Week 3 - Art & Robotics

This week the topic of discussion was the emergence and the continued but  eventual merger between art and industrialization along with robotics. The connection between robotics and art can be traced back to the enlightenment period with Gutenberg's printing press. However, it wasn't until the industrial revolution where the paths of art and robotics really came together. In Lecture Part 1, the professor discusses the genius behind the printing press that paved the way for information to be mass produced throughout the world during the Renaissance period. I see the marvel of the printing press along with other machinery as the beginning of a domino effect that gave way to other enlightenment thinkers to not only share their knowledge but progress their work in ways that they were unable to do prior to these technological advancements.

Additionally, the creation of robots has had far reaching benefits to our society. It has allowed us to simplify and efficiently mass produce items such as cars or other everyday house hold items. Henry Ford for example was the first to introduce the assembly line for his company Ford. This form of manufacturing was a milestone for industrial revolution and would go on to be the most widely used form of manufacturing worldwide even to this day.

In terms of the relationship between robotics and art it is clear to me that this dynamic duo works only to its benefit. One of the best examples of this partnership between technology and art can be found with the arrival of the camera which is eloquently stated by Walter Benjamin when he says, "the camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses." 

Sources:

Hackett, Lewis. "Industrial Revolution"
http://history-world.org/Industrial%20Intro.htm

New York Daily News. "Ford's Assembly Line Turns 100: How it Changed Manufacturing and Society"
http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/ford-assembly-line-turns-100-changed-society-article-1.1478331

Palermo, Elizabeth. "Who Invented the Printing Press"
https://www.livescience.com/43639-who-invented-the-printing-press.html

Rieland, Randy. "7 Ways Technology is Changing How Art is Made"
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/7-ways-technology-is-changing-how-art-is-made-180952472/

Thein, Ming. "The Line Between Art and Photography"
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ming-thein/art-and-photography_b_4297646.html



Pictures:

Assembly Line. http://theoldmotor.com/?p=154610

Printing Press. http://cronkitehhh.jmc.asu.edu/blog/2015/04/disruptive-innovation/

Robots in Assembly Line. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/robot-kills-worker-on-assembly-line-raising-concerns-about-human-robot-collaboration/