Week 8 Art and Nanotech

  This week we covered nanotechnology and the understanding and conceptualization of it that artists and scientists alike have formed on it. It was very interesting to learn about the history of the discoveries of nanomolecules, and the process that we have made since. I was never aware that there were so many kinds of nanomolecules in use in our daily lives, from antimicrobial silver molecules in our clothing to self cleaning molecules in glass as well. In the process of the technological push for progress, artists are impacted in a way through the introduction of a new medium for expression.

Gallery of nanoart


One thing that really intrigued me about this week’s lecture was the impact of natural phenomena on the sciences. The studies on gecko feet, lotus leaves and the blue morpho butterfly are all able to yield incredibly beneficial results in terms of researching inspired materials, such as learning more about the improvements we can make in things such as solar panels. In return, these also serve to inform artists of the ways they can manipulate such structures as well in order to achieve something never seen before in their work.


When it comes to art, I found it fascinating the many different ways that scientists and artists could manipulate nanomolecules in order to create something completely different and new. The example of the tuned carbon monoxide molecules to write out UCLA, and then the standing wave patterns made with atoms formed into different shapes shows how much of a vast field of exploration awaits in the future of nanoart.


Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact & Fiction in the 

Construction of a New Science, vv.arts.ucla.edu/publications/publications/02-03/JV_nano/JV_nano_artF5VG.htm. 


Gimzewski, Jim. “Nanotech Jim pt2.” YouTube, UC Online, 21 May 2012, youtu.be/HEp6t0v-v9c. 


Gimzewski, Jim. “Nanotech Jim pt3.” YouTube, UC Online, 21 May 2012, youtu.be/X0HCNiU_108. 


“John Curtin Gallery.” Art.Base, John Curtin Gallery, 11 Mar. 2010, art.base.co/event/2104-art-in-the-

age-of-nanotechnology.


“NanoArt International Online Exhibition – 7th Edition.” Academy of NanoArt, Academy of NanoArt, 

nanoart.org/nanoart-international-online-exhibition-7th-edition/. 

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