Week 8: Nanotechnology + Art

When Marvel’s “Ant-man” came out in 2015, the geek in my 14-year-old self decided to make an appearance. Although the wolverine was my favorite character at the time, ant-man was a close second as his ability to change size at will came across as a devastating yet epic ability. So, it came as a wonderful surprise when I found out that the nanotechnology aspect of the movie and comics could be explained - and by UCLA scientists, no less!

Figure 1. Marvel University, Ant-Man & The Wasp and Nanotechnology, 2018.

According to Laurent Bentolila, the scientific director at the UCLA California NanoSystems Institute, their technology “paints” cells such as neurons and immune cells with colored dyes, shines a laser on them, and with this, they can track every cell in space and time like a GPS. As a result, they could, in theory, use this to track someone like ant-man (Horan).

In 2002-03, Vesna and Gimzewski presented interactive artwork featuring nanotechnology that allowed individuals to virtually interact with models of buckyballs. Shaped like Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome, these nanoscale molecules allowed participants to view and better understand how molecules actually behave.

Figure 2. Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski, Buckyballs, 2009.

Nowadays, the marriage of art with nanotechnology has borne some fascinating results. Consider Eili Levy’s piece entitled “Flooding” at the Fetter Nanoscience and Art Museum in Israel; the work entails a spoon coated in super-hydrophobic material that simulated the journey of a single drop of water through various moving elements.

One recent opus I actually learned about during a physics class was VantaBlack. Built using the light absorbance properties of carbon nanotubes, the product absorbs 99.965% of light, thereby giving it the “blackest black” color. Due to an exclusive licensing agreement, however, the color can only be used by British artist Anish Kapoor. Regardless, necessity is the mother of all inventions. As a result, a collaborative effort of another British artist, Stuart Semple, as well as thousands of color chemists and coating experts yielded Black 2.0, which is accessible and relatively cheap. More recently, Black 3.0 - allegedly the blackest acrylic paint was released.

Figure 3. Stewart Semple, VantaBlack vs Black 2.0, 2017.

It is mesmerizing to think that a collaboration between scientists and artists allowed them to develop and perhaps improve upon a state-of-the-art scientific discovery, in turn, making it more accessible. My main takeaway from the examples above is that educating the next generation of scientists using art is cardinal and shows us that science can be fun.

Works Cited

Cascone, Sarah. “Vantablack vs. Black 2.0: Which Is the Superblack for You?” Artnet News, Artnet News, 30 Mar. 2017, https://news.artnet.com/art-world/vantablack-vs-black-superblack-907556.

Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. “The Nanoneme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact and Fiction in the Construction of a New Science.” Technoetic Arts, vol. 1, no. 1, 2003, pp. 7–24., https://doi.org/10.1386/tear.1.1.7/0.

Horan, Meghan Steele. “In Marvel Video, UCLA Scientists Explain Principles behind the Superpowers of Ant-Man and the Wasp.” UCLA, UCLA, 19 Dec. 2018, https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/marvel-video-ucla-scientists-superpowers-ant-man-wasp.

Leichman, Abigail Klein, et al. “Israel Opens Dazzling New Nanoscience and Art Museum.” ISRAEL21c, 8 July 2021, https://www.israel21c.org/israel-opens-dazzling-new-nanoscience-and-art-museum/.

Lilley, Maiken. “The Art of Nanotech.” PBS, 18 Nov. 2010, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/art-nanotech.html.

Marvel University. "Ant-Man & The Wasp and Nanotechnology | Marvel University." Youtube, uploaded by Marvel Entertainment, 14 Aug. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dROtlKn1DpU

Michael, Mike. “On ‘Aesthetic Publics.’” Science, Technology, & Human Values, vol. 43, no. 6, 2018, pp. 1098–1121., https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243918775217.

Thomas, Paul. Nanoart: The Immateriality of Art. Intellect, 2013.

Vesna, Victoria and Gimzewski, James. "Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski - Zero@wavefunction, Responsive Environment/ Nano Art, 2001." Youtube, uploaded by MediaArtTube, 21 Sep. 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9bi-ExFzAs

Yetisen, Ali K., et al. “Art on the Nanoscale and Beyond.” Advanced Materials, vol. 28, no. 9, 2015, pp. 1724–1742., https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201502382.

Comments

  1. Paravi DasMay 18, 2022 at 11:50 PM

    Hi! I really enjoyed this post - your observations and connections to the world of Marvel really caught my interest - especially discovering that UCLA had its hand in the multiverse! I was intrigued by how you explained their process of “painting” cells with dye, which reminded me of something I had researched for my own blog in regards to stained glass, where colorful nanoparticles are confined incredibly tightly to produce a material that light can shine through and portray hues with. I am no scientist, but I’m thoughtful about the possibility of connection between the two, and particularly the question, what would the timeline look like of how nanoart affected and inspired nanoart? Stained glass was created well before the Marvel movies, but still seemed linked in this matter…in what ways do we learn and adapt from what came before us in terms of nanoart?

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