The human brain finally gets the artistic treatment it deserves in a collaborative exhibition between a UCL neuroscientist, architect and visual artist
Angela Saini
Some argue it comes from the soul, the heart, or even divine inspiration, but ultimately the source of great art is the brain. In a tautological twist, the mighty organ has is now the subject of an art exhibition at the Gimpel Fils gallery near Bond Street.
Neurotopographics follows a year-long collaboration between a neuroscientist, an artist and an architect, helped by funding from the Wellcome Trust. The installation is inspired by a recent breakthrough in brain science, and interprets the patterns we create in our mind while moving.
“When someone traverses a space their brain produces an oscillating, rhythmic pattern. We tried to realise this abstract understanding into an everyday reality,” explains project leader Dr Hugo Spiers from the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience at University College London.
Spiers usually spends his days studying the brain patterns of London cabbies and laboratory rats. His work builds upon a 2005 discovery by Norwegian researchers that identified so-called ‘grid cells’ in the human brain, which help us navigate.
“Grid cells provide the metric for a map,” says Spiers. Unlike the square grids of maps in the real world, this mental map consists of a grid of triangles. Each time a person physically passes a node on a triangle in this mental map, a grid cell fires. This topographical representation of the environment is so mathematically accurate that cell activity observations can be used to describe how fast and how far someone is travelling.
Spiers explained the theory to artist Antoni Malinowski and architect Bettina Vismann, who translated the science into an abstract installation, featuring two films playing concurrently. One shows an actor walking around an empty white room in the gallery from an observer’s point of view, while the other is from the actor’s own (real and imagined) perspective. Meanwhile a triangular grid illustrates his brain activity, projected onto the gallery floor. In the background is a popping noise, produced by converting the electrical signals from grid cells into sound.
Image of gallery by Lukas Gimpel
There are further scientific concepts hidden within the installation. “Downstream of the brain’s grid cells are ‘place cells’, which are excited by particular places," says Spiers. "Every place in the world you’ve ever been to has its own population of place cells.” Place cells activated by a specific location depend on the architecture, so if the walls move, then the field of the cells will change to reflect it. Completing the trio of navigational devices in the brain are so-called ‘head direction cells’, acting like an internal compass.
“I found it absolutely fascinating. It is about the independence of perception and consciousness,” says the artist, Antoni Malinowski. He has attempted to communicate the complexity of this branch of neuroscience in a subtle, minimalist way that feels eerily like stepping inside someone else’s thoughts.
For Spiers, moving from the lab into a gallery was liberating: “I had to loosen up my mind from all the scientific tendencies because the language of art is completely different, but it made me rethink what space is. It was frustrating and amazing.”
Visitors can see ‘Brain Art’ at the Gimpel Fils Gallery (Davies Street, London W1K 4NB, nearest tube Bond Street), for one weekend only (18 to 12 January 2008). Entrance is free.
Related article: Neuroscience: Neurons and navigation