Week 4: MedTech + Art

 

"The Intersection of Art, Medicine, and Technology." University of Rochester. https://rax.rochester.edu/s/1676/21/1col.aspx?sid=1676&gid=2&pgid=10671&cid=16442&ecid=16442&ciid=45696&crid=0. Accessed 26 April 2024.

At first glance, one might not think about the ways in which Medicine, Technology, or Art all fit under the

same category. As I understood the role of MedTech and Art, I began to realize just how embedded MedTech actually is into Art. One of the more prominent examples that I thought about was during professor Victoria Vesna’s lecture three video, in which she describes how plastic surgery is the result of “war” and the misconception that it is a recent advancement, but has actually been practiced for over four thousand years.

IMDb.com. RoboCop. IMDb. 1987. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093870/.  Accessed 26 April 2024

I first encountered the practice of "plastic surgery" in a movie in which plastic surgery, more specifically technological plastic surgery, plays a major role. The movie is Robocop, where a cop is severely injured during an altercation, and his body parts are replaced with machinery. The cop’s life is changed drastically and is unable to do all the normal things he was previously able to do. It begs the question as to what plastic surgery does for an individual. The Medical Art Prosthetics website describes how prosthetics is more efficient for individuals as it provides the ability to breath, chew, laugh, or smile, just to name a few. We can see this by looking at the use of prosthetics for WWII veterans who lost limbs or body parts. In an article from The National WWII Museum, it describes how veterans looked in the mirror, and had to live with parts of themselves that were not truly theirs. Prosthetics created from hospitals like Valley Forge hospital were able to give veterans their life back.

“Innovations of Plastic Surgery in World War II: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, 13 Jan. 2023, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/innovations-plastic-surgery-world-war-ii. Accessed 26 April 2024

I think that is where art plays a part in MedTech. It requires detailed constructions, and an artist’s touch to be able to achieve technological advancements in plastic surgery, or surgical reconstructions with technology. The artist that I think captures the concept of the “mirror” perfectly is Virgil Wong. His art piece, “Medical Mirror” showcases a person, flesh and bone, looking at a skeletal view of themselves. Similarly, Silvia Casini explains how mirrors, such as those in MRI’s, are often used as metaphors to express the relationship between humans and the world. It is only by using art, that MedTech can have advancements in concepts like plastic surgery. Whether it is giving people meaning back in their lives through prosthetics, or bettering someone through technological advancements like RoboCop.

Works Cited

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between

Science and the Arts.” The Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for Literature and Science. 2012. Accessed 26 April 2024.

“Art.” Virgil Wong, 8 Sept. 2020, www.virgilwong.com/art/.

“Clinical Art Technology.” Medical Art Prosthetics, 27 Feb. 2024,

www.medicalartprosthetics.com/clinic/technology/. Accessed 26 April 2024.

“Innovations of Plastic Surgery in World War II: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans.” The

National WWII Museum | New Orleans, 13 Jan. 2023, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/innovations-plastic-surgery-world-war-ii. Accessed 26 April 2024.

Vesna, Victoria. “Human Body & Medical Technologies Part 3.” Lecture 3. Accessed 26 April 2024.