Week 8 | Nanotechnology + Art

    Art has many forms and mediums. Similar to in week 6 where biotechnology allowed art to expand into new mediums, nanotechnology allows for a new medium as well. Art should not be limited to certain mediums, and through the use of nanotechnology, art is allowed to exist in a miniaturized form that would otherwise have been impossible.

  

Image from openaccessgovernment


    A use of nanotechnology in art that I found interesting was IBM's A Boy And His Atom. I've seen the film in a previous class but never thought much about it. The film is known as the world's smallest film because it was made using individual atoms. It utilized nanotechnology in order to create a movie, a form of art. The film was made by using carbon dioxide atoms and moving them in order to create individual frames. These frames were then used to create a stop motion. Before watching this film, I never knew atoms could be used in art and would have never had the creative or artistic insight to even imagine it was possible. The use of atoms allowed for a new canvas for artists to display their creativity. 

A Boy And His Atom


    What stuck out to me the most this week was the DNA origami that was made by Paul Rothemund. In the TED talk, he showed that he was able to use DNA to form different shapes, in his case, smiley faces. In order to do this, he used a long single-stranded DNA to act as the "paper". To fold it, he used shorter lengths of single-stranded DNA that would bind in two locations. Due to the smaller strand binding in two locations, it would pull the two sides together, folding the long single-stranded DNA. Rothemund used specially designed short single-stranded binders in order to form tiny that can only be seen under an atomic force microscope. Nanotechnology was used in order to make origami, a form of art, smaller than what was previously thought was possible. I thought it was really interesting how as technology progressed, the art followed along. Advancements in nanotechnology, which can be used in a variety of other applications, such as super-efficient insulators, also advanced art. It shows how art and technology go hand and hand because advancement in one led to an advancement in the other.

Image from ted





Works Cited

“A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie.” IBM Research: A Boy And His Atom, www.research.ibm.com/articles/madewithatoms.shtml. 

Corporativa, Iberdrola. “Nanotechnology: a Small Solution to Big Problems.” Iberdrola, www.iberdrola.com/innovation/nanotechnology-applications.

Grundhauser, Eric. “How to Create 'NanoArt' Masterpieces By Manipulating Molecules.” Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 28 Feb. 2016, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-create-nanoart-masterpieces-by-manipulating-molecules.

Hazlegreaves, Steph, and Please enter your name here. “Nanotechnology: Work-Related Aspects.” Open Access Government, 6 Mar. 2020, www.openaccessgovernment.org/nanotechnology-work-related-aspects/83480/.

IBM. “A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Apr. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCX78-8-q0.

Rothemund, Paul. “DNA Folding, in Detail.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/paul_rothemund_dna_folding_in_detail#t-455555.

“Scientists Smiled with DNA Origami.” Chemical & Engineering News, 19 Dec. 2016, pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cen-09449-cover51.

Tate. “Nano What?: Nanotechnology, Contemporary Art and the NANORESTART Project at Tate.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/about-us/projects/nanorestart/nano-what.

Comments

  1. Antonia ValenciaMay 23, 2021 at 10:39 PM

    Hi Kent! I had never before seen the short film "A Boy and His Atom," but after now watching it I was very intrigued. It really got me wondering about how film and television may be impacted by the growing field of nanotechnology. Particularly, I hope that in the future there will be a multitude nanotechnology-derived forms of entertainment, either in film or artistry, but then again, perhaps due to the cost and overall hassle, it’s also likely that nanotechnology might not become the norm for things such as TV. However, I also wonder if there are negative implications of utilizing nanotechnology to create works of art. For instance, in the same manner that many are considering and wondering about the potential hazard of consuming nanoparticles, I question if somehow someone may possibly create an art work that utilizes nanotech in an unknowingly dangerous manner, and I wonder how future scientist may work to solve that danger.

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