Last night in Anatomy Lab, we went over the amazing process of Mitosis. I have to say, that I have always been fascinated by the way the body works, and how miraculous the many tiny parts of the body work independently in order to keep us running each and every day. It really puts things into this amazing perspective, when you realize that such a tiny thing as a cell really is the building block of everything that we are; and even more amazing, it does its thing without any help or conscious instruction from us. Pretty amazing stuff.
It also makes me wonder how people decided to start looking at things like cells, and the building blocks of the human body in the first place. I mean, I know people “wonder” about things, but what makes them look into things and discover things like cells? I wonder, because I truly believe that it is a little bit (maybe a LOT) luck (discovery without really knowing what you have discovered, or being able to comprehend it), and a little bit something mysterious; which is really where my mind starts to go off in fanciful wonder. It also makes you wonder who in the right mind just “experiments”, like in the case of these freakish experiments (I’m surprised Tuskegee wasn’t in there… ); just to “see” what will happen. Where do these people come up with these ideas? I guess there really is a fine line between genius and crazy, eh? Either way, pretty interesting things have been discovered; and now I have to memorize them for my class!! It’s a good thing I have been through it before, because there is a lot to know about the human body.
Sort of on the same vein, and given that there have been some amazing things that I have been looking at lately, I have to say, that I really don’t get this at all: Damien Hirst is apparently this amazing “artist”, and recently sold a diamond encrusted human skull for 100 million dollars. Correct me if I’m wrong (and this takes into account the whole “art is in the eye of the beholder”), but gluing diamonds to a skull is NOT art. In fact, it is, at best, expensive kindergarten crafts. So, why do people like him display dead sharks in tanks of chemicals, and waste 2 million dollars on “skull crafts”, call it art, and make the big bucks while the rest of us have to get real jobs? Perhaps that is the best swindle of all(?). Regardless of whether or not I “understand” or “appreciate” his “work”, all I can say is that I am more than willing to take a shit in a museum, stick a straw in it, and label it “life sucks”, if you want to pay me the big dollars; because to me, that is pretty much the same fucking thing.
Hope everyone is having a kick ass Friday!
of course it’s art - if it’s innovative and different, even taking applying something different to an everyday object, it is art. DADA anyone?
and being an anthropologist, you know that death is fascinating to almost all human cultures. i thought hirst’s “freeze” exhibition was amazing, and you know how successful the “bodies” exhibition was. of course, no one says you have to like it
I wonder if all the scientists that dedicated their lives to research, testing, and development all consider it nothing more than blind dumb luck? Seems like a pretty shortsighted view if you ask me.
Lori, agreed. I think the reason what I wrote it, was because I just don’t get it; I know that art is subjective, so I figure that he is just one of those lucky people that produces things, calls them art, and everyone fawns over his “amazingness”. But as you said… I don’t have to like it. I think that the fact that I am an anthropologist, and I have seen, and continue to see such amazing art and things come out of every culture, and from the everyday, that it is hard for me to “respect” something like this. Maybe that’s just me, but it is what it is, right?
dave, being a researcher myself, I would never simplify it to the level of “everything is just dumb luck”; but, also as a researcher, it makes me wonder what made them so interested in, and subsequently discover, the amazing things that we now know. It isn’t shortsighted, it is looking at a different, yet complimentary, perspective.
But artists are lucky?
dave, considering that I don’t consider him an artist, I see him as a lucky person that was able to swindle people into believing that his creations are art, and subsequently, getting them to pay big bucks for them.
Maybe con-artist is a more appropriate title, rather than lucky. Again, just my opinion.
So any time someone does something that “you don’t get” and is successful at it, they’re just lucky?
dave, have you just had a shitty day? I mean jeez… talk about antagonistic! Yes dave, I do believe that there is an element of luck in every good thing that happens to anyone; and those that seem to be able to make tons of money on virtually nothing seem to have a lot more of it than the rest of us.