Week 7: Neurosci + Art

In this week, we discussed how artists have always been fascinated with the concept of body, mind, the mind body separation and consciousness. In addition, we learned more about how artists respond to the incredible field of neuroscience.

Aristotle first believed that the brain's function was to merely cools the blood and the heart actually do all the thinkings (Figure 1). He also thought that brain was the cause of sleep. Later on, with the invention of microscope and the discovery of electricity, researching the brain become possible and we are able to demonstrate his statement through neuroscience. 

(Figure 1)

Two great individuals, Franz Joseph Gall and Santiago Ramon y Cajal, were critical in showing us how the brain looks and how it works. Gall introduced the idea of phrenology. Based on the idea of phrenology, attempts have been made to look at the individual intellect and personality from an examination of the skull shape (Figure 2).

 (Figure 2)

Gall was convinced that mental functions are located at specific regions of the brain, and the human behaviors are dependent on these functions. There are a total of 27 separate organs in the brain, 19 of which are common among animals and humans, 8 were specifically for humans (Figure 3). The sense of metaphysics, satire, compassion are just 3 of the 8 organs existed only in human brains.

(Figure 3)

Santiago Ramon y Cajal is known to be the founder of neuro-anatomy. Cajal's major contributions were the Neuro Theory, the investigation of the transmission of nervous signals. Camillo Golgi and Cajal were jointly awards the Nobel price for physiology or medicine in 1906 for their contributions towards the structure of the nervous system. Cajal was originally interested in arts but pursued a career in science. In the end, he was able to find his aesthetic fulfillment through science. One of his drawing is still used in textbooks (Figure 4). He was the greatest example of artist and scientist coming together.

                                        














(Figure 4)



Suzanne Anker and Giovanni Frazetto applied Cajal's belief that neurons were the butterflies of the soul, in presenting their art work - FMRI Butterfly (Figure 5). They were able to create a optical illusion, using brain scans, butterflies and a roar shpe inclot, that even though the brain scans were identical, they seem different from one another.

 (Figure 5)

Through these three great personalities, I was able to understand in a great depth of how artists and scientists can work together to better interpret the brain. In addition, with the availability of more technologies and concepts, more art works were able to be created to help better understand the brain. Below are a few of the recent art works created by various scientists from the Harvard Medical School presenting a new concept called the Brainbow. They used different composition of blue, green and red to represent different neurons. These three pictures below show examples of what they had accomplished.

1."Science Magazines Cover Art Gallery." Nature Neuroscience Cover Art Gallery. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
2."Brain." The Neurology of Kinetic Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
3."Art Therapy, Neurology and Society by Tomartist | Facebook." Facebook. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
4.Vesna, Victoria. "https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RF0Qt7L2-kM" Lecture 7.  23 Spet 2013, 09. Nov. 2013.
5. Vesna, Victoria. "https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TzXjNbKDkYI" Lecture 7. May 2013, 09.Nov. 2013.