization and automation with both anxiety and awe. We’re fascinated by what machines can do, yet unsettled by what they replace. Perhaps, as Davis suggests, the aura hasn’t vanished it has migrated, now residing in how we respond, remix, and reframe the art around us. In my personal belief, I don't uphold AI art as being original or remotely capturing what makes art, art. It lacks that intent, that emotional and deeply personal touch that is unique to the human experience. Perhaps it can be used as tool in conjunction with artistic expression but as we seemingly begin to rely heavily on AI for our creation in multiple fields, I'm uncertain where the future takes us for better or worse.  

(The right side of both images were AI generated) 

References:

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. 1936. Translated by Harry Zohn, Schocken Books, 2008. https://monoskop.org/images/4/4c/Benjamin_Walter_1936_2008_The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_Its_Technological_Reproducibility_and_Other_Writings_on_Media.pdf

Davis, Douglas. "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (An Evolving Thesis: 1991–1995)." Leonardo, vol. 28, no. 5, 1995, pp. 381–386. JSTOR, http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0024-094X%281995%2928%3A5%3C381%3ATWOAIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M

Her. Directed by Spike Jonze, performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, Annapurna Pictures, 2013.

Kelley, Ben. "AI Art vs Human Art: Can You Tell the Difference?" Gold Penguin, 21 Apr. 2023, https://goldpenguin.org/blog/ai-vs-human-art/.

VICE News. Pindar Van Arman Is Teaching Robot Artists To Paint Like Humans. YouTube, 10 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkTjEi7O4Ic.

Image Sources:

https://deepdreamgenerator.com/blog/ai-art-originality

"AI Art vs Human Art: Can You Tell the Difference?" Gold Penguin

Still from Her (2013)

Week 2 | Math & Art

This week, I learned how mathematics serves as a bridge between art and science, shaping how we perceive and represent the world. One key insight came from Linda Henderson’s article, which explored how early 20th-century artists like Marcel Duchamp were inspired by the idea of the fourth dimension and non-Euclidean geometry. It was interesting to see how these concepts helped artists break from traditional, linear perspectives and create abstract, multidimensional works​. Edwin Abbott’s Flatland’s use of a two-dimensional world to explore the limitations of perception helped me grasp how higher dimensions, especially the fourth, can work to challenge our assumptions and expand how we understand our reality. The lecture video also demonstrated how patterns like the golden ratio and fractals appear both in nature and human-made creations. It showed how artists use math to understand beauty, structure, and form.

Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Katsushika Hokusai, underlaid with the golden rule

One piece of artwork I had the pleasure of seeing in person and enjoy is Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. It's a powerful example of how mathematics can be used to express deep emotion and critique through art. The painting depicts the horrors of the bombing of the town Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, using fragmented, angular forms to portray chaos, pain, and destruction. Picasso drew on the geometric principles of Cubism, to break the subjects into abstract shapes and forms, which allowed him to convey multiple perspectives at once.

Guernica, Pablo Picasso

Scale of Guernica

This mathematical approach to visual structure allows Guernica to go beyond realism. The disjointed bodies and overlapping figures, which seem to exist in a warped, multi-perspective space, reflect concepts similar to those discussed in Henderson’s article on the fourth dimension​

. Just as early 20th-century artists used non-Euclidean geometry to challenge traditional perspective, Picasso used fractured space and shifting angles to immerse the viewer in a moment of trauma that feels timeless and inescapable.

Seeing how Picasso integrated geometry into a deeply emotional and political piece helped me better understand the influence of mathematics in both art and science. In this case, math doesn’t just shape the structure of the piece it amplifies its meaning as well.

M.C. Escher's Relativity, mathematics as a creative tool

This week taught me that both artists and scientists rely on mathematics as a creative tool. Artists use geometric forms, symmetry, and ratios to guide composition, while scientists use those same principles to model physical systems. Math is not just about numbers, it’s rather a language that expresses patterns, relationships, and possibilities across disciplines.

We see that mathematics, art, and science may seem separate, but they often overlap in surprising ways. They each seek to uncover truths but when combined, they offer a fuller, more imaginative view of reality. This week showed me that the boundaries between them are more fluid than I thought and that’s where some of the most exciting ideas can emerge.

Refrences:

Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. 1884.

Frantz, Marc. “Lesson 3: Vanishing Points and Looking at Art.” CS@UCF, University of Central Florida, https://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf. 

Gessler, Nicholas. "Where the Wild Things Are." The Institute For Figuring, https://www.theiff.org/publications/cab21-gessler.html. 

Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. “The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion.” Leonardo, vol. 17, no. 3, 1984, pp. 205–210.

Lesser, Casey. “What Makes Guernica Picasso’s Most Influential Painting.” Artsy, 12 June 2017, https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-guernica-picassos-influential-painting. 

Math in Art and Science. YouTube, uploaded by UC Online, 5 Dec. 2016,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg  

Image 1: https://www.artandobject.com/slideshows/golden-ratio-revealed-7-masterpieces 

Image 2,3:https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-guernica-picassos-influential-painting 

Image 4: https://moa.byu.edu/m-c-eschers-relativity/ 

Week 1 Blog: Two Cultures

    Hi, I'm Raya Sanikhatam! I am a Psychology major with a love for art and design. I am really interested in how science and creativity can work together, and I see psychology as a bridge between those two cultures. I hope to build a life and career that blends both, where I can explore the human mind through research while also expressing ideas visually and emotionally through art.