DESMA Week 1

The idea that art and technology are two separate fields that cannot intertwine is something that a few people accept to be the only logical path for art/technology.  C.P Snow was a fierce critic of such an idea, as he wrote that although “traditional culture, to an extent of remarkably little diminished by the emergence of the scientific one”, they both “are about the right” answers. As a history major, Snow’s analysis of the differences in the U.S. and the Soviet Union highlights what kind of differences in each society and their culture. He eventually comes to the conclusion that there would be a new, third path for culture that takes aspects from art and science.

            

 I was born and raised in the United States, but my parents are immigrants from Mexico. This allowed me to experience the cultural aspects from Mexico, such as cuisine, language and other aspects while becoming immersed in the pop culture of the U.S., English being my first language and knowing that Southern California will hold a special place as my home.

            

 One can see the ideas of two cultures (in art and science) within UCLA. It is known that most science, engineering and math classes are located in buildings on the southern portion of the campus; while art, social science and humanities are concentrated on the northern portions. Although I have had some of my history classes on the southern portion of UCLA, it is not too common for the mixing of students with different majors outside of their fields, with the exception of general education courses, which falls as a conscious stereotype of essentially two different schools akin to what Professor Vesna stated in the second part of her lecture on art and technology.

                                            South and North: Two Different Universities?

Although there isn’t much in creativity in history, there is an importance in studying art and technology in the field. Bohm focuses on many aspects of math and how it influences history, such as the impact it had on the society of ancient Greece, which can help one who studies history to see the importance of art and technology.  Although Bohm notes humans always strive for finding “the right method”,  the discoveries in both art and science demonstrate that there is never one true way to do something, and the idea of a third path is not too far off.

References:

D. Bohm, Leonardo, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Apr., 1968), MIT Press, 1968, Accessed via JSTOR Archives

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, New York: Cambridge Press, 1959

Vesna, Victoria, Lecture on Art and Technology for Spring 2015, Accessed on April 3, 2015