Week 4 Medicine+Tech+Art

Throughout history, societies have always placed an interest in depicting humans in an accurate manner. To achieve this they had to understand the anatomy of the human body. With the crude mechanical dissection tools, scientists opened up cadavers for study. Jess Righthand states that the Renaissance time period, an era filled with developments in art and science, produced great works of art that reflected the most current knowledge of human anatomy. According to Garabed Eknoyan, Michelangelo, the famous Renaissance artist, studied anatomy carefully and carried out dissections in his artistic training. His sculptures and frescoes such as the Creation of Man show great care taken in making the subjects appear anatomically similar to humans. As societies understood themselves better, they expressed this knowledge not only through textbook diagrams but also through grand works of art. Still, the images of human anatomy in even the most general biology textbooks are artistically drawn too and general biology students must be able to identify the anatomical structures in exams.

Creation of Man

  In a more modern time period, art and medicine continue informing one another. The X-ray and the MRI scan allowed less invasive ways of viewing and portraying the human body . The perspectives change with the prevalence of these techniques. Rather than seeing tissues and organs under the wavelengths of visible light through dissection, the X-ray and MRI coupled with specialized detectors allow medical workers to view a living human body with little harm.  From Abi Berger, the wavelengths of the X-ray and MRI also allow emphasis on certain tissues or tissue dynamics (35).  In addition to the artistry of imaging technologies, Elisabeth Rosenthal reports that with changing issues  in medicine, there is a significant, controversial push in the field for a more humanistic focus similar to the past rather than the modern science and technology based approach. 

MRI scans, with the colored regions highlighting the area being studied

Artists have incorporated medicine into their works such as prosthetic robotic arms, implanted microchips, or plastic surgery on themselves and bring up. These works can be viewed as commentaries on the future of medical technology in their relation to humans, such as Eduardo Katz's implanted chip in 1997 and how prevalent RFID chips are today. Many phones contain an RFID chip, and I carry around an RFID door access card, which reduces the weight of keys. Others such as Orlan and her work of having multiple, dramatized plastic surgeries reflect society's standards of beauty. Orlan's work also brings out the complex issue of medical ethics. According to Dr. Michelle Wright, the oath of Hippocrates and today's medical ethics teachings state doctors must first do no harm but respect their client's wishes in the art of medicine. In Orlan's case, they could be causing harm in the creation of art. 

RFID implants in each hand, viewed under X-ray

References

Berger, Abi. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging.” BMJ : British Medical Journal 324.7328 (2002): 35. Print.

Eknoyan, Garabed. "Michelangelo: Art, Anatomy, and the Kidney." Kidney International. Nature Publishing Group, 12 Oct. 1999. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v57/n3/full/4491441a.html>.

Righthand, Jess. "The Anatomy of Renaissance Art." Smithsonian.com. 10 Oct. 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-anatomy-of-renaissance-art-36887285/?no-ist>.

Rosenthal, Elisabeth. "Pre-Med’s New Priorities: Heart and Soul and Social Science." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/education/edlife/pre-meds-new-priorities-heart-and-soul-and-social-science.html?_r=0>.

Wright, Michelle. "Ideals and the Hippocratic Oath." Patient.co.uk. 22 June 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Ideals-and-the-Hippocratic-Oath.htm>.